Media reporting of mental health matters is often undermined by oversimplification and inaccurate use of terminology, a conference has heard.
Consultant psychiatrist Prof Patricia Casey said some recent studies suggested that coverage of these issues in Irish print media is generally improving and that, compared to other countries, Irish newspapers and magazines were "more ethical" in reporting on mental health.
"However, examining specific topics such as depression, there is an undue emphasis placed on unproven treatments such as counselling. Terminology is often inaccurate with little attempt to distinguish between the different forms of talking therapy," she said.
"In addition there is a general portrayal of medication as bad and talking as good - a gross oversimplification."
Prof Casey said much research remained to be done on coverage of the issues by electronic media outlets in Ireland, though studies from the US suggested that many still see mental illness portrayed as violent, scary, dangerous or sad. She was speaking at a conference on media coverage of mental health and suicide, which was organised yesterday by the Irish College of Psychiatrists to mark World Mental Health Day.
At a separate seminar organised by the Mental Health Commission, Dougie Paterson of Chooselife, which is charged with implementing Scotland's national strategy to prevent suicide, emphasised guidelines issued by the United Nations in 2003, which stated that in most cases suicide can be prevented.
It was a global problem, Mr Paterson said, with one person dying from suicide every 40 seconds. In Scotland, two people complete suicide every day.Chooselife is in the fourth year of a 10-year strategy which aims to reduce the suicide rate in Scotland by 20 per cent by 2013. One of its primary objectives is to promote greater awareness of the problem.
"People are not aware that there's a suicide problem in Scotland and they're not aware of what they can do," he said. "If detected early, suicide can be prevented. Most suicidal individuals do not want to die, they just want to end their pain."
Another important element of that country's strategy is improving on media reporting of suicide, and Mr Paterson said the dissemination of guidelines produced in collaboration with the National Union of Journalists had had a significant effect.
As 73 per cent of those who died by suicide in Scotland last year were men, Chooselife has focused its promotion campaigns on football, by distributing literature at matches and enlisting the help of clubs and players to convey the organisation's advice.
After three years of work on the national 10-year strategy, the rate of male suicide in Scotland has begun to reduce. "We are now 10 per cent towards our 20 per cent target, and we hope it will continue to go down further...," Mr Paterson said.
