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income and historical factors (such as juvenile detention,

abuse, parental convictions). Thus a person with a severe

mental illness without substance abuse or history of violencehas the same chance of being violent as any other human,

however sociocultural factors make us believe otherwise.

People in the media have a choice they could create

thoughtful stories that encourage a meaningful discourse on

mental illness. Of course, most people make the easy

decision, to write sensationalist stories that lack context,

because it brings in the ratings, regardless of implications.

Examples include the 1999 New York Daily

News front page headline, Get the Violent

Crazies Off Our Streets and a 2011 This IsStaffordshire headline: Paranoid schizophrenic

chokes his elderly mum. There are a number of

surreptitious tactics that the media employ in

order to implicitly further perpetuate stereotypes

about people with schizophrenia. These include:

Prejudicial language; Widespread belief;

Intentional exclusion; Misleading generalizations

and Emotional appeal

(MentalHealthStigma.com, 2009)

Schizophrenia: The Facts-Various theories as to neurological causes, no definite

answers. Biological theories such as Dopamine hypothesiswidely accepted although social constructionists criticise

such explanations (Frangou, 2008)

-Positive Symptoms: hallucinations, delusions, echolalia.

Negative symptoms: social withdrawal, flat affect, anhedonia

-Approx. 80% of patients recover after first episode, 10%

never recover, 80% relapse within 5 years (Frangou, 2008)

-Four major stereotypes: Unable to follow social roles;

Difficult to treat; Personally responsible for their situation;

Dangerous and should not be part of general society

(Hayward & Bright, 1997)The Mechanisms of Prejudice

Psychomedia - the combined effect ofbiased media which stereotype peopleleading to the implied conclusion that all

those who are labeled mentally-ill are

violent and deranged. The media portrays

depraved and demented movie characters

as accurate depictions of people with

schizophrenia. When an article about

people with schizophrenia is reported in

the news, the media frequently generates

an angle linking the story to violence.

How Prejudice Might be ReducedThe term schizophrenia is heavily stigmatised (Sugiura et al.,

2001; Kingdon et al., 2008), the labelling as such has been

found to increase the likelihood that someone suffering from

schizophrenia will be considered as being unpredictable and

dangerous. This leads to an increase of a preference for social

distance (Angermeyer & Matschinger, 2005). Research that

has investigated the effects of using alternative labels found

that relabeling actually helped reduce negative associations

and biases (Takahashi et al., 2009).

Media itself can be used to promote a more realistic portrayal

of those who suffer from schizophrenia. Research using a

documentary demonstrated a change in benign attitudes, but

not in general attitudes such as perceived dangerousness or

desire for social contact (Penn et al., 2003). Videos and

lectures have also been shown to improve knowledge, withvideo seemingly having a greater corrective effect (Owen,

2007). Such studies demonstrate that an accurate media

depiction of people with schizophrenia can reduce stigma and

aid change of prejudicial attitudes, however is not enough to

eradicate perceived dangerousness.

Informing and educating people about schizophrenia can also

help reduce stigma and prejudice about those with a mental

illness (Holmes, Corrigan, Williams, Conor, & Kubiak, 1999).

Notably, being told facts about

crime and violence rates of

those with schizophrenia

reduces the stereotype ofperceived dangerousness

(Penn et al., 1994). Research has

shown that the most effective way of reducing stigma around

mental illness is through direct personal contact with a person

suffering from a mental illness (Penn et al., 1994;

Anagnostopoulos & Hantzi, 2011). Such methods should be

implemented alongside other mediums, including change in

the ethics of the media, to convey a positive message of

people with schizophrenia to counteract modern societys

unacceptable status quo.

People withSchizophrenia: A Danger to Society?

The Universityof Westminster Established1908VOL. CCTV. . . . No. 785 LONDON, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012 2.50

Why prejudice against

people with schizophrenia is

perpetuated, and how wemight reduce it.

Sean Geoghan, Barday Sanford, Hubert Greliak and

Fiona Malpass contributed reporting.

How and why is the danger

stereotype perpetuated?A 2007 study showed the number hours

of TV watched per week is directly

correlated to perception of schizophrenics

as dangerous (Olafsdottir, 2007)

In the media, a mentally disordered

person is 10 times more likely to be a

criminal. However in the real world,violence is better predicted by other

factors such as age (youth), gender (men),

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