Module 4: Media madness
Image source (derivitave of) by Glide / CC-BY-3.0
Starts Monday 17 November 2014
Update 25th November: Video message from Deb O'Kane
What you will explore in this module
- How the media portrays mental illness impacts on current understandings in positive and negative ways
- How the media perpetuates myths about mental illness
- How the media influences the judgements people make about people with a mental illness
Share some examples of media portrayal
Spend some time reading/watching and collecting some online examples of how the media portrays people facing mental health issues. Some examples are listed in the resources below.
Examples of sources could be newspaper articles, videos or advertisements you see on billboards.
Try to find positive and negative examples, and think about fiction and non-fiction sources.
Post a comment in the discussion forum that answers:
How do these examples contribute to the concept of normality and the myths and stigma surrounding mental health issues (explored in the previous modules of this course, particularly modules 1 and 3)?
Include a link to at least one of your resources.
Find out more
Wikipedia provides an extensive list of films featuring people experiences mental health issues
Positive images of mental health in society (google image search)
Mindframe National Media Initiative
Now...take the challenge
Challenge 4 asks you to compare and share some examples of media portrayal of mental illness.