Sharks, snakes and the mentally ill.

A search for scholarly articles about the role of the media discovered thousands of articles.
I found articles ranging from the role of the media in terrorism and politics to the role of the media in preventing adolescent substance abuse and family planning. The media plays a very important role in every issue that the community is involved in. Positive portrayal of mental illness in the media will have a positive effect on people's attitudes toward mental illness.

When someone gets attacked by a shark its always big news because it is a great story and it evokes peoples fears and emotions. It's the same for venomous snakes. When someone gets bitten by a snake its often in the media. These reports evoke people's fears and emotions but at the same time they reinforce these fears. However, these fears are based on misunderstanding because this is often the only time, that people here about sharks and snakes.

It's the same for mental illness. Many people only hear about mental illness when there has been a murder or criminal activity. Its generally along the lines of an individual has committed murder and police have taken the suspect into psychiatric care. Or, there was a murder suicide today and the suspect has had a long history of mental illness. These stories have a negative effect on the public's perception of mental illness in the same way that stories about snakes and sharks have.

Rarely do you hear a news report like “Woman with bi-polar passes university with first class honors” or a front page headline reading “Man with depression gets job of his dreams and leads a happy and fulfilling life”.

But, when there is such a story, it has a really positive affect on the way people view mental illness. Success stories or stories that present positive outcomes for mental illness have a powerful effect on people's perception of mental illness. Stories that give people insight into what it's like to live with a mental illness, also help people appreciate the difficulties involved.

Therefore, the function of this section of the site is to:

Provide the stories that appear in the media.

To publish stories about mental illness and the success stories of mental illness.

If you have such a story about yourself, a friend or loved one, please email it through to media@peoplelikeyou.com.au so we can publish it here.