The Media and Mental Illness: Partnering to Influence Recovery Outcomes

Background:    In 2006, Washington State’s Mental Health Transformation Project (MHTP), with support from SAMHSA, created the Washington State Coalition for Mental Health Reporting.  It utilizes what are considered best practices to eliminate societal stigma that surrounds mental illnesses including: personal contact, education and protest/rewards.   

Program background:    The MHTP partnered with the University of Washington (UW) School of Social Work for Jennifer Stuber, PhD, to study the reporting habits of daily newspapers covering topics on mental illness.  Stuber analyzed the content of nearly 1,000 articles from eight major daily papers across the state published over a ten-year period.  Stuber found the predominant framing of mental illnesses in the news is that people with mental illnesses are violent, that much of the language used is sensational, and that generally portrayals of mental illnesses and its treatment  are inaccurate or incomplete.  National studies again and again support that people with mental illness are more likely to be victims of crime, rather than perpetrators and that, with support between 70 percent and 90 percent of people with mental illnesses will recover.   National studies also show that 60% of the general public does not want to work with someone with a mental illness or engage in a close relationship.    These opinions, often based on inaccurate information, create barriers to living a meaningful life in terms of difficulties finding employment and housing. Through this project, the MHTP and the UW hoped to bridge a massive divide in public understanding and fact about mental illness.   Supportive tactics include:

• publishing and dissemination of a Media Guide for Reporting on Mental Illness
• creating a website (www.mentalhealthreporting.org) for reporters to access sources and factual information
• meeting with reporters and editorial boards to share the research results and to talk about accuracy in reporting
• pitching feature stories to reporters that put them in contact with people living with mental illnesses willing to share their recovery stories
• conducting media trainings with consumers and providers in the eight cities where the daily papers being studied reside, emphasizing the need to share stories about recovery and resiliency
•  providing on-going technical support and information to consumers and providers interested in working with their local media
• working with state journalism schools and classes to share the research and Media Guide
• creating an annual award to recognize journalism that supports accurate reporting on mental illness and the use of recovery stories

Evaluation Methods and Results:    To date, nearly 40 news stories and opinion pieces have been spawned by the Coalition’s efforts including front-page cover stories on innovative treatment for mental illnesses and human interest feature stories on individuals in recovery.  

Conclusions:   Additional analysis of print articles published between 2009 and 2010 will allow the project to track its success in influencing accurate news reporting. The goal is to link improved news reporting with better public understanding of mental illnesses and to disseminate the strategy developed in Washington to other communities. 

Implications for research and/or practice:   So far, the strategy is demonstrating very promising outcomes, catching national attention and worth sharing.