The representation of depressive illness in the print media

My Undergraduate dissertation. The maths may be a little shaky but it serve to highlight where the stigma attached to mental illness may be originating. In the end, Edinburgh Napier University awarded this piece 62% – a little disappointing but still reasonable.

This dissertation is submitted in part fulfilment of the regulations for the

BA (Hons) Degree in Journalism

Edinburgh Napier University 2010

Abstract

The study analyses the relationship between the mental health profession and the print media, specifically how depression and bipolar disorder are represented by newspapers. The study compares the differences between the tabloid and the broadsheet press when reporting on issues relating to depressive illness.

The study shows how instances of negative language and the types of stories reported can have an effect on the readers’ opinion and concludes that this could be detrimental to the opinions held about mental illness.

The research method utilised was content analysis. This allowed first hand assessment of the relevant issues and of the treatment by the print media of the illnesses and those suffering mental ill health. By considering both a broadsheet and a tabloid publication the articles gathered had as broad a range of opinion as possible.

The study aimed to prove four hypotheses. Hypotheses one and two related to article subject matter and aimed to prove a rise in reporting of mental health issues as well as proving that the broadsheet would feature the issue more heavily.

Hypotheses three and four assessed whether negative language had decreased between the study years and which newspaper had fewer instances of negative language.

Of these hypotheses one and three were proved. Two was found to be half true and four was disproved entirely. Therefore the conclusion was reached that while mental health reporting had increased, negative language was still too frequent to allow an unbiased presentation of depressive illness.

Acknowledgements

Alison McIntosh, for proofreading and general guidance

Kate Smith, for supervising this project

Peter McIntosh, for his constant encouragement and endless support

Jacqueline McIntosh, for her encouragement

Henry Topping, for helping with mathematical calculations

Kenneth Topping (Registered Mental Nurse), for his mental health expertise

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to identify any change in coverage and portrayal by the written media of mental health issues. This will be achieved through content analysis. The highest circulating broadsheet and the corresponding tabloid newspaper will be searched for terms relating to depressive illnesses to identify articles which mention either depression or bipolar disorder.

The stories will then be divided into categories according to the main issue within the news story. This process will be undertaken for two separate years, namely 2002 and 2010, and will focus only on the month of January in order to keep the research as up-to-date as possible.

The language used within the articles will also be assessed in order to identify negative terms. These terms can be either directly negative or negative only as a result of the context of the article. Again, this process will be undertaken for January 2002 and 2010.

Methodology

This study utilised content analysis in order to establish the media perception of depressive mood disorders. Two newspapers were considered for the study; namely the largest circulating broadsheet, The Times, and the corresponding tabloid, The Sun. All stories mentioning ‘depression’, ‘bipolar disorder’ or ‘manic depression’ were gathered from both publications for the month of January 2010. An identical search was conducted for the month of January in the earliest year which contained a number of stories relating to the search terms. The year chosen was 2002 as, for The Sun, there was a lack of articles on the appropriate subject for any year prior to this point.

Articles were then arranged into categories. Firstly the overall subject of the story was considered; these ranged from the obvious health categorization to stories where murder was the main issue with depressive illness given as a mitigating circumstance.

It was then ascertained how many stories fell into each category. The two publications were compared to each other within each study year in order to assess the difference between tabloid and broadsheet coverage of the issue, and then each study year was compared to ascertain whether mental health reportage had increased or decreased over time. The study specifically aimed to identify whether the reportage of depressive illness as an issue it its own right had increased or decreased.

Secondly, instances of negative language were considered. The study identified both direct negative language in the form of the usage of words such as ‘mad’ and ‘crazy’ as well as language which became negative when placed in the context of a story relating to mental health; one such example is The Sun’s reference to the psychiatric ward of the Royal Free Hospital as the ‘Alice in Wonderland ward’ (I’m locked in the Alice in Wonderland ward, The Sun, January 16, 2002)

Again the articles were quantified, this time according to instances of negative language use, in order to ascertain any changes which had occurred over the intervening years and the different ways in which the tabloid and broadsheet described issues of depression. As with the content study, the newspapers were compared within each study year in order to assess the different attitudes between the tabloid and broadsheet publications and then each year was compared to assess how this attitude had changed.

The assessment of both a tabloid and a broadsheet newspaper was undertaken in order to ensure a broad view of the issues, while the assessment of two years provided the opportunity to ascertain whether or not the reportage had changed over the years.

The use of content analysis allowed for first hand assessment of the relevant issues. As the study aimed to address the way in which the media depicts mental illness the most appropriate way to evaluate their views was to look at their output. The most effective way to ascertain whether this output has changed is to repeat the content analysis at a later point in time.

Content analysis allows for both quantitative and qualitative research. In this study quantative research is used to ascertain the distribution of stories relating to mental health while both quantative and qualitative research methods can be applied to the use of language. This means the study is as extensive as possible, which makes content analysis the perfect tool to achieve a comprehensive conclusion.

Literature Review:

Introduction

The relationship between mental health issues and the media is one that has not been covered by academics in great depth until quite recently. Studies have shown that the perception of mental health issues are often negative, inaccurate or both. The purpose of this literature review is to identify where media theories can be applied to the perception of mental health by a newspaper audience and to show how the mental health profession feel issues of mental illness should be fairly represented. Issues of stigma and stereotypes will also be addressed.

Methodology

Pertinent literature was found by searching the online resources of Edinburgh Napier University. Search terms such as ‘mental illness and the media’ and ‘mental health and the media’ identified a large number of articles appropriate only to one side of the argument. However it did yield several which dealt with the media portrayal of mental health. More articles were generated by searching the bibliography of these initial articles to fine appropriate research material.

Articles

Health Scotland, along with the National Health Service (NHS), publishes several pamphlets in their “Talking about” series.

For this review, the following were considered: Talking about depression and Talking about bipolar affective disorders as these were the most pertinent to the topic. The leaflets are designed to be given to sufferers by mental health professionals in order to help them and their families to better understand their condition and show that established stereotypes do not give a true picture of the illness.

Each begins by giving the reader a brief description of the disorder and its effects on the sufferer.

Talking about depression is keen to differentiate between normal cycles of low mood that nearly everyone suffers and clinical depression. It describes clinical depression as prolonged low mood making small aspects of life a daily struggle.

Talking about bipolar affective disorders defines the condition as two separate extremes of mood – depression and mania. The depressive cycle is the same as that of a depression sufferer however these are interspersed with episodes of mania, that is to say extreme elevated mood which may cause the sufferer to act recklessly.

These pamphlets explained in clear and concise language, easily understood by the layperson, what each of the disorders entailed. They explained exactly what the disorder is, its symptoms and treatment involved. The leaflets also counsel sufferers on what they can do to help themselves and what friends and family can do in support of the sufferer. Each pamphlet ends with a list of addresses, books and websites pertaining to the particular condition.

The “Talking about” series is helpful to this study as the booklets explain in basic terms what each illness is and what the symptoms are and this will allow a decision on whether a particular newspaper is giving their reader a full and fair explanation of the condition. This series also highlighted that ‘mental health’ is such a wide ranging topic and thus it was decided that the focus for this work should be on a few specific conditions; depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia

As the intended audience is the public, the limitations of the pamphlets for the purpose of this study are the lack of attention devoted to the relationship between mental health issues and the media e.g. they fail to show how the media represents each of the conditions. They also fail to address the issue of stigma attached to mental illness.

Collins English Dictionary (2006) was used to help define the medical terms to be used in the study. It uses the more outdated term ‘manic-depressive’ however it mistakenly applies this definition to both those who suffer both high and low extremes of mood and those who merely sufferer lows, normally referred to as depressive or unipolar. It also classes mental disorder as a disability. While this could technically be held to be true, it could also be construed as a negative representation of otherwise normal healthy people.

In Portrayal of mental illness and special hospitals in the UK press, Geoff Dickens (2008) blames the media for a negative and stigmatising representation of mental health issues.

He cites The Sun’s 2003 headline Bonkers Bruno locked up as an example of the general tone the media takes towards mental illness. He notes that the media is now more sensitive when it comes to reporting celebrities with mental health issues and questions whether this “is reflected in how the press reports on other issues related to mental illness.”

Dickens (2008) specifically picks out the term “suicide-watch” as a potentially negative term that the media use as a shorthand terminology. While he notes that it is a definite improvement on the use of words like ‘nuts and ‘schizo’, it is not a term commonly used in mental health nursing with ‘close observation’ being the preferred professional terminology. He also notes the increased use of the term suicide watch in recent years. Dickens (2008) also believes that the media over emphasises violent behaviour when reporting on mental health issues leading the layperson to believe that most or all mental illness sufferers have violent tendencies. He cites a US study by Slopen et al (2007) which showed that two thirds of newspaper articles linked mental illness to criminal activity. He defines one case where this link may be justified; when the media report on the three main high security hospitals in the UK (Rampton, Ashworth and Broadmoor). Here Dickens (2008) states that studies have shown that reporting coverage of the hospitals is not overwhelmingly negative though he concedes that the studies only took into account reputation of the facilities rather than mental illness itself.

This article shows that the use of less direct negative terms (for example ‘monster’ as opposed to ‘psycho’) has risen in the last decade or so. It also demonstrated that ‘suicide watch’ is not a professionally accepted term. The article suggested that adherence to news values may be partly to blame for any negativity as any activity within psychiatric institutes is often linked to their more notorious patients resulting in preconceptions about the nature of the facilities. This article has emphasised that mental illness has a higher profile place in the UK media than may be thought and that the representation is not only negative but often inaccurate. Its limitations are that it fails to address the derogatory use of language in the media; instead its focus is on the single term ‘suicide watch’. Additionally the second part of the article focuses on secure hospitals for those deemed criminally insane. This means that media attitudes towards non-criminal sufferers of mental illness are completely ignored and as such, this article cannot give a full picture of media attitudes towards mental health.

Covering mental health: a resource guide for reporters and editors (Voss, 1998) is skewed towards the American perspective but nonetheless gives valuable insight into the portrayal of mental illness by the media. Written by a health reporter, Melinda Voss, it identifies the most severe conditions as schizophrenia, manic-depression, panic disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Voss (1998) believes that mental health issues are under-reported and like Dickens (2008) identifies a huge stigma attached to those suffering from mental illness.

Voss (1998) then goes on to list resources available with regards to mental health along with a few statistics. She gives no advice to editors or journalists as to how they should treat the subject of mental illness nor does she tell them what terminology is negative and therefore to be avoided in order to prevent giving a negative and stigmatising view of mental health issues.

This article has limited application to this study as all facts and figures refer to the American healthcare system which differs too greatly from the NHS for the data to be extrapolated and also fails to show reporters the dos and don’ts that would allow journalists to report on mental health issues in a fair manner.

Scot’s Law for Journalists lists all aspects of Scots Law that are relevant to the media profession. Only one particular clause is relevant here; 03.66 which pertains to Hospital Orders. That is, a Judge or Sheriff can require that a person found not guilty of a crime on the grounds of insanity may be detained at State Hospital for Scotland and Northern Ireland (Carstairs Hospital). Previously the law only allowed detention for the period of time that the subject was receiving treatment within the facility, however, this has since changed (1999) and release can be refused on the grounds that the subject may be of danger to the public. This may be relevant to how the media portrays mental health as the change in legislation may cause the media to report differently on an individual who is deemed to be a danger to the public. The timing of the change in legislation is also important as some articles from the later study pre-date this change. The limitations are that the piece is unable to contextualise the law and apply it to realistic situations.

In Mental Health Literacy: Public knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders A. F. Jorm (2000) notes that public knowledge of mental health issues lags far behind their knowledge of physical ailments.

Jorm (2000) presents the idea that those with similar illnesses will manage their symptoms better if they are in touch with other sufferers and that the way they manage their symptoms will be changed based upon their level of mental health literacy – i.e. how much they know about their disorder. Jorm (2000) believes that mental health literacy is important as around 50% of the population will suffer some mental disorder at some point in their lives (Kessler et al, 1994) and that improved mental health literacy would aid diagnosis and management of any illness. Jorm (2000) identifies the problem that many members of the public are unable to correctly identify mental disorders with many defining schizophrenia as a split personality. He also identifies that the public are more likely to think of mental illness as having a societal cause rather than a biological one.

Jorm (2000) also notes that those suffering a psychological ailment are more reluctant to take medication than those suffering a physical ailment. He postulates that the negative side effects of the psychoactive drug benzodiazepine have been mistakenly attributed to all psychiatric medications. Electro convulsive therapy and stays on psychiatric wards are both viewed in a similarly negative light.

The article points to the public gaining most of their knowledge of mental health issues through the experiences of friends and relatives. It does, however, concede that the media plays a large role in the dissemination of information on the subject. The unfortunate truth is that very often the media tends to focus on the negative rather than the positive. Like Dickens (2008), he notes that many members of the public associate mental illness with criminality.

This article clearly outlined the gap between professional and public knowledge. It also states where much of this knowledge comes from (32% of people in a UK survey said the media was their main source of information). Jorm (2000) states that one of the ways to improve mental health literacy is for the media to have professional input into their articles.

Newspaper coverage of psychiatric and physical illness (Lawrie, 2000) analysed the differences in coverage given to physical illness and psychiatric conditions. Nine newspapers were monitored for a month in November 1996 for articles relating to health. These were then divided into groups according to whether they referred to issues of physical health, mental health or general health issues. The study came to the conclusion that mental health issues are represented in a more negative light that those of physical illness or other health issues.

Additionally the study highlighted stories regarding mental health tended to be of the ‘bad patient’ variety, while those discussing physical health and other health issues were more likely to take the ‘bad doctor’ viewpoint.

Lawrie (2000) did concede that while instances on negative reporting on psychiatric issues was on the rise this could possibly be attributed to a general rise in the reporting of health issues and thus the increase was proportional.

The study draws its conclusions from a selection of 306 articles taken from newspapers with differing viewpoints. The newspapers included quality broadsheets (The Times, Telegraph, Independent, Guardian, Herald and The Scotsman) as well as tabloids (Daily Mail, The Sun and Daily Record). While this implies a wide variety of opinion, it’s limited by the imbalance in the ratio of broadsheets to tabloids A more balanced study would have an equal ratio.

Of the articles studied, the conclusion was reached that when reporting matters of psychiatric health not only were the articles in the minority (47 out of 306) but that the tone of the majority (64%) was judged to be negative.

Mental Health Issues and the Media: An Introduction for Health Professionals by Gary Morris (2006) is written from the point of view of a medical professional rather than from a journalistic perspective but it allows us to see both sides of the argument. Gary Morris is a lecturer in Mental Health Nursing at the University of Leeds where he runs a module dedicated to the relationship between the media and the mental health profession.

Morris (2006) tells us that while our opinions on mental health issues can be influenced by personal experience, they are more often governed by societal opinion and that societal opinion can be guided by the news media. The impetus for Morris’ work was a number of studies which showed the media to depict mental illness and its associated issues in a negative and detrimental way which was damaging to the perception of those suffering mental ill health.

He considers the meaning of the term ‘mental health issues’ and decides that the strongest of the three words used is ‘mental’. He theorises that this word can be used both positively and negatively. When it is used in a context akin to ‘cerebral’ then it conjures up the ideal of intellectual superiority, however it can be used in a derogatory sense and when used in newspapers, Morris believes it can drastically alter the message given – he cites the headline form the Daily Express on September 23, 2003 which read “Bruno put in Mental home”. Morris (2006) believes that the use of the word mental in this context only serves to underline negative perception.

Morris (2006) also believes that the relationship between societal views of mental illness and the media representation is a cylindrical one. That is to say that each side influences the other. For the question of which side has more influence over the other, Morris cites McQuail (2005) and concludes that the mass media is able to effect change via its dissemination of ideas. This is important as it highlights that the stigma of mental illness as perceived by Dickens (2008) could be perceived to originate from media outlets.

Key Findings

The available literature tends to agree that mental health issues are underrepresented in the media. The consensus is that on the occasions where they are written about, the portrayal tends to be negative. This comes about as a result of either negative, or possibly offensive, language such as ‘nutter’, ‘mad’, ‘crazy’ etc or as a consequence of the story in which the illness is mentioned i.e. as part of a crime story (Jorm, 2000 and Dickens, 2008)

Limitations of the literature

The main limitation of the literature is the lack of available and up-to-date material. That which does exist is often from the medical standpoint rather than the media one. Additionally there is almost nothing which depicts they way in which depressive illness is represented as much of the literature focuses on instances when the media has reported on those who suffer violent or psychopathic traits.

Dickens (2008) fails to address mental illness in relation to any non-criminal activity, while Voss (1998) tells the reader that editors and journalists use too many negative terms but neglects to give any examples of unwelcome terminology. None of the available literature addresses the issue of how the type of story depression is mentioned in could affect the perception of that illness.

Conclusion

The current literature indicates that there is a gap between the way professionals and the public perceive issues of mental health. The general consensus is that the media does not do enough to portray mental illness in a positive light and instead reinforces negative stereotypes through the use of archaic and derogatory language. There is also a tendency to link criminality to mental health where possible and to sensationalise activity within secure hospitals by linking to them to notorious offenders.

Research Questions

In view of the findings and limitations of the literature, it is clear that the following research questions need to be addressed:

• How do the print media portray mental illness?

• How has this portrayal changed over the last eight years?

• What has changed about the way in which mental illness is presented?

Main Study:

A study of the extent to which the representation of depressive illness in the media changed between January 2002 and January 2010

For this study articles from the highest circulating tabloid and broadsheet daily newspapers, for the period of January 2002, were considered. A similar search was conducted for material featuring in the same publications for the period of January 2010. Articles relating to issues of depression and bipolar disorder were collected from the two periods. The newspapers studied were The Times and The Sun. The articles were sorted according to category and the newspapers compared both within the same year and across the intervening period between the two study years. The language used within the articles was also considered.

Several hypotheses were tested:

That the number stories relating to depressive illnesses would increase between the two study years and that stories relating to depressive illnesses as a health concern would rise within the increase of articles.
That The Times would have a higher proportion of articles compared to The Sun. This would be true for both study years.
That the instances of directly negative language used within the articles would decrease between the two study years.
That The Times would have a lesser proportion of negative language compared to The Sun. This would be true for both study years.

Content analysis was used to determine what attitude the written media holds in relation to issues of mental illness, specifically depression and bipolar disorder. The content analysis looked at articles from similar periods in two different years to ascertain whether or not the attitude of the written media had changed over the course of time. The content analysis evaluated the contrast between the broadsheet and tabloid press by comparing the differences between the two in each of the two selected time periods.

Content and context of the article were considered to ascertain the attitude of the media towards bipolar disorder and depression in January 2002 and also in January 2010. The two years were then compared to determine whether this attitude has changed over time and, if a change were found, was it positive or negative? For the purposes of the study no differentiation was made between depression and bipolar disorder as it was found that the media often confused the two terms because those suffering bipolar disorder experience lows as well as highs.

This decision was made after discovering an article in The Sun dated January 16, 2002 in which 80s pop star Adam Ant (also referred to by his real name, Stuart Goddard) was described as suffering both bipolar disorder (although the article termed this manic depression) and depression. Further research ascertained that this was an area of confusion with him being described in this story as having been diagnosed with both depression and bipolar disorder, while stories in other newspapers tended to refer to his illness only as depression. As it was now dubious as to whether or not the correct terminology had been used in a news report it was decided not to try and differentiate between the terms for the purposes of the study.

Articles for the period January 1 to January 31 2002 were recovered from the tabloid and broadsheet newspaper with the largest circulation for their type according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

The average daily circulation of The Sun is listed as 3,502,923 for the period of January 4th 2002 to January 31st of this year and The Times at 711,295 for the same period. The articles were recovered in the period February 2nd to February 5th 2010 by using the search terms depression, manic depression and bipolar within the LexisNexis database. The search looked for these terms occurring in all stories printed between January 1st 2002 and January 31st 2002.

The 2002 search yielded a total of 76 articles using all search terms. Of this, 24 were disregarded from the study for varying reasons:

The article used the term depression or depressed as an adjective, as opposed to a proper noun describing the clinical condition.
The depression referred to was one of the economic variety.
The depression referred to was a geographic feature in the landscape.

A further 16 were disregarded as they were duplicate articles published within differing editions of the same publication but with no alteration to the original article. Any article discussing the same issue but containing different text was kept for the purposes of the study. This left 36 articles, 47.37% of the original search, to be categorised.

The remaining articles were ordered into 10 categories, defined in an arbitrary manner upon analysis of the articles. The terms were settled on after analysis of all the available articles. Where an article did not fit into an existing category, a new one was created. Later in the research, some categories were merged due to them being deemed similar in nature; for example one entitled Sport became part of the Celebrity category as it was ascertained that the stories referred to a sportsman or woman as opposed to the activity itself.

Other categories were split; for example Murder became a category in its own right after it was noted that the majority of other stories relating to criminal acts related to lower level activity such as fraud or driving offences. Murder is generally defined using the writing of Lord Chief Justice Coke who wrote in his 17^th century document “Institutes of the Lawes of England” (Sheppard, 2003).

“Murder is when a man of sound memory, and of the age of discretion, unlawfully killeth within any county of the realm any reasonable creature in rerum natura under the king’s peace, with malice aforethought, either expressed by the party or implied by law, so as the party wounded, or hurt etc. die of the wound or hurt, …”.

Thus the act of murder is generally seen as a more repugnant crime by the right thinking person. Therefore it was necessary to set it apart from any act which may be considered a lesser crime due to its prohibition by act of law as opposed to its social abhorrence.

Where a story could fit into more than one category – for example a murderer who went on to commit suicide – the main issue was considered at the story filed under the appropriate category – in the above case, the story would be assigned to the Murder category. The categories were as follows:

Category Number	Category Title	Category Definition
1	Crime	Stories reporting criminal acts or where illness was given as a mitigating circumstance for the defendant in a criminal trial for any offence other than murder.
2	Celebrity	Reference was made to the illness while reporting on or interviewing a celebrity or other public figure.
3	Work Related	Articles reporting on issues in the place of work or study or those relating to industrial tribunals.
4	Health: Other	All health articles which mentioned depression but where the main body related to another illness with depression mentioned as a symptom or where it came about as a result of the original illness.
5	Health: Depression	All stories where clinical depression was the main focus.
6	Sexual Abuse	All stories where depression was a result of sexual molestation or assault.
7	Drugs	Articles where depression was induced by illegal drugs or where victims turned to illicit substances as a result of depressive episodes.
8	Suicide	Reporting on victims who had terminated their own life as a result of clinical depression.
9	Murder	Articles where the perpetrator was suffering a depressive episode at the time of their crime. Separate from Crime due to due to its serious nature.
10	Other	All articles which did not fit into any of the above categories.

Of these categories several could result in a negative perception of depressive illness. Crime suggests a break with the rules by which society governs itself and thus could indicate someone who operates outside societal norms.

The use of illegal drugs is not only a crime but is perceived to detrimentally affect society. A BBC article dated 12th February, 2002 stated that illegal drug use cost society £18.8bn per year, which “includes the costs of crime, social security and bringing drugs offenders to justice, as well as the bill to the NHS.”

Suicide, which was a crime until the passing of the Suicide Act 1961, can be perceived as abhorrent. As Roth (2005) states, “Taking one’s own life is frowned upon in most societies” and that “both Judaism and Islam teach that human life is sacred and they forbid Suicide”.

Murder has been considered the ultimate wrong for centuries and is specifically outlawed by the Biblical Ten Commandments.

Mental illness mentioned as a part of stories about these negative issues may affect how the illness is perceived. If someone accused of a crime gives a depressive illness as a mitigating reason for their action then it could be implied that their actions resulted from their illness.

For the month of January 2002, The Sun tabloid newspaper published a total of 34 articles. Of these, 11 (32.35%) were discarded as irrelevant for the study due to the use of depression as an adjective or in another non-clinical sense. The remaining 23 were divided between seven categories: Murder, Celebrity, Work Related, Health: Other, Sexual Abuse, Other and Crime.

Celebrity stories made up the largest proportion of articles with 45.45% of all remaining pieces falling into this category. Articles regarding Murder and Other issues made up 13.64% of the remaining pieces. 9.09% of pieces were allocated to the Health: Other and Sexual Abuse categories while the remainder were attributed to Work Related issues and Crime, which counted for 4.55% each.

For the same period in The Times 37 articles were published. 14 (37.84%) were disregarded as irrelevant to the study. The remaining 62.16% were spread across eight of the above defined categories. These were: Health:Other, Work Related, Suicide, Crime, Celebrity, Murder, Health:Depression and Other.

As would reasonably be expected from a Broadsheet there are fewer stories relating to celebrities and other public figures with stories in the Celebrity category accounting for only 13.04% of the total. This is a difference of 32.41% between The Times and The Sun.

While The Times had the largest proportion of material in the Health:Other and Health:Depression categories, with such articles accounting for 39.13% of the total, the number was heavily skewed in favour of the Health:Other category with 88.89% of all articles in the two categories (34.78% of the total) being sorted into the Health:Other category. The remaining 11.11% were categorised as Health:Depression, this category accounted for only 4.35% of the total.

The difference in the percentage of health related storied between the broadsheet and the tabloid is 30.04%. In the remaining categories, articles relating to suicide accounted for 17.39% of the publication’s total. Work related articles accounted for 13.04%, while Murder and Crime made up 4.35% of the total. Stories placed in the Other category accounted for the remaining 8.7%.

From this, it can be ascertained that The Times has a lesser proportion of stories detailing the private lives of individuals in the public arena and prefers to cover the issue of depressive mood disorders in a serious manner. This is borne out by the high proportion of stories relating to health.

In 2010, both The Sun and The Times retained their places as the highest circulating tabloid and broadsheet respectively. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations figures, The Sun newspaper had an average readership of 3,006,565 while The Times readership was 508,250 for the period January 4th 2010 to January 31st.

For the period January 1st 2010 until January 31st 2010 The Sun yielded a total of 45 articles. Of these 18, or 40%, were discarded as irrelevant to the study. Of the discarded articles, 4.44% referred to depression in the economic sense. In the same time period of 2002 there were no economic stories; this rise could be attributed to the fact that 2010 was a period of economic downturn. This left 27 to be sorted. This is an increase of 14.81% from the same period in 2002.

The remaining articles were divided between seven categories: Crime, Celebrity, Drugs, Health:Depression, Suicide, Murder and Other. As with the period in 2002, the largest proportion of stories was in the Celebrity category which accounted for 44.44% of the total. This is a 1.01% drop from 2002 but shows that the tabloid newspaper still has a large interest in the private lives of public figures. Articles in the Other category accounted for 18.52%, an increase of 4.88% from the previous study period. Crime was the next largest category accounting for 11.11%, an increase of 6.56% while Health:Depression, Murder and Suicide all accounted for 7.41% of the total, an increase of 7.41% for both the Health:Depression and Suicide category. Stories relating to Murder decreased by 6.23%. Drug stories accounted for 3.70% of the total.

From this it can be seen that the reporting of depressive illnesses by The Sun overall has increased but that, importantly the reporting of depression and bipolar disorder as an issue in their own right has increased.

For the same timeframe in 2010, The Times printed a total of 86 articles. Of these 61.63% were discarded as irrelevant to the study; 32.08% related to economic issues. This left 33 (38.37%) articles, an increase on 2002 figures of 69.70%. The remaining stories were divided between 7 categories; Crime, Celebrity, Health:Other, Health:Depression, Suicide, Murder and Other.

Like 2002, The Times had a large number of articles dedicated to health stories. Together, the Health:Other and Health:Depression made up 42.42% of the material (Or 33.33% and 9.09% respectively). This is an increase on 2002 of 3.29%. However, like 2002 the material features mainly in the Health:Other category with 78.57% of the articles from the two categories fitting here. This is a slight decrease of 10.32% on 2002 figures but shows not that health reporting is decreasing but rather that the proportion of health stories dedicated to depressive illnesses is increasing.

Articles in the Celebrity category increased dramatically to 33.33% in 2010, compared to just 13.04% just eight years before. This is a jump of 20.29% however this could be attributed to The Times featuring a large number of articles on Iris Robinson, wife of the Northern Irish First Minister Peter Robinson, and questioning the effect on Northern Irish politics. This means that although the articles feature a public figure, the focus is not on the individual but rather their effect on a more serious issue. This would be entirely expected from a broadsheet.

Stories in the Other category made up the next largest category, accounting for 9.09%. This is a minor rise of 0.39% on 2002. Suicide, Murder and Crime made up 3.03% of the total each. This is a rise of 4.74% for stories in the Murder category but a decrease of 1.32% for both the Murder and Crime categories.

From this data, it can be seen that hypothesis one is correct. In both The Sun and The Times the number of stories relating to depressive mood disorders has increased between the two study periods, by 17.39% and 43.48% respectively. Within the study it is also possible to see that the number of stories relation to depressive illness as an issue in its own right, as opposed to a part of a larger issue, increased for both publications between the two study years. In 2002, The Sun published no stories in this category while The Times published only one. By 2010, this had increased to one and three respectively.

The above data also shows that hypothesis two is only half correct; while it is true that in 2010 The Times published a higher proportion of stories relating to depression, in 2002 the number of articles was the same in The Sun and The Times. What can also be seen is that in both study years, The Times published more articles relating to depression as the sole issue than The Sun. This is true for both study years.

The secondary consideration when analysing the way in which the written media portrays mental illness is the language used within the stories. Language used may be either positive or negative. For the purposes of this study instances of negative language were considered and, as with the above categorisation, the two study years were compared to ascertain whether or not negative language had increased or decreased in the intervening years. Within each study year the two publications, The Sun and The Times, were compared. For the study, headlines were not considered as they were considered too short and without enough context to have a negative impact on the reader.

As with the study of story types, the language was defined in an arbitrary manner upon analysis of the texts. This analysis was not as straight forward as the category analysis due to story context affecting the meaning of seemingly innocuous words. For example, in a story entitled ‘I’m locked in the Alice in Wonderland ward’ published by The Sun on January 16, 2002, the newspaper wrote of the 1980s popstar, Adam Ant (real name Stuart Goddard) and his detainment to the Royal Free Hospital under section 4 of the Mental Health Act 1983. The psychiatric ward of the Royal Free Hospital is named the ‘Alice’ ward; in both the headline and the report it was referred to as the ‘Alice in Wonderland ward’.

As Lewis Carroll’s book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is considered a classic of the ‘nonsense’ literary genre (Lecercle, 1994), one could infer from the newspaper’s use of the term ‘Alice in Wonderland ward’ that the psychiatric ward is a place full of strange characters where nothing makes sense and therefore, in this context, such a term could be construed to be negative.

Due to words changing meaning depending on context, it was necessary to consider these alongside words which were negative in their own right. Words with negative meaning were assessed in a quantative manner, whereas those where the connotations depended on the context of the story were assessed separately.

Where a verb had been used in a conjugated form, or indeed had been used as an adverb, the original verb was considered for the study. An example is a story dated January 2nd 2002 from The Times entitled ‘What was the matter with Vincent?’ the artist Vincent Van Gogh is described as behaving ‘strangely’. For the purposes of this study, this term would be considered part of the term ‘Strange’.

The terms were defined using the Collins Dictionary. For the purposes of the study any definition not relating to humans, human behaviour or mental illness in humans was disregarded.

Term Number	Term	Term as defined by Collins Dictionary
1	Crazy	adj .1. Ridiculous2. Insane
2	Mad	adj . 1. Mentally deranged, insane 2. Extremely foolish, senseless3. (Informal) Angry or annoyed
3	Cracked	adj .1. (Informal) Crazy
4	Mental (either on its own or prefixing word such as ‘fragility’, ‘incapacity’, ‘problem’ etc… but not illness)	adj. 1. Of, done by or involving the mind
5	Strange	adj .1. Odd or unexpected
6	Nuts	adj .(slang)1. Insane
7	Rambling	Adj.1. (of speech or writing) confused and long-winded
8	Deranged	Adj.1. Mad or behaving in a wild or uncontrolled way
9	PsychoticThe term ‘Psychotic’ was not found in the Collins dictionary; it does however derive from the term ‘Psychosis’ and so this definition was considered instead, with psychotic meaning ‘of psychosis’.	n.1. A severe mental disorder in which the sufferers contact with reality becomes highly distorted.
10	Insane	adj1. Mentally ill2. Stupidly irresponsible
11	Manic	Adj.1. of, involving, or affected by mania, deep depression broken by periods of manic excitement
12	Berserk	Adj.1. To go berserk, to become violent or destructive

In 2002, The Sun featured three stories which contained direct negative language:

I’m locked in the Alice in Wonderland ward, dated January 16^th, 2002
I’m not mad, says Adam Ant from his psychiatric ward, dated January 17^th, 2002
A Man at War, dated January 25^th, 2002

All three articles came from the Celebrity category: two discussed Adam Ant, while the third related to Mike Tyson.

Article one related to the detainment of Adam Ant (otherwise known as Stuart Goddard) in the Alice Ward of the Royal Free Hospital. This confinement was undertaken to conform with section 4 of the Mental Health Act 1983. This article contained four negative terms, each used once. Adam Ant was referred to as manic by the newspaper, and his speech was described as rambling. This could imply an unsound mind.

Adam Ant is also quoted as saying “[The psychiatric team] think I’m crazy” and “I’m not mad”. These two instances could be considered excusable use by the media due to the fact the reporter is making a direct quotation of the victim and it could be argued this is not intended to convey a negative view of the victim or their illness. However, the use of the terms ‘manic’ and ‘rambling’ negate this argument. The reporter’s use of other negative terms as part of their report implies that negative connotations are intentional.

Juxtaposed against allegations of gun crime within the article, one could infer from the language that the subject of the article is dangerous.

Article two was a more sympathetic article, again featuring Adam Ant. Like the earlier article, it uses the terms ‘crazy’, ‘rambling’ and ‘mad’ but omits the word ‘manic’ which was used in the previous day’s article. Again like the earlier article, ‘mad’ and ‘crazy’ only feature as a direct quotation from Adam Ant and therefore cannot be considered derogatory on the part of the newspaper. However again ‘rambling’ is used to convey Adam Ant’s speech pattern implying he is perhaps less sentient. Again firearms offences are mentioned which may present a negative view of the individual. However this is tempered by a quotation from Adam Ant’s spokesperson stating that he did not intend to “purposely harm another individual.” In this article the words ‘crazy’, ‘mad’ and ‘rambling’ are each used once.

Article three relates to the American boxer, Mike Tyson and his psychiatric assessment prior to a return to the ring. Tyson had previously bitten off the ear of rival Evander Holyfield.

The sub-headline immediately reveals the tone of the article as it reads “Inside the mind of a manic: what top psychologists said about ex-boxing champ”. Immediately one could infer from this headline that it is the ‘top psychologists’ who are using the negative term ‘manic’ and not the newspaper. This could be seen as an attempt to legitimise the use of negative and derogatory language.

The article makes reference to a brawl that took place between Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis at a pre-fight press conference. The article states that Tyson went ‘berserk’ and thus strongly implies fault lies solely on his side – this is despite footage of the event (YouTube, “Tyson – Lewis fight on the press conference”) showing both men throwing punches. From this, it could be judged that the newspaper was suggesting that Tyson’s behaviour was as a result of his illness. The report also labels Tyson crazy and again implies that his violent behaviour is a result of this. The article contains many references to undesirable personality traits such as irritability and also mentions allegations of sexual assault which a casual reader could interpret as resulting directly from his mental state.

In total, in 2002, The Sun uses the word ‘berserk’ once; ‘mad’, ‘rambling’ and ‘manic’ twice and ‘crazy’ is used three times. Certain instances can be interpreted as non-derogatory on the part of the publication due to them being a direct quote from the patient and thus could be deemed a fulfilment of clause one of the Press Complaints Commission Editors’ Code of Practice, which aims to ensure accuracy in reporting. However this still leaved six instances of negative language which have originated directly from the reporter and could be deemed to influence the reader into adopting a less sympathetic stance towards those suffering mental illness.

For the same year, The Times featured three articles with negative language. These came from three different categories: Health:Depression, Health:Other and Suicide

The Week, dated January 8^th 2002
The downside of miracle acne drug, dated January 11^th 2002
Isn’t he afraid he’ll miss the world?, dated January 16^th, 2002

Article one is taken from the business section of the publication and details five smaller stories from throughout the week. Of interest to this study are the entries for Monday and Tuesday. Monday reports activities within the Court of Protection and the possibility of opening hearings to the media. The publication reports that this court sits on cases of affairs of people with ‘mental incapacity’. People contained within this group could be quite widely interpreted but as this is juxtaposed with Tuesday’s entry reporting meditation techniques to aid depression it could be interpreted as saying those with depressive illness could be included in the ‘mental incapacity’ group. This is probably unintentional by the publication and is just an unfortunate case of positioning.

The article dated January 16^th, 2002 has a far higher instance of negative language. The piece is an informal obituary of the skydiver Charles ’Nish’ Bruce following his suicide from a Cessna aircraft. In it, the word ‘mad’ or its various permutations occurs no less than five times. ‘Psychotic’ appears twice and ‘insane’ and ‘manic’ appear once each. Another negative term which appears, although it is not considered for this study is the word ‘mong’, a somewhat archaic term denoting learning difficulties. It is not considered for this study as it does not relate to depressive illness but rather the effects of medication as described by Bruce. All other negative terms originate with the journalist and so the view could be taken that they intended to portray mental illness in a negative light. This is at odds with an article which overall praises its subject.

The third article relates to side effects of an anti-acne medication. While overall a factual article, it does contain one instance of negative language where it likens the effect of the medication to the ‘mental disturbance’ experienced by people who had consumed the liver of a Polar Bear which is rich in vitamin A, the same substance as the medication.

In total The Times displayed eleven instances of direct negative language across the three articles, 10% more than The Sun printed in the same year over the same number of articles.

In 2010 The Sun printed only one article with a negative term. Killer mum ‘gave her kids sedative’ appeared in an issue dated January 29^th, 2002 and refers to a case of infanticide where a mother killed her two children, put them in a car boot and drove to the police station to confess. The journalist refers to the mother as ‘deranged’. Much later in the article it is mentioned that the mother had lost another child to cot death and after had sought treatment for depression. It could be concluded from this usage that the journalist intend to convey abhorrence rather than sympathy towards the mother.

For the same period, The Times published two articles:

What was the matter with Vincent, dated January 2^nd, 2010
If there is a dominant ideology now, it’s have a good time, don’t judge, chill out; my journey home, Is Britain broken? dated January 2^nd 2010

Article one refers to the artist Vincent Van Gogh and questions what mind lay behind the paintings. The article uses the term ’mad’ twice, both occasions can be excused as one is a direct quotation from the artist himself, while the other uses inverted commas around the term ‘mad artist’ to convey that this is a stereotype rather than the author’s opinion. The usage of the word ‘cracked’ also fits into this category as it is another quotation, this time from Archibald Hartrick, a contemporary of Van Gogh’s. However, the artist is described by the writer as acting ‘strangely’ and as having ‘mental problems’ and while the article overall is in praise of Van Gogh these terms could be construed as attempting to lower Van Gogh’s reputation and that the writer is seeking to convey psychiatric illness in a negative manner.

The second article follows a journalist as he returns to the place where he grew up, only to find it rife with social deprivation. Only one negative term relating to psychiatric disorders is found here but juxtaposed against a litany of social problems, it does infer that ‘mental fragility’ can be caused by a less affluent lifestyle.

In total, The Times featured six instances derogatory terms across two articles, while The Sun had one term contained within a single article. This is a 600% difference in derogatory terms and a 200% difference in the number of stories.

Between the two study periods, it can be ascertained that the instances of direct negative language has decreased in both The Sun and The Times. In the case of The Times this decrease is 83.33% while The Sun saw a decrease of 90%.

This proves that hypothesis three is correct and that negative language has decreased between the two study years. However, hypothesis four is incorrect, in 2002 the difference between the two publications was 10% with the majority of negative language being published in The Times but by 2010 this gap had widened with a 600% difference between the newspapers. Like the previous study year, The Sun had fewer instances of negative language.

Conclusion

From this study, it can be concluded that the reportage of mental illness has indeed changed over the study period. It has been proved that for both broadsheet and tabloid format, the number of stories relating to depressive illnesses has increased between 2002 and 2010. This increase was 17.39% for The Sun and 43.48% for The Times. This is judged to be especially true for stories relating directly to depressive illnesses as opposed to reports where psychiatric illness is of secondary concern.

It was also proved that that The Times has had a larger increase in reportage than The Sun in 2010 by 22.22%, however this did not hold true for 2002 and thus hypothesis two was only partially correct.

Hypothesis three held negative language would decrease between the two study years. This was found to be true for both publications with The Times having two thirds the number of articles in 2010 as they published in 2002 and an 83.33% decrease in the occurrence of negative terms within the published articles. The Sun featured one third the number of articles from the previous study year with a 90% drop in instances of negative language.

Hypothesis four was disproved in its entirety. While it was expected that fewer negative terms would appear in the broadsheet publication, the opposite held true for both study years with The Times featuring eleven instances to The Sun’s ten in 2002 and six to The Sun’s one in 2010.

From this it can be concluded that the reportage of depressive illnesses has increased, while the use of negative language has decreased. However, there are still improvements that can be made. Currently both publications could be held to be flouting sections one and twelve of the Press Complaints Commission Editors’ Code of Practice. Section one covers accuracy and states:

“The press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures.”

It could be argued that by failing to give a comprehensive insight into depressive illnesses then any reportage will be misleading. By having a large number of stories with negative subject matter will also lead to distortion in the perception of psychiatric illness.

Section twelve is a statement against discrimination and specifically mentions mental illness:

“i) The press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to an individual’s race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation or to any physical or mental illness or disability.

ii) Details of an individual’s race, colour, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental illness or disability must be avoided unless genuinely relevant to the story.”

Both publications breach this guideline repeatedly by their inclusion of negative terminology and by including mentions of depressive illness where it is not necessarily relevant to the main subject being reported on.

This study suggests that publications should strive harder to adhere to professional codes of practice laid out in order to avoid presenting an unjustly negative view of depressive mood disorders and those suffering from them.

This study has also highlighted the lack of academic research analysing the media attitude towards mental illness. Much of the available literature notes that there is a negative perception regarding mental illness but makes no attempt to establish where this opinion arises from.

A recommendation for further study is made. The study should include data for the whole year for each study period in order to ascertain if the hypotheses remain correct when twelve months of data is collected. The study should also include a wider selection of newspapers. This is for two reasons. Firstly a larger pool of data would result in a wider range of opinions. While the two publications considered for this study were a broadsheet and a tabloid, both publications have a right wing leaning and are controlled by the same media group, News Corp. This may lead to them having similar opinions and thus the results of any study could be skewed if only these two publications were considered for research. A larger data pool would also give more comprehensive results.

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‘Recent’ lakes on Mars cause ripple of excitement, The Times, January 5, 2010
Recovery gloom after forecast of negligible growth in manufacturing, The Times, January 14, 2010
Rev’s suicide bid after bully hell; Church helpline reveals horror ordeals, The Sun, January 11, 2010
Robinson wife, 60 had toyboy of 22, The Sun, January 8 2010
Robinson’s friend tells of cash donation to DUP, The Times, January 13, 2010
Rock/pop albums, The Times, January 16, 2010
Roth, Dr Ronald, 2005, A Biblical Perspective of Suicide, Physician-assisted Suicide, & Euthanasia,http://www.acu-cell.com/suicide.html (last accessed 21/02/10)
Scots feel the pain as NHS dentist waiting lists grow; Rural areas suffer as 80,000 try to register, The Times, January 5, 2010
Secret court for elderly and vulnerable to be opened up; Judge reports rise in cases involving abuse, The Times, January 4, 2010
Sedated, smothered and hidden for days; Toddlers killed by deranged mother, The Sun, January 29, 2010
Selfish lover is turn-off, The Sun, January 4, 2002
Sex counsel, The Times, January 2, 2010
Sheppard, Steve (2003), The selected writings of Sir Edward Coke, http://www.dominiopublico.gov.br/download/texto/0462-03_Bk.pdf (last accessed 16/03/2010)
Shuffle for the shelf; E-books, Twitter-lit and new novels from Martin Amis and Ian McEwan… Nicholas Clee looks at what the publishing industry has in store for 2010, The Times January 2, 2010
Simply the vest, The Sun, January 14, 2010
Sister act; In her new Chekhov role, Romola Garai stays where she’s happiest: firmly in the past, The Times, January 21, 2010
Slopen NB, Watson AC, Gracia G, Corrigan PW (2007) Age analysis of newspaper coverage of mental illness. J Health Communication 12: 3–15
Stress gran’s body found in harbour; Eileen, 79, walked out over pressure of Xmas, The Sun, January 8, 2010
Study finds no genetic link to chronic fatigue, The Times, January 01, 2002
Suicide mother throws babies off cliff, The Times, January 16, 2002
Tales from a road less travelled; arts Punk rocker, actor and tireless explorer of the world’s hotspots, Henry Rollins turns reportage into comedy, The Times, January 16, 2002
Talking about bipolar affective disorders, 2007, Health Scotland
Talking about Depression, 2009, Health Scotland
Talking about Schizophrenia, 2005, Health Scotland
Tell me doctor, have I got art problems?; How classical paintings reveal medical symptoms, the sun, January 7, 2010
Terrifying ordeal of burglary victims meant this was no vigilante attack; Lord Chief Justice says sentence is reduced because of extreme provocation that led brothers to take revenge on violent intruder, The Times, January 21, 2010
The “Noughties” has largely failed to take off with Americans, The Times, January 2, 2010
The 22-year-old ex-lover of Iris Robinson aged 60; Northern leader’s marriage crisis, The Sun, January 8, 2010
The angel whisperer; young psychic Kyle Gray, 21, has made a name for himself as an angel whisperer. He can sense angels and spirits and asks for guidance in sorting out YOUR questions and problems. All he needs is a hand-written letter., The Sun, January 5 2010
The diet that’s all in the mind; Tap into your unconscious and let fears float away, The Times, January 4, 2010
The downside of miracle acne drug, The Times, January 11, 2002
The happiness professor; Dr Martin Seligman is the unofficial father of positive psychology, the controversial study of human happiness. Alan Franks visits him to discover how the inhabitants of a depressed Britain can achieve a happier outlook – and some seasonal strategies for marital harmony, The Times, January 2, 2010
The human face of climate change Next door to Greenland, things are hotting up for the Inuit of Baffin Island, The Times, January 7, 2010
The Iris problem; Northern Ireland’s flamboyant first lady believes that God has forgiven her for her affair with a teenager, but the public may not be so generous. As her husband steps aside as First Minister, David Sharrock assesses the damage, The Times, January 12, 2010
The lowdown on pick-me-up drinks, The Times, January 04, 2002
The mystery illness triggered by yeast Diagnosing and treating candida divides the medical profession. Barbara Lantin examines both sides of the debate, The Times, January 23, 2002
The personal trainer; The truth about working out with the Blairs, The Times, January 9, 2010
The prisoner, The Sun, January 22, 2002
The secret of abuse eats away at you like a cancer, The Sun, January 19 2002
The secret to living a good life…; …is not money or education. But, says a Harvard study which tracked the lives of more than 200 healthy, well-adjusted students for 72 years, it is something that all of us, rich or poor, can easily achieve. Here we reveal the key to self-fulfilment, The Times January 2, 2010
The Speech – and what it means, The Times, January 29, 2010
The Speech – ‘We don’t quit’, The Times, January 29, 2010
Credit Rating; If the economic recovery survives the economic revisions, the Government will seek an electoral reward. But the big question of how to cut the deficit still remains, The Times, January 27, 2010
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Their wildest dreams. Increasingly, the world’s super rich are buying up huge tracts of wilderness in Africa and North America to preserve the land and restock it with its original, endangered animals – and fulfil a need in themselves that money cannot satisfy. Lucia van der Post explains why wilderness is the new luxury, The Times, January 12, 2002
They seemed to be joined at hip despite age gap; Pal reveals intimacy of Iris and lover, The Sun, January 8, 2010
This relationship went on for longer than I was led to believe… Iris has questions to answer; Robinson to quiz wife over affair, The Sun, January 9, 2010
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Tragic Daniela trudged 4 miles to throw herself and 2 babies off this 300ftcliff, The Sun, January 16, 2002
Trimble: time for Robinson to go; First Minister faces quit call over sex, cash scandal, The Sun, January 11 2010
Veiled mysteries of the crypt; arts first night Theatre, The Times, January 5, 2010
Violet Lort-Phillips; Much-travelled plantswoman who made a fine garden on Jersey and was a stalwart of the International Camellia Society, The Times, January 16, 2010
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What was the matter with Vincent?, The Times, January 2, 2010
Who gets your vote in the baby debate: Clegg or Ford?; families ; The Liberal Democrat leader’s attack on Gina Ford, the babycare guru, assumes we all have parental instincts., The Times, January 12, 2010
Why pounding the streets really is good for your health, The Times, January 20, 2010
Why we’ve got the oats for porridge; Sales soar in big freeze, The Sun, January 15, 2010
Will you live to 120?; Thanks to advances in healthcare and genetic research, 60 may be the new middle age for women, The Times, January 14, 2010
With the sun on her back Claudia FitzHerbert is charmed by a perky account of childhood, The Times, January 12, 2002
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Appendix

Number of stories, by category and publication, for the January 2002

Category	The Sun, January 2002	The Times, January 2002
Crime	1	1
Celebrity	10	3
Work Related	1	3
Health:Other	2	8
Health:Depression	0	1
Sex	2	0
Drugs	0	0
Suicide	0	4
Murder	3	1
Other	3	2
Discarded	11	14
Total	34	37

Number of stories, by category and publication, for the January 2010

Category	The Sun, January 2010	The Times, January 2010
Crime	3	1
Celebrity	12	13
Work Related	0	0
Health:Other	0	11
Health:Depression	2	3
Sex	0	0
Drugs	1	0
Suicide	2	1
Murder	2	1
Other	5	3
Discarded	18	53
Total	45	86

Percentage change in stories reported between January 2002 and January 2010

Category	The Sun	The Times
Crime	+6.56%	-1.32%
Celebrity	-1.01%	+20.29%
Work Related	-4.55%	-13.04%
Health: Other	-9.09%	-1.45%
Health: Depression	+7.41%	+4.74%
Sexual Abuse	-9.09%	N/A
Drugs	+3.70%	N/A
Suicide	+7.41%	-14.36%
Murder	-6.23%	-1.32%
Other	+4.88%	+0.39%

Instances of direct negative language

Term	The Sun, January 2002	The Sun, January 2010	The Times, January 2002	The Times, January 2010
Crazy	3	-	-	-
Mad	2	-	5	2
Cracked	-	-	-	1
Mental (and all suffixes)	-	-	2	2
Strange	-	-	-	1
Nuts	-	-	-	-
Rambling	2	-	-	-
Deranged	-	1	-	-
Psychotic	-	-	2	-
Insane	-	-	1	-
Manic	2	-	1	-
Berserk	1	-	-	-

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The representation of depressive illness in the print media

My Undergraduate dissertation. The maths may be a little shaky but it serve to highlight where the stigma attached to mental illness may be originating. In the end, Edinburgh Napier University awarded this piece 62% – a little disappointing but still reasonable.

Abstract

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Methodology

Literature Review:

Introduction

Methodology

Articles

Key Findings

Limitations of the literature

Conclusion

Research Questions

Main Study:

A study of the extent to which the representation of depressive illness in the media changed between January 2002 and January 2010

Conclusion

Bibliography

Appendix

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The representation of depressive illness in the print media

My Undergraduate dissertation. The maths may be a little shaky but it serve to highlight where the stigma attached to mental illness may be originating. In the end, Edinburgh Napier University awarded this piece 62% – a little disappointing but still reasonable.

Abstract

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Methodology

Literature Review:

Introduction

Methodology

Articles

Key Findings

Limitations of the literature

Conclusion

Research Questions

Main Study:

A study of the extent to which the representation of depressive illness in the media changed between January 2002 and January 2010

Conclusion

Bibliography

Appendix

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