Has the portrayal of mental illness in fiction/Social Media helped or worsened psychological stigma?
Amerah Ahmed
Psychopathology research paper
12/7/20
Coming from a brown family, mental health has always been dismissed, and social media
has enforced that idea even more. Each individual has different ways to cope with mental health.
But when being denied that you don’t have anything wrong with you and it is all in your mind. It
becomes so hard to believe in yourself. If your own family doesn’t support you, it is much harder
to be healthier. A powerful support system is essential when going through a mental illness
because it can genuinely help the person. In Psychopathology, I learned a lot of times, Mental
Illness is misinterpreted, and people like false assumptions. Social media is one significant factor
to why mental Illness is misunderstood like many other subjects touched upon on social media.
One mental illness that has been misinterpreted is dissociative identity disorder because of the
movie Split. Many people who have it are agitated because the harsh truth is that the way split
showed Dissociative identity disorder is not correct for everyone who has it. The article What
Shyamalan’s ‘Split’ gets wrong about dissociative identity disorder By Michael Nedelman
states, “The movie portrays the negative side of something in which many have found positives,
according to experts and people living with DID.”(Michael Nedelman Pg 1) When the media
portrays something as unfavorable, it is always not true. There are usually positives towards it,
which goes for a long time that the media misinterprets. Which then, society as a whole believes
in social media. For example, many people have very low self-esteem with their bodies because
of social media. Social media is such a significant influence because everyone uses it, especially
Covid times. After all, that’s how people have their social life. So frequently, people do quickly
believe the media. Not everyone does their research.
Mental Illness becomes such a struggle when you don’t have support. It makes you go crazier. As
witnessed in the story “The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman,” Jane is hopeless
because her husband didn’t believe her; her husband takes it lightly to deal with. Jane has
intriguing negative thoughts, and it then revolves around the yellow wallpaper. “I never saw so
much expression in an inanimate thing before, and we all know how much expression they have!
I used to lie awake as a child and get more entertainment and terror out of blank walls, and plain
furniture than most children could find in a toy-store. I remember what a kindly wink the knobs
of our big, old bureau used to have, and there was one chair that always seemed like a strong
friend.”(Perkins Gilman chapter 5) Jane is thinking about how, even as a child, the blank walls
would be more entertaining to her, which is quite interesting because even now, the walls are
more fun to her. Still, most of all, it is deteriorating her health. She is suffering from both
postpartum depression and anxiety. Yet her husband, who was supposed to be there for her,
didn’t help Jane the way she wanted to be supported. Because Jane’s mental health deteriorating
was dismissed by her husband, John. To him, mental health wasn’t concerning, and he
overlooked it just as many others do.
Many fictional stories misinterpret/ stigmatize mental Illness, and for this reason, many
people following along with it might believe it. Just like this article How Mental Illness is
Misrepresented in the Media by Kirstin Fawcett, “People with mental illnesses are childish
and silly. For example, many movies and TV shows, “Me, Myself and Irene,” starring Jim
Carrey as a patient with dissociative identity disorder, or “Monk,” the show about a detective
with obsessive-compulsive disorder – make light of mental illnesses. They portray otherwise
severe psychological conditions as mere quirks or those who have them as silly, funny, and
childlike. These portrayals don’t “convey the way most people with serious mental illnesses are
in pain,” Wahl says. In reality, he says, “they hurt. They’re struggling.”(Kirstin Fawcett pg 1) The
media portrays mental Illness by displaying names of people who have a mental illness or
something they aren’t. But because of social media, people like those name callings because that
influenced them.
People with mental illness often feel left out because of how judged they are and laughed
at, Just like in the novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Ken Kesey)”All I know is this:
nobody’s very big in the first place, and it looks to me like everybody spends their whole life
tearing everybody else down.” This quote directly represents how bad society can be to bring
down others to feel good about themselves. In the novel, there are different perspectives shown
“I’ve been silent so long now it’s going to roar out of me like floodwaters, and you think the guy
telling this is ranting and raving my God; you think this is too horrible to have happened, this is
too awful to be the truth! But please. It’s still hard for me to have a clear mind thinking about it.
But it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen.”(Ken Kesey first part) The author shows this
perspective of the character Chief Bromden and how he feels displaced because of his
hallucinations and paranoia. When you feel out of place because of your mental Illness it
becomes harder to be socially interactive or be near anyone. Because you are afraid, someone
will judge you. In the novel, Broden felt like people “who didn’t fit into place” should be ignored.
This fiction worsens the stigma of mental health because it shows us how people who suffer
from mental health feel like they don’t mean anything and that they are worthless because of their
society. It’s not only this novel but many other novels.
This article also shows how parents can be a significant influence on mental health and
how you deal with it. Substance abuse disorder could start from traits at a very young age. As
mentioned in the article Neurobehavioral Disinhibition in Childhood Predicts Early Age at
Onset of Substance Use Disorder By Ralph E. Tarter, Ph.D, “observed that 3-year-old boys
described as irritable, impulsive, and distractible were approximately three times more likely
than a comparison group of boys to qualify for an alcohol dependence disorder at age 21.”(Ralph
E. Tarter, Ph.D Page 1) This might happen because kids learn very quickly from parents, so if
they see that their parents are drinking, they might catch on at such a young age. This is why
people say not to fight in front of kids and not do anything wrong. Kids should never be exposed
to any drug or alcohol. They might want to do it because they’ve seen it growing up as they get
older. Often, when kids grow up around these things, such as drugs and alcohol, and deal with a
lot, they usually lean onto these things to make them feel “good and happy.” But at the end of the
day, it can be so damaging that you won’t recognize how horrible it is because it is a normal
thing and nothing terrible till they get sick.
Another thing the media likes to do is downplay mental health, and a perfect example of that is
from this article The Social Dilemma: Are Facebook And Instagram Really Affecting Our
Mental Health? By CLEMENTINE PRENDERGAST”The film argues that social media is
highly addictive and manipulatively designed based on what’s called an attention-extraction
model to control our behavior and keep us scrolling and wanting more. In doing so, it exploits
our human desire for the connection to and validation of others, giving us a dopamine hit every
time we get a like or reply without ever actually fulfilling our deep human needs. This can lead,
as the documentary argues, to a whole host of negative emotions, which drive us back to social
media for that quick fix.”(BY CLEMENTINE PRENDERGAST pg 1) We humans always seek validation,
but social media wants us to do that way more because others always know what they have. It
can severely damage your mental health because you expect to have your life aligned, but it’s not
still as it seems. Another quote from this article is, “Mental illness rates in high-income countries
are on the rise, and this is correlative with increased social-media use—but correlation does not
necessarily equal causation. “The correlation between social media and mental health seems to
be about the same as the correlation between eating potatoes and mental health: small and weak,”
says Paul Marsden, a chartered psychologist in the cyberpsychology section of the British
Psychological Society.”(BY CLEMENTINE PRENDERGAST pg 4) This is true because people always
feel the need to be doing better than anyone they know of or even heard of. Because for a lot of
people, competition is more important than feeling fulfilled for themself. This is why people seek
a lot of validation.
The media affecting mental health is just one example. Here is one myth from the article
Dispelling the Myths about Mental Health By Sara Hanson a lot of people tend to lean
towards. “I can’t do anything for a person with a mental health problem.” This isn’t true because
having a massive support system while suffering. As the article also mentions, “Friends and
loved ones can make a big difference. Only 44% of adults with diagnosable mental health
problems and less than 20% of children and adolescents receive needed treatment. Friends and
family can be important influences to help someone get the treatment and services they need.”
(Sara Hanson PG 1)If you ask around, people usually have information or guide you to the
places you need to be. So you can always help a person out. No matter how big or small your
help is, you will still leave a considerable impact. Often, people have this mindset that they can’t
help or impact a person suffering. Another myth/lie the media tends to put out is, “There is no
hope for people with mental health problems. Once a friend or family member develops mental
health problems, he or she will never recover.”(Sara Hanson PG 2) This is not the truth
because people get better from whatever they are suffering from as long as they get the right
treatments and services. Just as with any disease, you would get treatment as necessary. The
article mentions another myth the media often likes to put out “People with mental health
problems are violent and unpredictable.”(Sara Hanson PG 2) Often shows and social media
love to show a person who has a mental illness as a horrible person or scary to be around. This
stigma has been going on for years, and that’s why many people tend to believe that a person
who has a mental illness might be “violent.”
Social media could often be an essential factor in eating disorders or mental health, as this article
COVID-19 and implications for eating disorders By Fernández-Aranda F speaks upon
eating disorders. “Some of the more powerful psychological risk factors that have been identified
in recent research studies are:1. Fear of fatness may have been strengthened by having been
overweight at an earlier
age, or by early menarche.
2. Overconcern with body size/shape.
3. Internalization of the thin ideal shape.
4. Dysfunctional attitudes about physical appearance.
5. A disposition toward perfectionism and obsessive thinking.” ( Fernández-Aranda F Pg 3) All
these ideas come from looking at images on social media. It shows the stigma around mental
health because often people don’t realize how toxic the media could be and how people are so
quick to believe in it. Mental health is so stigmatized in the media because it is often not a huge
topic. This is why there are always ideas about mental health that may not wholly be the truth.
The article also stated, “Binge eating is viewed as one possible consequence of this increased
emotionality.” Frequently people binge eat when they are stressed out and have many things
going on that make them overwhelming. The other one is Dietary restraint, where you don’t eat
at all because you want to look thin.”( Fernández-Aranda F Pg 1) People don’t ever get to see this side of mental health unless heard of, often what people are seeing is a violent person who is”mentally ill.” People don’t get to see how a person suffers from mental health and how it can
mentally and physically damage you.
I have interviewed Bethanie Railing, who is part of the SAYA organization. Bethanie
mentions how “helping a lot of kids who come from a south Asian background; you could see
how many parents aren’t supportive of their child’s mental health.” Bethanie also mentions,
“many kids come to SAYA to have a safe spot and to feel understood.” Bethanie mentions that
“many parents often dismiss their kid’s feelings because many of the parents’ background is
cultural where it’s believed that mental health isn’t a thing.” This is why kids come to SAYA, so
they have others to lean on when something wrong is happening. SAYA is a massive help for
many kids. Bethanie mentions how so many students tell her, “I would not be able to express
myself if it weren’t for SAYA.” Bethanie says that SAYA has become like a second home for
many of the students because when students have problems in their house, they usually come to
SAYA. This shows that many kids often don’t have a safe zone expressing how they feel or a
healthy support system. This usually happens because parents don’t believe that you are mentally
struggling through a lot.
This article Using Literature to Confront the Stigma of Mental Illness, Teach
Empathy, and Break Stereotypes By Kia Jane Richmond mentions one student who had a
stigma about suicide “One student reflected on the stigma that “suicide has been given by
society; that everyone who thinks about suicide will go through with the act, or everyone who
has a drinking problem, cuts, restricts food, or purges is going to commit suicide.” She refers
specifically to Arnold “Junior” Spirit, the main character in The True Diary of a Part-Time
Indian. She notes that Junior’s sharing of his anger (in a passage in which he says, “I could have
easily killed myself, killed my mother and father, killed the birds, killed the trees, and killed the
oxygen in the air. More than anything, I wanted to kill God. I was joyless”) helped her to
remember that individuals can survive depression and suicidal ideation (p. 173). Like this
student, most in the classes reported that reading books about those with depression,
schizophrenia, etc., have helped them reconsider preconceived notions about individuals with
mental illnesses.” (Kia Jane Richmond PG 2 )Sometimes stigmas come from not being able to
educate themselves about mental health. Because as the quote states, after the kids read books
about different mental health Illnesses, they were more informed about mental health with the
correct information. Mental health has various aspects to it, and there is a lot of information.
Brown families always dismiss mental health, and social media has enforced that idea
even more. It becomes so hard to believe in yourself when suffering from a mental illness. If
your own family doesn’t support you, it is much harder to be healthier. Because anyone
struggling through a hard time always needs a healthy support system. In Psychopathology, I
learned a lot of times, Mental Illness is misinterpreted, and people like false assumptions. Social
media is one significant factor to why mental Illness is misunderstood like many other subjects
touched upon on social media. Another Factor is not educating yourself on an important topic
like mental health.

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