Mental Health and The Media

To:  International

Media 'unfairly stigmatises mental illness'

Poor, unbalanced press coverage of mental health issues fuels stigma and reduces the quality of life for sufferers, says a leading charity.

A report by the mental health charity Mind in the UK says that media coverage has a direct impact on the lives of people diagnosed with psychiatric disorders.

A total of 73% of all respondents felt that coverage of mental health issues over the past three years had been unfair, unbalanced or very negative. Only 12% thought it had been fair, balanced or very positive.
Half said that media coverage had a negative effect on their own mental health, with 34% feeling more depressed and anxious as a result.
A total of 22% felt more withdrawn and isolated and 8% said that press coverage made them feel suicidal.

We want to change this – and turn it on its head. We want mental health users to reach the world stage to action this stigma.


We would like to approach the BBC with a commissioning proposal to herald a Mental Health Podcast that represents people with mental and psychological concerns in a positive light – as there is one.

This move in the media will make an enormous impact on people’s perception of mental health and will go some way in de-stigmatising this illness making a change in the lives of sufferers across the world.

Please help us make that difference and sign our petition.

Thank you for reading

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Mental Health and The Media Petition to International was created by and written by Nutan Modha (nutanmodha@yahoo.co.uk).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.