Newspaper Depictions of Mental Health Disorders in Japan: An Opportunity for Enquiry-Based Learning

Abstract

Purpose: Numerous studies have documented an association between stigma and negative media portrayals of people with mental health disorders. Given that negative attitudes and stigmatization have been associated with influencing suicide, graduate students explored the concept and the evidence of frequency with which mental health and suicide are mentioned in three major Japanese newspapers. Methods: An exploratory descriptive study i) using purposive sampling over a six-month period of the three Japanese newspapers with the widest circulation and ii) document analysis reliant on 37 keywords relating to mental illness iii) selected after consultation with a range of mental health experts across Japan. Findings: Nearly a quarter (23.3% n=1827) of the articles related to suicide, self-death, self-killing. ‘Stress’ was by far the most frequently mentioned term (n=740) an average of 4.1 times a day. Others included suicide/suicidal/self-killing (442), mental disorder (80), mental illness (69), depression (93), psychotic/psychosis (42).Conclusion: Overall the tone and content of the articles relating to mental health did not contain a great deal of stigmatizing content. The keyword “stress” might have appeared more than would normally be the case as the sampling period coincided with the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic. Research activities like this encourage student-centered, enquiry-based learning that leads to reflection on the nature and extent of evidence-based professional education and practice that involve critical thinking.