Mental Health Article Assignment
Media’s Portrayal of Mental Illness
Abisha Kirubananthan
Child & Adolescent Mental Health 3- CYWP 210
Professor Jodie Adams
Wednesday, Feburary 4th, 2015
The purpose of this research paper is to examine an article from the media that deals with the topic mental illness. In the past, mental illness was understood wrong and society considered it as a crime (Aferringo, 2015). The stigma was seen as a harmful disease, which caused individuals diagnosed with a mental illness feeling weak among others and experienced segregation from their community (Aferringo, 2015). Most individuals in our society don’t treat mental illness like a real disability because they cannot see it physically (Aferringo, 2015). Some common myths from society’s point of view on mental health are that bad parenting causes mental illness, people with a mental disorder are not smart, or the mentally ill are violent and dangerous (Aferringo, 2015). These statements are wrong as many studies suggests that most mentally ill people come from good families, have average or above average intelligence, and most are actually victims not perpetrators (Aferringo, 2015). This article assignment will frequently touch upon the myth “mentally ill are violent and dangerous”.
The website 9med published an article on January 6th, 2007, titled “Violence and Mental Illness- How strong is the link?” delivering a threatening point of view to the readers in a negative approach about people with mental illness (Richard &Friedman, 2007). This article was reported to reveal the killing of an outstanding schizophrenia expert, Wayne Fenton, who was beaten to death by a 19-year old patient with schizophrenia (Richard &Friedman, 2007). Dr. Friedman, a professor of clinical psychiatry, throws a rhetorical question in his article expressing “If an expert like Fenton, who understood the risks better than most, could not protect himself, who could?” convincing general public to be afraid of people with a
Abisha Kirubananthan
Child & Adolescent Mental Health 3- CYWP 210
Professor Jodie Adams
Wednesday, Feburary 4th, 2015
The purpose of this research paper is to examine an article from the media that deals with the topic mental illness. In the past, mental illness was understood wrong and society considered it as a crime (Aferringo, 2015). The stigma was seen as a harmful disease, which caused individuals diagnosed with a mental illness feeling weak among others and experienced segregation from their community (Aferringo, 2015). Most individuals in our society don’t treat mental illness like a real disability because they cannot see it physically (Aferringo, 2015). Some common myths from society’s point of view on mental health are that bad parenting causes mental illness, people with a mental disorder are not smart, or the mentally ill are violent and dangerous (Aferringo, 2015). These statements are wrong as many studies suggests that most mentally ill people come from good families, have average or above average intelligence, and most are actually victims not perpetrators (Aferringo, 2015). This article assignment will frequently touch upon the myth “mentally ill are violent and dangerous”.
The website 9med published an article on January 6th, 2007, titled “Violence and Mental Illness- How strong is the link?” delivering a threatening point of view to the readers in a negative approach about people with mental illness (Richard &Friedman, 2007). This article was reported to reveal the killing of an outstanding schizophrenia expert, Wayne Fenton, who was beaten to death by a 19-year old patient with schizophrenia (Richard &Friedman, 2007). Dr. Friedman, a professor of clinical psychiatry, throws a rhetorical question in his article expressing “If an expert like Fenton, who understood the risks better than most, could not protect himself, who could?” convincing general public to be afraid of people with a