Mental illness must be shown, since it’s an important contemporary issue. Portraying it in a appropriate way can be difficult though. Charlotte Armitage, media psychologist, talks us through the triggering effects a show might have on viewers. “Binge watching a show can make it difficult to distinguish fiction from real life.”
Media psycholigst Charlotte Armitage, © Charlotte Armitage
Charlotte is a member of the BPS (Media Ethics Advisory Board for the British Psychological Society), the governing body for psychologists. Charlotte specialises in duty of care: she assesses people on being psychologically sound minded enough to cope with the potential ramifications of being in the public eye. Charlotte also works with media outlets, magazines and papers on the impact that the media has on the public.
“Romanticising a mental illness is someone’s idea of what they think mental illness is and almost turning it into something that appears to be a positive thing. It’s this sort of idealised view of what mental illnesses are.”
“These days, programmes tend to be more responsible than they used to be. They’re more aware now that they have professionals working on these productions who know mental illness and are able to give expert advice and opinions on it. They say when something is not how it should or would be in real life. Historically, that wasn’t the case," Charlotte says.
“There have been shows where people have had borderline or dissociative disorder and they’re portrayed as these monsters while in fact they really aren’t. It’s the same with schizophrenia as well. There's a lot of people with schizophrenia who are not harmful or dangerous but because the media tends to publicise crime stories which have people with mental illness at the centre, it gives these disorders that kind of reputation.”
The TV industry is including mental illness more and more these days, which is good, because it opens up a conversation and makes the topic less of a taboo. “I think there’s much better representation of mental illness now, but I do think it’s still not engrained enough into TV shows. If it’s in there, it’s always a massive storyline. But the reality is: most people have struggles with mental health. Even if it’s not a really complicated disease that requires intervention from multiple services. Most people do have days where they’re up and they’re down and they don’t want to get out of bed, work, or do anything.”
"These days, you can binge-watch something and you can almost get so into it, it becomes hard in that moment, or even days after it, to distinguish this maybe fictional thing on Netflix from real life."
Copycat behaviour
In fact, a realistic representation can also prove to be quite triggering, “Everything that has drug use, suicide, anorexia and so on in it, can be triggering to someone who has dealt with these things before. So yes, correct portrayals can be quite triggering for people watching it.”
It’s not only a correct representation that can be triggering, binge-watching also has a big effect on viewers. “Years ago, before Netflix and before these online platforms, you’d watch one episode and you couldn’t see another one for a week. These days, you can binge-watch something and you can almost get so into it, it becomes hard in that moment, or even days after it, to distinguish this maybe fictional thing on Netflix from real life. This culture of binge-watching is really dangerous.”
There’s hasn’t been any research done about the effects of binge-watching, but according to Charlotte, there’s a great potential to research the impact of bingeing series.
It's also possible that people copy the behaviour they see on TV. “In teenage years, people are starting to form an identity. So, it’s quite possible that people watch TV and start to pick up things. If you’re watching TV shows that portray really strong mental issues, it’s possible that it impacts you," Charlotte says. “I remember people doing that when I was younger. They had watched a film and started acting like the people in the films. You learn from and mimic these films, definitely in teenage years.”
"Everyone is accountable. The production company, the actors and the viewers. They all have to be responsible and decide whether to show a triggering scene or to watch it."
“I do think that if people copy the behaviour they see on TV like self-harm or suicide, there’s always something underlying going on with the individual. If you have a predisposition towards mental illness or are already suffering from one, then watching that type of TV show could push you over the edge, whereas for someone who’s in a good place, that same show possibly wouldn’t have that impact on them.”
A shared responsibility “I suppose it comes down to the idea that having better warnings, better descriptions of what the shows are about and the potential impacts the show may have are more helpful to the viewer. But even with those things included, people will still watch it.”
"There is accountability on a number of levels. There’s the accountability on the production company to ensure what they’re making is safe for people to watch. There’s the accountability on the actors to ensure that they give an accurate portrayal. But there’s a level of accountability on the viewer as well," Charlotte adds. “They have to decide if it’s safe for themselves to watch.”
If you ever think about suicide or self-harm, and are in need of a conversation, then you can always contact the Suicide Hotline on the number 1813 or www.zelfmoord1813.be for Belgium. For international helplines, click this link.
Text: Janne Schellingen
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