Scardigno Rosa, Gambarrota Raffaella, Centonze Laura
Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari 'Aldo Moro', 70121 Bari, Italy.
Department of Human and Social Sciences, Universitas Mercatorum, 00186 Rome, Italy.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2024 Nov 2;14(11):1030. doi: 10.3390/bs14111030.
Despite the revolutionary impact of new media, television remains a socially shared reference point for media functions, e.g., information, entertainment, and hybridized genres. Through its simplified knowledge and scripts, television reduces cognitive asymmetry between experts and the public on general and specific topics, thus having a critical role in constructing social representations. This work examines two (apparently) distant realities, i.e., mental health as a fundamental aspect of public health and popular and "light" entertainment formats like reality shows. In the past, researchers investigated media representation of mental illness in general terms alongside other types of programs, e.g., coming-of-age, dramedy television series, and children's television programs. This study examines how depression is discursively constructed and socially represented in a case that shook the Italian public opinion, i.e., a Big Brother VIP cast member with depression symptoms. The critical discourse analysis, focusing on positioning and representations about depression, enabled us to emphasize that (1) knowledge about depression is poorly defined and participants' reactions are mostly immature and clumsy, and (2) mass media can play an essential role in creating more mindful and complete knowledge about mental health.
尽管新媒体具有革命性影响，但电视仍是媒体功能（如信息、娱乐和混合类型）的社会共享参照点。通过其简化的知识和脚本，电视减少了专家与公众在一般和特定主题上的认知不对称，从而在构建社会表征方面发挥着关键作用。这项工作考察了两个（表面上）遥远的现实，即作为公共卫生基本方面的心理健康，以及诸如真人秀等流行且“轻松”的娱乐形式。过去，研究人员一般将精神疾病的媒体呈现与其他类型的节目（如成长题材、剧情喜剧类电视剧和儿童电视节目）放在一起进行调查。本研究考察了在一个震动意大利舆论的案例中，抑郁症是如何通过话语构建和社会呈现的，即一名患有抑郁症症状的《名人老大哥》（Big Brother VIP）节目的参与者。批判性话语分析聚焦于关于抑郁症的定位和呈现，使我们能够强调：（1）关于抑郁症的知识定义不明确，参与者的反应大多不成熟且笨拙；（2）大众媒体在创造更具正念和完整的心理健康知识方面可以发挥重要作用。
