Mental Health and the Media

One in four people will be affected by mental illness in their lifetime. Yet over 50% of people would not to tell anyone if they were going through this themselves.

These statistics may initially be shocking to some, however, it is not surprising that people have these feelings towards mental illness and the media needs to accept its part in this. Contributing factors to the negative and distorted image of mental illness are shown on our TV screens on a frequent basis. None so much as the one that displayed itself, unashamedly, in such an obvious manner on my own TV a few weeks ago.

Dinner date is one of many reality TV shows that are screened on ITVBe on a regular basis. One episode – first aired in 2010 and replayed a total of 26 times since – showed a blind date between a man named Al and a women named Danielle who claimed to have an alter-ego called 'Bad Dani'. A conversation around Danielle’s alter ego prompted the presenter to make a comment, labelling her as a ‘crazy women’, before questioning if she heard ‘voices in her head’ in a humorous tone. This comment hit me like a tonne of bricks. Was this presenter honestly making a joke out of the symptoms of schizophrenia? It definitely came across that way.

This is a problem. Hearing voices is a very well known symptom of schizophrenia and no matter what caused the presenter to say it – weather it was due to Danielle being drunk and babbling to herself – there is no getting away from its direct reference to mental illness.

There is a real issue with how mental illness is perceived by the general public and people suffering with illnesses such as schizophrenia can find it extremely hard to disclose their situation due to these perceptions. In fact, studies by rethink show that 70% of people affected by mental illness have experienced discrimination because of it.

The media has a responsibility to help break down these barriers – not to build them up. By airing a show that makes flippant remarks about symptoms of a serious mental illness, ITV is actually contributing to a much wider problem that society is facing today. Making a joke about direct symptoms of schizophrenia is completely wrong. Underlining this with the use of the phase ‘crazy women’ just makes it even worse.

I immediately contacted the ITV complaints department and shared my distress with them – asking them to make a public apology. They took the time to review my complaint and located the correct episode. After a few emails back and forth, this was their response:

Dear Becky,

Thank you for your email to ITV dated June 20th. 

We were very sorry to hear that you felt shocked and upset after watching Al's Dinner Date with Danielle on ITVBe recently. This episode was filmed and first broadcast in 2010. It has been transmitted 26 times and we have never previously had a complaint about the programme.

We have referred back to the programme as broadcast and the post-production script after receiving your email. 

We would like to assure you that the narrator does not refer to Danielle as 'a mental person' at any point. There is a line of commentary that refers to Danielle as 'a crazy woman' in a humorous tone of voice. This was intended as a nod to Danielle's unique, funny and 'out there' behaviour towards her date. It was not a reference to mental illness.

Admitting to having an 'alter-ego' is not the same as a diagnosis of schizophrenia or struggling with multiple personalities. The term 'alter-ego' is common parlance and had no medical subtext at all when used in the programme by Danielle. The voiceover did ask at one point if she 'hears voices in her head', but only to highlight the fact that Danielle was rather inebriated and babbling at this stage and should perhaps 'stop talking'.

ITV and Hat Trick both have well-respected and long-established diversity policies which have been in place at every level of their business for many years. 

Thank you again for contacting us here at ITV.

Kind regards,

ITV

To me, this response was unacceptable. There is a clear correlation between a joke about someone hearing voices in their head and schizophrenia. The fact that ITV have aired this show 26 times and I am the first to make a formal complaint does not mean that they should not publically aplogise. It does not mean that this ‘joke’ hasn’t hurt or damaged anyone’s confidence those 26 times. People suffering with ill mental health are usually likely to suffer in silence, they are not likely to write to a TV broadcaster and share their upset.

The fact that they have repeatedly aired this and have had no formal complaints also highlights the issue that we are dealing with here – ITV are setting a precedent that making jokes that poke fun at mental illness is something that is normal and should not be aplogised for, when of course it should be.

Let me put this into context – we wouldn’t stand by and accept a TV show making fun of someone’s race or sex. Nor would we stand by while they made distasteful jokes about physical disabilities. It does not matter that the people on the screen were not suffering with this sort of illness (nor did I ever imply this in my original email – there was obviously huge misunderstanding and I am fully aware of what an alter ego is and the differences between that and multiple personalities). The joke was still made.

This sort of remark, when viewed by an individual suffering from mental illness, can not only do immense damage to their self esteem and their perception of how the general public view them, but it also adds to a much wider issue of how mental health is put forward in the media and gives the impression that it is okay to make little jokes about the symptoms. The fact that these remarks were made in a “humerous tone of voice” - as ITV stated in their email - does not make it okay.

As I said, people battling ill mental health, often suffer in silence. It is up to the rest of us to stand up for them when we see situations like this one.

One in four people will be affected by mental illness in their lifetime. This could be your mother, your father, your best friend. Or it could be you. The only way that we can help to break down the stigma is to call people or media out on their actions that directly contribute to the problem.

There is nothing funny about mental illness.

If you would like to help me encourage ITV to make a public apology for this, please email them at: viewerservices@itv.com and show your solidarity to all those silently fighting their battles with mental illness. 

(Image source: https://cdailytroubles.wordpress.com/2015/08/09/introduction-into-autism-and-autistic-spectrum-disorder-asd/)