Document Type
Thesis - University Access Only
Award Date
2011
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department / School
Communication Studies and Theatre
Abstract
The inappropriate and inaccurate use of psychiatric terminology by the news and entertainment media over the years feeds misconceptions and prejudice in the general public. Since media play a large role in shaping society, when they use a psychiatric term like schizophrenia to mean "dangerous," for example, the public concludes that those who suffer from schizophrenia are dangerous. There is a body of research that indicates that newspapers in the United States and other countries use schizophrenia inappropriately as a metaphor in non-psychiatric contexts. This thesis examines nine large daily newspapers across the United States to see if they use as a metaphor representing areas other than psychiatry or those suffering from the mental illness. This study finds that newspapers misuse the term about 13 percent of the time. It concludes that reducing the stigma and negative attitudes that surround schizophrenia and other mental illnesses should be important to journalists, who must take responsibility for what they write and reduce the number of times mental illness terminology is used inappropriately.
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Schizophrenia -- Press coverage -- United States
Psychiatry -- Terminology
Format
application/pdf
Number of Pages
75
Publisher
South Dakota State University
Recommended Citation
Westerberg, Brittany, "The Misuse of the Term Schizophrenia in Nine Large Daily Newspapers in the United States" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1853.
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd2/1853