Carpiniello Bernardo, Girau Roberta, Orrù Maria Germana
Department of Mental Health, Section of Psychiatry, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
Epidemiol Psichiatr Soc. 2007 Jul-Sep;16(3):251-5. doi: 10.1017/s1121189x00002359.
Media reports related to people suffering from mental illness appear to deal prevalently with acts of violence and crimes. The present study focused on all newspaper reports relating to homicides, suicide, and other acts of violence, in an attempt to ascertain whether a different pattern emerged in some Italian newspapers in describing deeds committed by the mentally ill.
All articles published over a six-month period in the two main national and two main regional newspapers relating to homicides, suicides, and other acts of violence were selected. A comparison of reports regarding events attributed to mentally ill people was performed according to quantitative parameters.
2279 articles were considered; 54% regarded homicides, 8.2% suicides and attempted suicides, 2.1% homicides/suicides; the remaining 35.8% regarded other acts of violence. A significantly higher number of words, accompanying photos and a more stigmatizing language were used in reporting deeds when attributed to mentally ill people.
An excessive emphasis on deeds related to a psychopathological condition still emerged in media reports, almost as though acts of violence committed by the mentally insane should be viewed in a different light. These findings support the hypothesis that media portrayal mirrors the enduring stereotype of "diversity" of the mentally ill.
与患有精神疾病的人相关的媒体报道似乎主要涉及暴力行为和犯罪。本研究聚焦于所有与凶杀、自杀及其他暴力行为相关的报纸报道，试图确定在一些意大利报纸对精神病患者所实施行为的描述中是否呈现出不同模式。
选取了两份全国性主要报纸和两份地区性主要报纸在六个月期间发表的所有与凶杀、自杀及其他暴力行为相关的文章。根据定量参数对有关归因于精神病患者的事件报道进行了比较。
共考虑了2279篇文章；54%涉及凶杀，8.2%涉及自杀及自杀未遂，2.1%涉及凶杀/自杀；其余35.8%涉及其他暴力行为。在报道归因于精神病患者的行为时，使用了显著更多的文字、配图以及更具污名化的语言。
媒体报道中仍过度强调与精神病理状况相关的行为，几乎就好像精神错乱者实施的暴力行为应被另眼相看。这些发现支持了这样一种假设，即媒体的描绘反映了对精神病患者“差异”的持久刻板印象。
