REPRESENTATION OF MENTAL ILLNESS IN MOVIES: A NIGERIAN PERSPECTIVE
Abstract
  By focusing on the analysis of emergent themes and narratives in movies in order to explore the extent to which media, particularly fictional narratives, convey mental health issues in Nigeria, a unique coding scheme was developed for content analysis of ten movies. Using a frequency distribution system, themes produced in the movies chosen (of media representations of mental illness) showed that alternative modes of causal explanation for the problem predominated over psychiatric modes, confirming existing studies. Central to this study is the identification and analysis of the causes, treatment and stigma attached to mental illness in movies produced in Nigeria. This study concludes that movies represent modern psychiatry only poorly; and that perceptions of violence portrayed in ‘Western’ media appear different from representations of violence in Nigerian media. ÂReferences
Abdulah, T. & Brown, T. L. (2011). Mental illness stigma and ethno cultural beliefs, values, and norms: An
integrative review. Clinical Psychology Review, vol. 31, pp. 934–948. [Online] Available at
http://ac.elscdn.com.proxy.library.dmu.ac.uk/S0272735811000985/1-s2.0-S0272735811000985-main.pdf?_[Accessed: 29/03/2016].
Adewuya, A. O. & Makanjuola, R. O. A. (2005) Social distance towards people with mental illness amongst
Nigerian university students. Social Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiology, vol. 40, pp. 865 – 868. [Online]
doi: 10.1007/s00127-005-0965-3 [Accessed: 20/03/2016].
Aina, O. F. (2004). Mental illness and cultural issues in West African films: Implications for orthodox psychiatric
practice. Medical Humanities, vol. 30, pp. 23-26. [Online] Available at http://mh.bmj.com/ Accessed: 22/ 07/
Armyau, A. Y. (2015). A review of stigma and mental illness in Nigeria. Journal of Clinical Case Rep,resentation, 5,
. 1-3. [Online] doi: 10.4172/2165-7920.1000488 [Accessed: 08/04/2016].
Atilola, O. & Olayiwola, F. (2011). Mind frames in Nollywood: Frames of mental illness in Nigerian home videos.
Research Journal of Medical Sciences, 5(3), 166-71. [Online] Available at
http://docsdrive.com/pdfs/medwelljournals/rjmsci/2011/166-171.pdf [Accessed: 23/03/2015].
Birch, M. (2012). Mediating Mental Health: Contexts Analysis and Debate. Surrey: Ashgate.
Bienkowska, A. (2011). Belief in the causative power of words as a manifestation of magical thinking in late
childhood. Polish psychological bulletin, vol. 42(4), pp. 226 – 234. [Online] doi: 10.2478/v10059-011-0029-3
[Accessed: 20/ 04/ 2016].
Chireau, Y. (1997). Conjure, Christianity in the nineteenth century: Religious elements in African American magic.
Religion and American culture: A journal of Interpretation, 7(2), 225 – 246. [Online] Available at
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1123979 [Accessed: 20/04/2016].
Clement, S., Lassman, F., Barley, E., Evans-Lacko, S., Williams, P., Yamaguchi, S., Slade, M., Rusch, N., &
Thornicroft, G. (2013). Mass media interventions for reducing mental health-related stigma (Review). The
Cochrane Collaboration, Issue 7. Wiley online Library. Available at
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD009453.pub2/references [Accessed: 03/09/2015]
Corrigan, P. W. & Shapiro, J. R. (2010). Measuring the impact of programs that challenge the public stigma of mental
illness. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 907-922. [Online] Available at
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027273581000098X [Accessed: 29/03/2016].
Cross, S. (2010). Mediating madness: Mental distress and cultural representation. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Demyan, A. L. (2009). The effects of a brief, mass-media intervention on attitude and intention to seek professional
psychological treatment. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Ohio University, College of Arts and Sciences.
DSM-V (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: Fourth edition. American Psychiatric
Association: Washington DC.
Fernando, S. (2010). Mental health, race and culture. Hamsphire: Palgrave Macmillian.
Fernando, S. (2007). Spirituality and mental health across cultures. In P. Gilbert, T. Gordon and F. Bill (Eds.)
Spirituality, Values and Mental Health: Jewels for the Journey, Ch. 3. Jessica Kingsley Publishers: [n.p].
Foucault, M. (1965). Madness and civilization: A history of insanity in the age of reason (R. Howard, Trans.). New
York: Vintage Books.
Gureje, O., Lasebikan, V.O., Ephraim-Oluwanuga, O., Olley, B.O. & Kola, L. (2005). Community study of
knowledge of and attitude to mental illness in Nigeria. British Journal of Psychiatry, 186, 436 - 441. [Online]
Available at http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/186/5/436 [Accessed: 20/02/2016].
Heaton, M. (2013). New African histories: Black skin, white coats: Nigerian psychiatrists, decolonization, and the
globalization of psychiatry. Athens: Ohio University Press
Henderson, L. (1996). Selling suffering: mental illness and media values in PHILO, G. (ed.) Media and mental
distress. Harlow: Addison Wesley Longman.
Islam, F. & Campell, R. A. (2014). “Satan has afflicted me!†Jinn-possession and mental illness in the Quran. Journal
of Religion and Health., 53, 229-243. [Online] doi: 10.1007/s10943-012-9626-5 [Accessed: 30/08/2016].
Knifton, L. & Quinn, N. (2008). Media, mental health and discrimination: a frame work for understanding reporting
trends. The international journal of mental health, vol. 10(1), pp. 23-31. [Online]
http://www.scie-socialcareonline.org.uk/media-mental-health-and-discrimination-a-frame-of-reference-for-understanding-reporting-trends/r/a1CG0000000GPMpMAO [Accessed: 16/03/2016].
Lapsley, R. & Westlake, M. (2006). Film theory: An introduction. Manchester: Manchester University.
Maier, J.A., Gentile, D.A., Vogel, D.L., & Kaplan, S.A. (2013). Media influences on self-stigma of seeking
psychological services: The importance of media portrayals and person perception. Psychology of Popular
Media Culture. [Online] doi: 10.1037/a0034504 [Accessed: 11/11/2014].
Owen, P.R. (2012). Seamless portrayals of schizophrenia by entertainment media: A content analysis of
contemporary movies. American Psychology. [Online] doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201100371 [Accessed:
/04/2015].
Philo, G., Mclauhlin, G., & Henderson, L. (1996). Media content. In G. PHILO (Eds.) Media and mental distress.
Harlow: Addison Wesley Longman.
Rashed, M. A. (2013). Culture, salience, and psychiatric diagnosis: exploring the concept of cultural congruence & its
practical application. Philosophy, ethics, and humanities in medicine, vol. 8(5), pp. 1 - 12. [Online] Available at
http://www.peh-med.com/content/8/1/5 [Accessed: 12/05/2016].
Rose, D. (1998). Television, madness and community care. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology,
(3), pp. 213-228. [Online] doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1298(199805/06)8:3%3C213::AID-CASP449%3E3.0.CO;2-C [Accessed: 28/03/2017].
Subbotsky, E. V. & Quinteros, G. (2002). Do cultural factors affect causal beliefs: Rational and magical thinking in
Britain and Mexico. Britain journal of psychology, 93, 519 – 543. [Online] Available at www.bps.org.uk
[Accessed: 26/04/2016].
Thornicroft, G., Rose, D. & Kassam, A. (2007). Discrimination in health care against people with mental illness.
International Review of Psychiatry, 19(2), 13 – 122. [Online] doi: 10.1080/09540260701278937 [Accessed:
/01/2016]
Vogel, D.L., Gentile, D.A., & Kaplan, S.A. (2008). The influence of television on willingness to seek therapy. Journal
of Clinical Psychology, 64(3), 276–95. [Online] Available at
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jclp.20446/abstract [Accessed: 12/12/2015].
Wahl, O. F. (2003). News media portrayal of mental illness: Implications for public policy. The American Behavioral
Scientist, 46(12) 1594 – 6000. [Online] Available at http://abs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/46/12/1594
[Accessed: 02/10/2014].
Wahl, O. F. (1992). Mass media images of mental illness: A review of the literature. Journal of Community
Psychology, 20, 343–52. [Online] Available at https://rampages.us/univ200spring2015/wp-content/uploads/sites/4894/2015/02/Mass-Media-Images-A-Review-of-the-Literature.pdf [Accessed: 05/03/2016].
Whitley, R. & Berry, S. (2013). Analyzing media representations of mental illness: Lessons learnt from a national
project. Journal of Mental Health, 22(3), 246 – 253 [Online] Available at doi: 10.3109/09638237.2012.745188
[Accessed: 29/06/2015].
Wig, N. N. (1999). Mental health and spiritual values. A view from the East. International Review of Psychiatry, 11,
–96. [Online] Available at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09540269974230 [Accessed:
/08/2016
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright is owned by the journal.
