November 23, 201015 yr Member <span style="font-size:22pt;">TV mental health portrayal rapped </span> Many depictions of mental illness on TV are frightening and misleading, a government-backed report says. <span style="font-size:10.5pt;">The study, commissioned by the Department of Health, found nearly half of all mentally ill characters were portrayed as dangerous to others. Its author said the "axe-wielding maniac" stereotype should be ditched. Mental health charity Mind said progress had been made in dramas such as EastEnders and Shameless, but more improvement was needed. Television and films have been using the "madman" as a dramatic device for decades, but in reality, the vast majority of people with mental health problems pose no risk to others. The Glasgow Media Group, working on behalf of a Department of Health campaign called "Shift", examined dozens of popular dramas and comedies to see how mental illness was presented to the viewer. It found that most references to mentally ill people were insulting, examples being the terms "crackpot", "basket case" or "a sad little psycho". In addition, 45% of storylines involving people with mental health problems found them posing some kind of risk to others. Recent examples were a character in ITV soap Emmerdale who drugs the village vicar, or a schizophrenic killer in the popular US show CSI: Miami. 'Improve perceptions' Even in BBC One soap EastEnders, which was praised for a realistic portrayal of bipolar disorder with character Stacey Slater, had the same character eventually commit murder. More on BBC's website.</span> Edited November 23, 201015 yr by Sylph
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