Public misconceptions about "mental illness" often incite stigma and discrimination. These misconceptions are routinely perpetuated by the media’s use of stereotypes, sensational headlines and prejudicial terminology. Whenever mental health is mentioned in the news the media usually finds an angle linking the story to violence. "the stigma debate" is a thought-provoking presentation which invites participants to explore their own stereotypes about "mental illness", identifies the various ways in which stigma is perpetuated, takes a close look at the media’s role in perpetuating stigma, explores internal stigma and explores practical solutions to eliminate these stereotypes.

“PsychoMedia and the stigma debate” is a three part interactive workshop/presentation that opens with an anonymous exercise which invites participants to explore their own stereotypes about mental illness. These responses are then used as a lead-in to the stigma debate and in a demonstration which offers an explanation of how negative stereotypes are internalized.

Following this exercise the audience will be introduced to the concept of PsychoMedia, a term coined by a consumer/survivor and defined as “the combined effect of exploitation movies and biased news reports which stereotype users of mental health services”. This is a concept that renowned stigma researcher and Professor of Psychology Otto Wahl, referred to as Media Madness.

Part I: the stigma debate: Participants will then be divided into two separate groups and asked to "debate" a commonly held stereotype. Group one will be asked to defend this stereotype, and group two an opposing belief by listing responses on separate flip charts.

Part II: Internalizing Negative Stereotypes

Part III: PsychoMedia: The final part of “the stigma debate” will show examples of stigma, including movie clips, posters, commercial products and newspaper headlines; slides illustrating the concept of PsychoMedia; Aldous Huxley’s concept of “persuasion-by-association” and internal stigma will be presented. Closing slides will explore practical solutions to x-terminate stigma.

Goals and Objectives:

• Historical overview of stigma
• Examining the media’s role in perpetuating stigma
• How negative stereotypes are internalized
• What is PsychoMedia
• Persuasion-by-Association
• Myths of mental illness
• The enigma of internal stigma (self-stigma)
• Practical solutions to eliminate stigma