by Mandy May
Mandy May is a psychology major from Canton, CT. Mandy’s purpose for writing her essay was to spread awareness of the impact that negative portrayals of mental illnesses in the media have on audiences. She shares that, as a psychology major, she has always been “hyper-aware of the way films exaggerate and emphasize unrealistic stereotypes surrounding mental illness.” Mandy feels that this essay gave her the opportunity to “finally research more about the reality of these depictions, and to hear about how people with mental disorders are affected by negative portrayals.” With a growing interest in child psychology, fueled by hands-on experience in childcare, Mandy is committed to exploring and addressing the psychological effects of media on vulnerable populations.
Let me ask you something: what is one thing that the movies Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Halloween (1978) have in common? I’m sure most of you are having trouble connecting the two together. One is a classic Disney movie, and the other is a popular horror/slasher film. They couldn’t be more different. While that may be true on the surface level, when you look deeper, it turns out that both of these movies influence the underlying way we think about mental illness.
What many of us are unaware of is that from the moment we are born to the day we die, we are all exposed to forms of media that plant implicit biases and prejudice into our minds, most commonly at the subconscious level. So, whether you realize it or not, your views on mental health conditions have likely been shaped by movies or TV shows in some way. Many activists promoting mental health awareness have used the phrase “my mental illness does not define me” but unfortunately, in the world of cinema, people are defined by their mental illness, commonly in the most inaccurate and stereotypical ways possible. Such stereotypes can consist of unrealistically violent and uncontrollable behavior. Scott Parrott and Caroline T. Parrott, who conducted content analysis research on crime-dramas, found that “one out of every two (51%) mentally ill characters committed a violent act, compared to one in five (18%) characters from the general population of the television world. Meanwhile, 46% of mentally ill characters became victims of violence, compared to 31% of the general population (650). Everybody is shaped by what they watch, and what most people don’t consider is that what’s being portrayed isn’t always accurate. Filmmakers hold so much power for how people think about mental illness, and for the most part, they do not take the proper amount of responsibility for what they create.
In order to fully understand the scope of influence that films have on our minds, we need to start from the beginning: childhood. Any psychologist will tell you that during childhood we are the most impressionable and uninformed that we will ever be. Children’s brains develop more and more every day, learning from what they observe in the environment around them. They often do not yet have the mental capacity to recognize the difference between what is a fact and what is fiction. Heather Stuart, who writes about how media portrayal impacts the lives of those living with mental illness, found that:
Television viewing occupies more of a child’s time than any other structured activity, including school. By the time American children begin school, they will already have spent the equivalent of 3 school years watching television… In this way, each new generation of viewers will learn how to think about the mentally ill, how to use negative and derisive terminology, and how to respond emotionally. (102)
With so much time spent watching television as a child, it’s only natural that we take what we view as the truth. Although, you may be wondering, how do children’s movies have any effect on kids’ perception of mental illness? Well, according to Andrea Lawson and Gregory Fouts, authors who conducted research on depictions of mental illness in Disney movies, the “average number of mental illness references per film was 4.6, with the 3 most prevalent words being (in descending order) ‘crazy,’ ‘mad’ or ‘madness,’ and ‘nut’ or ‘nutty.’ These references were commonly employed to segregate, alienate, and denote the inferior status of the character(s) to which they referred” (312). What this means is that within all of the thirty-four films they researched, each one of them had nearly five degrading words referencing mental illness. From this, we can see that young children are always being exposed to harmful depictions of mental illness, and in a way that adults would not immediately notice: name-calling. Not only do kids subconsciously form prejudices, but they are being presented such ideas in a form that they understand and have likely seen in real life.
As a society, we are very progressive, continuously growing at a rapid pace. With the rise of social media, activists are able to draw greater attention to prevalent injustices within our lives. Modern audiences might assume that the mentally ill, violent character is an outdated trope. So, it is only natural that the amount of media connecting mental illnesses to violence has drastically decreased, right? Well, as it turns out, that is incorrect. The level of films tying mental illness to violence and aggression has actually risen, and it doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Researchers from USC Annenberg found in their study of 300 films that:
Since 2016 (46%), the percentage of characters shown as perpetrators of violence rose significantly, reaching 63.4% in 2019 and 72.3% in 2022. A similar finding was observed for characters with mental health conditions who were targets of violence– this percentage increased from 60.9% in 2016 to 77.1% in 2022. Films continue to perpetuate and convey to viewers a portrait of mental health as enmeshed with violence. (“Distorted Depictions”)
What we see from this is that the harmful way in which mental illness is portrayed in films escalates from name-calling as children, to graphic violence and danger as adults. So, with the prevalence and influence so many films have on our subconscious minds, how can filmmakers properly depict characters with mental illness?
Have you ever witnessed a child refuse to eat a vegetable after an adult expressed distaste towards it? That is because during childhood, a vital part of gaining knowledge is done through the process of observational learning, in which the child observes what somebody does and imitates it. This largely contributes to how kids view mental health issues. For instance, Lawson and Fouts explain how early “exposure to TV and movies influences attitudes toward a wide range of social groups… Therefore, repeated exposure to depictions of mental illness in movies likely influences children’s attitudes toward persons with a mental illness” (311). The more exposure kids have towards subtle degrading depictions of people with mental illness, the more likely they are to grow up with prejudices. This is especially concerning because of the prevalence of such depictions. According to the data from Lawson and Fouts’ study, 85% of characters from animated Disney movies were labeled with verbal references to mental illness, compared to the actual worldwide percentage of people with mental health issues being only 9.5% (312). Such a drastic difference shows how filmmakers are recklessly presenting children with a higher amount of mental illness than they will ever experience in their daily lives. The long-term effect this has on children is analyzed by Stuart, who agrees with Lawson and Fouts on how harmful the depictions of mental illness are in children’s movies. Going off of Lawson and Fouts’ research, Stuart has found that in kid’s films “mentally ill characters are portrayed as objects of amusement, derision and fear, and a host of disparaging terms link mental illness to a loss of control. The generic nature of mental illness portrayed in children’s television–lacking specific symptoms or diagnoses–invites negative generalizations to all mentally ill people” (100). What this means is that the recurring harmful verbal references to mental illness in children’s entertainment is a recipe for negative stereotypes to form in the minds of young kids.
What’s even worse is that the person being name-called is oftentimes treated negatively by the likable characters who children admire and look up to. Stuart’s psychological analysis combined with Lawson and Fouts’ data shows us that children may end up forming overly stereotypical and unrealistic ideas towards people who live with mental illness. It’s only natural for children to have the tendency of rewatching their favorite Disney movies over and over again. Although, in doing so, they are unknowingly forming implicit biases towards people with mental illness due to the way those characters are treated. Creators of children’s movies and shows need to stop using negative words in association to mental illness by understanding the harm that it has on kids’ perspectives.
As we grow up, harmful depictions of mental illness no longer come in the form of name-calling, but instead as violence and aggression. The biggest issue with films portraying mental illness as dangerous is the misinformation being spread to the audience. The majority of the population are not experts in mental health issues, so it’s logical for many people to gather an idea about the subject through the forms of media they are exposed to. We are prone to accepting what we hear and see as the truth. You can’t expect everyone who watches a slasher film or crime drama to immediately understand that they are viewing extremely inaccurate portrayals of what mental illness really looks like, especially with how prevalent such depictions are in cinema. While studying crime dramas, Parrott and Parrott took notice of a character that embodied “a prevalent yet inaccurate stereotype about mental illness that associates mental disorders with unpredictable, random, and violent behavior” (640). This led Parrott and Parrott to realize that “when audience members encounter such inaccurate and negative information in television shows and movies, the experience may reinforce bias against people with mental illness and/or cultivate new negative associations concerning what it means to live with a mental illness” (640-641). Parrott and Parrott are explaining that the underlying ideas people form about mental health conditions become stronger as they continue to view more films providing the same (inaccurate) depictions of mental illness. Not only do general audiences form false perceptions of mental illnesses, but Parrott and Parrott have found that such films “also discourage people who need help from seeking treatment for fear of being labeled mentally ill, and thus perceived by others as bad or violent… further complicating their struggle with barriers to social support and resources” (641). This means that people with mental illness are not only internally belittled by films, but their physical actions to reach out for professional support are also diminished. When linking violence with mental health issues in movies and TV shows, the film industry is not only contributing to prejudice against people living with such conditions, but they also contribute to their insecurities and fears about how society views them. Naomi Kondo–a woman who has lived with schizophrenia for her whole life– writes about the personal experiences she’s had with harmful depictions of mental illnesses in film. Kondo, Parrott, and Parrott agree that movies need to stop associating violence with mental health conditions, as reflected by her own self-doubts. Kondo puts it into perspective when she explains that:
Even when I had upsetting conversations, I was not urged to kill. When I tell people about my illness, I wonder if they think I am violent. Do they believe my schizophrenia is akin to being a ‘sociopath’ or a ‘homicidal maniac’? The possibility of this is devastating… For the rest of my life, it will take some time before I trust someone, other than my therapist, enough to be sure he or she will be understanding about my illness and not imagine I am violent and disturbed. (250)
Kondo offers a personal perspective on exactly what Parrott and Parrott discuss. There is a clear trope within movies that needs to end in order to decrease the implicit biases and prejudice that arise towards people with mental health issues; stop linking violence to mental illness.
Mental illness being tied together with violence is one of the most commonly used tropes in media to the point where “in the US, one-fifth of prime-time programs depict some aspect of mental illness… One in four mentally ill characters kill someone, and half are portrayed as hurting others, making the mentally ill the group most likely to be involved in violence” (Stuart 100). One such instance of this occurs in the popular television series American Horror Story. After the success of the first season, the show went on to make a total of twelve seasons. I recently began watching the show, and to say I was shocked would be an understatement. Within the first episode, I instantly noticed a handful of harmful depictions of mental illness. So, for context, Season One surrounds a small family who just moved into a new house. The characters are Ben, who is a psychiatrist, his wife Vivien, and their teenage daughter Violet. Ben holds his therapy sessions in his home office, and, throughout the show, we see a total of four patients. So, right away, these people are immediately established with having some form of mental health issues, as they are seeking out treatment from a psychiatrist. If you were to guess, how many of those patients do you think were linked with violence? If you guessed every single one of them, you’d be correct!
The first patient we see is a young boy named Tate who eventually becomes one of the main characters. Initially, he explains that he has frequent fantasies of killing people without feeling remorse. As the story progresses, it is revealed that these were not just fantasies, but rather acts he had already committed. These acts consisted of setting his mom’s boyfriend on fire, shooting up his high school (killing a total of 15 classmates), murdering the previous owners of the house, and raping Ben’s wife. Tate is the season’s most egregious instance of a character’s mental illness being tied to unrealistically violent behaviors. The second patient we see is a woman tormented by a recurring nightmare, who later breaks into Ben’s house and attempts to murder his wife and daughter (but fails when the aforementioned Tate kills the woman with an ax). The third patient we see is an emotionally struggling woman who, upon noticing Ben spacing out, suddenly snaps and slits her wrists in his office then kills herself after leaving. Finally, the fourth patient we see is an extremely paranoid man who, after finally overcoming his fears, is shot in the head by a robber. The worst part about that is, upon witnessing the man instantly dying after making progress with his condition, viewers with mental health issues may feel less inclined to reach out for help. Another thing the show does is flat out imply that treatment doesn’t work, as exemplified in the last episode when Ben confesses, “I’m a total fraud. And by the way, therapy doesn’t work… [People go] because they don’t want to take any responsibility for their crappy lives. So, they pay a therapist to listen to their bullshit and make it all feel special… We collect checks, but deep down, we know it doesn’t work” (“Afterbirth”). What Ben is claiming is that he and all other therapists know therapy is pointless, it doesn’t work, and that they only do it to make money. This is an extremely discouraging thing for anybody struggling with mental illness to hear coming from the show’s psychiatrist. In the end, half of the characters with mental illness in the show commit intense, frightening acts of violence, while the other half are subjected to violent deaths. Upon completing the show, something hit me. I realized that if I weren’t researching this specific topic, I would’ve never made the conscious observation that each patient was linked to violence, despite how blatant the depictions were. So, I encourage you to think about this the next time you watch something and consider the underlying impacts it may have on the audience.
When it comes to making a movie with a character living with a mental illness, one of the most important ways of properly portraying them is by making them realistic. I find that the most prevalent recurring theme displayed in problematic depictions of mental illness is the dehumanization of the character. Rather than viewing a person with their own personality, problems, and loved ones, we are simply exposed to an entity characterized by unpredictable behaviors and uncontrollable, violent actions. Not only is this degrading and shame-inducing to those who actually have mental health issues, but it is almost always factually incorrect about the illness. As researchers from USC Annenberg have found, in film “when mental health experiences are depicted in nuanced and hopeful ways in storytelling, it promotes help-seeking, decreases social shame, and provides comfort to those who are struggling. Entertainment content creators can be reassured that it’s a win for all when stories provide sophisticated, helpful, safe content” (“Distorted Depictions”). What this means is that harmful depictions can be overcome by humanizing the characters. By creating someone that those living with mental illness can relate to, and that the audience can sympathize with rather than fear. This is a perspective that many experts on mental health strive to encourage to creators in the movie industry. Although, without proper guidance, in attempting to create a sympathetic narrative on mental illness, filmmakers can end up with an overly positive portrayal that lands the depiction right back into being unrealistic.
One popularly debated example of this is the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind. In her text, Kondo initially gives credit to the movie since it is ”told from [the main character’s] perspective, allowing the viewer to believe his delusions and to be as surprised as he is that they are imaginary… the overall film remains sympathetic with John” (252). So, to some degree she respects the technique of giving the audience a personal point of view for what living with schizophrenia can truly be for some people. The creators of the film achieved at making the watchers feel sympathetic towards the character rather than afraid, but in reality, they failed to balance positivity with being realistic. While Kondo does agree that showing how people can reach goals regardless of mental illness is wonderful, at the same time “this connects mental illness to greatness, which is romantic, but incorrect. While this is far more preferable than the older connection to violence, it still does not give a complete picture” (252). In other words, while film makers may attempt to flip the stereotype of mental illness being associated with violence, some result in an overly positive depiction that falsifies the audience’s idea of what everybody with a mental illness is like. Some people assume that to stop misrepresenting mental health issues in film, you just need to flip the negativity to positivity. However, in thinking that way, you are not creating a realistic depiction of people who live with mental illnesses, but rather creating a “superhuman” version of the majority of the population.
When looking at all of the sources together, it’s clear that something must change. If filmmakers continue to utilize harmful, unrealistic representations of mental illness, the stigma towards people living with mental health issues will only get worse. Nobody wants to form subconscious prejudices towards specific groups of people. That would be weird. But we have to understand that it does happen, starting from the moment we are born. If filmmakers continue to produce these depictions of mental illness, negative ideas towards people with those conditions will only get worse. Although, at the same time, we must accept that some responsibility falls on us. We cannot go back and change what movies have already been made, so it’s important to remind ourselves that films are fiction, and do not reflect accurate portrayals of reality. Similarly, it is impossible to avoid letting children watch Disney movies, as it is practically a childhood essential. So, when it comes to preventing kids from developing negative prejudices against people with mental illness, some of the responsibility also falls on the parents or caregivers. Even so, the responsibility primarily weighs on the filmmakers.
Going forward, there is one way that this issue can be solved: when creating a character with mental illness, filmmakers must walk the line between sympathetic and realistic in order to reduce the harmful depictions we are exposed to our whole life. From the research done around depictions of mental health conditions in films, it can be deduced that the majority of filmmakers do not take careful consideration into the long-term effects that arise when not properly researching the mental illness being used. For the most part, filmmakers are in it for the money and dramatic effect, failing to see how much of a large-scale issue this is. Such habits can be chalked up to how normalized such depictions are in the industry. By carefully researching the specific conditions, filmmakers will be able to avoid creating either overly positive or negative portrayals of mental illness.
Works Cited
“Distorted Depictions: Popular Movies Misrepresent the Reality of Mental Health Conditions.” USC Annenberg, 29 June 2023.
Kondo, Naomi. “Mental Illness in Film.” Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, vol. 31, no. 3, 2008, pp. 250–52.
Lawson, Andrea, and Gregory Fouts. “Mental Illness in Disney Animated Films.” The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 49, no. 5, 2004, pp. 310-14.
“Afterbirth.” American Horror Story, created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, Season 1, Episode 12, written by Jessica Sharzer and directed by Bradley Buecker, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2011.
Parrott, Scott, and Caroline T. Parrott. “Law & Disorder: The Portrayal of Mental Illness in U.S. Crime Dramas.” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, vol. 59, no. 4, 2015, pp. 640–57.
Stuart, Heather. “Media Portrayal of Mental Illness and Its Treatments: What Effect Does It Have on People with Mental Illness?” CNS Drugs, vol. 20, no. 2, 2006, pp. 99–106.