The press and public on mental health: a corpus linguistic analysis of UK newspaper coverage of mental illness (1995-2014), compared with the UK National Attitudes to Mental Illness survey

Stigmas associated with mental illness have been shown to have a severe impact on the lives of people with mental health conditions. Mass media influence on the formation and perpetuation of stigmas is well-documented, and prior research has found the media to present several stigmatising representations of mental health issues. Due to the influence of the media in informing public opinion on mental illness, there have been concerted efforts in recent times to de-stigmatise press coverage of mental illness. However, whether coverage has changed in response to these efforts, and whether recognised stigmas and stereotypes have been dispelled from UK press discourse on mental health has not yet been fully established. To evaluate this, this study analysed a corpus of 12,000 UK newspaper articles from 1995-2014, with keyword and collocate analyses being implemented. The results of these analyses were compared between years of coverage and types of British newspaper, determining how UK press coverage of mental health issues changed over a 20-year period, with particular focus on the presence or absence of stigmas in this coverage. Keyword and collocate results were then compared with responses to questions in the UK national Attitudes to Mental Illness Survey (TNS BMRB, 2015), to ascertain the extent to which public attitudes correlated with press coverage of the same period. Decreases in key stigmas were uncovered in press coverage and found to correlate with decreases in negative public attitudes relating to these stigmas, as well as increases in press coverage of mental health stigma correlating with increased public awareness of stigma. However, whilst improvements in press coverage of mental illness were identified, stigmatising coverage was also found to have remained present to a significant degree in the UK press, demonstrating the need for continued de-stigmatisation efforts