A Visual Content Analysis of Stigmatizing and Stigma-Challenging Portrayals of Mental Patients in Life and Look Magazines

Abstract

Media portrayals of mental illness frequently contain stigmatizing images that support stereotypes about the mentally ill. While stigma-challenging portrayals of mental illness do exist they often fail to correct the misinformation provided by stigmatizing portrayals. The present study examined the extent to which contemporary stigmatizing and stigma-challenging themes were present in historical media portrayals of institutionalized mental patients. A visual content analysis was conducted on 40 articles containing 350 images featuring institutionalized mental patients from Life and Look magazines. I hypothesized that portrayals of mental patients would differ between magazines and over time (pre- vs. post-antipsychotic eras) and that individual identity would increase after the advent of antipsychotic medication. Overall photographic content appears to provide a more stigma-challenging depiction of the mentally ill following the advent of antipsychotic medications. Few differences were found in the narrative content over time and between magazines. This suggested that the way in which the mentally ill were described did not change over time, while the way in which they were visually depicted became more positive. However, the positive visual portrayals and presence of stigma-challenging language may not be enough to overcome the stigmatizing portrayals found in both magazines’ visual and narrative content.