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The Use of the Media in the Promotion of Mental Health

1989; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 18; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00207411.1989.11449133

1557-9328

Katharine Whitehorn,

Digital Mental Health Interventions

In talking of using the media to mental health, we are up against a difficulty from the start. We cannot promote mental health in the same sense as we might an object or a personality not even in the same way that we might, in the interests of physical health, a diet or a set of exercises or even a life-style. The factors that contribute to the mental health of an individual or a society are too subtle, too tenuous; and the means by which they are achieved, on purpose or accidentally, are too diffused and too deeply enmeshed in our social roots to be easily affected by direct action. Even indirect action in this area is complex. Professionals in mental health might well decide that its interests would be served if, for example, more mentally handicapped people were shown in TV dramas to be leading comparatively normal lives, or if those who have nervous breakdowns were dealt with more sympathetically; they might think it better for characters to be shown coping with their problems mainly on their own or in their families, rather than invariably calling in a doctor. It might be thought a step forward, in our fragmented society, if there were more positive images of people living successfully on their own, rather than so often finding fulfillment only in a happy-ever-after partnership; it might help if someone with an alcohol problem were seen to tackle it successfully, rather than being portrayed only as a drunken lout. We could devise endless ways in which the media might further the cause of mental health; but there would be no obvious means by which we could induce editors and producers of programs to fall in with our wishes.