WHY IS MENTAL ILLNESS BLAMED?

The Media

The media is an essential part of our lives. It provides people with the ability to receive vital information about not only what is occurring in their community, but what is happening all over the world. But sometimes, this ability to present widespread knowledge can sometimes go wrong when the media presents unproven facts and false claims. After mass shootings, the media has a tendency to focus on a certain aspect of a shooting to find something to blame, a common one being on mental illness. Although the media does not have any research that proves that mass shooters were mentally ill and acted because of that, they present mental illness as an issue that needs to be addressed. This has created stigmas against those with mental illnesses and gives civilians the impression that those who are mentally ill are violent, dangerous people when they are not. In a study consisting of 293 college students lead by Dr. Laura C. Wilson, an assistant professor in the department of  psychological science at University of Mary Washington, it was found that the “ news coverage of mass shootings affects individual’s beliefs about the dangerousness, desired social distance, perceived level of discrimination, and likelihood of recovery” (Wilson et. al, 2016). This provides possible evidence that the way the media portrays mass shootings makes an impact on someone’s perception of those with mental illnesses, even though it is far more likely that a person with a mental illness is more likely to be a victim of a mass shooting instead of being the one behind the gun (Leshner, 2019). I feel that if the media were to present more facts rather than reaching for something to blame and garner more attention, there would be less individuals with preconceived notions that those with mental illnesses are dangerous people. Furthermore, it is necessary to look into exactly why the media often places the blame on mental illness and not something else. A study done by three doctoral students Investigates how news media portrays the causes of mass shootings for shooters of different races and what narratives the media tend to use when covering mass shootings. Their research suggested that “one implication of selective media coverage of mass shootings is that the media may disproportionately assign mental illness to explain Whites’ involvement in mass violence” (Duxbury, 2018). In other words, when it comes to mass shooters who are white, the media has a greater tendency to allege that they did a terrible crime because they were mentally ill than when the mass shooter is of a different race. This study makes it apparent that race plays a role in why the media is prone to blame mass shootings on mental illness. No matter the reason, the media’s focus on mental illness after a mass shooting is a serious issue and negatively represents millions of innocent individuals with mental illnesses. This leads me the next section of my research, where I will describe exactly why mental illnesses cannot and should not be blamed for the murderous acts of mass shooters.