Då följer en stämpel i pannan -en diskursanalytisk studie om bilden av psykisk ohälsa

The aim of this paper was to explore the perceptions and images of mental illness that is conveyed in the media form of internet magazines, more precisely in the discussion forums that are found below the articles. This paper also explored how the category of people with mental health problems related to these structures. A central focus was to investigate how the image was constructed from the target group of people living with mental illness and people who do not, ie, the remaining community population. This study was based on two different methods: interviews with people living with mental illness and comments to articles from two of the largest online magazines in Sweden. The material was treated with a critical discourse analysis based on Faircloughs three-dimensional model complemented with Goffman's sociological theory of stigmatization. The target group of people with mental illness was represented by four individuals diagnosed with mental illness. In order to examine public attitudes the comments of eight different articles that dealt with mental illness were analyzed. The analysis showed that the community has a highly variable attitude towards the category of people with mental illness but generally conveyed a negative attitude. People with mental health problems constructed their own category as a heterogeneous group in which general conclusions cannot be made when the diagnoses, treatments and requirements are highly variable from individual to individual. The way the commentators discussed the category and in what way that construct the image of mental illness was revealed. When the category was mentioned from a group perspective it conveys showed a more stigmatizing attitude in comparison with those commentators who attacked the topic of discussion from an individual perspective