SynthesisSocial psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology2019
A systematic review of the impact of media reports of severe mental illness on stigma and discrimination, and interventions that aim to mitigate any adverse impact.
Synthesis in Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Mental health related stigma in Romania: systematic review and narrative synthesis.BMC psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- The different faces of mental illness stigma: Systematic variation of stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination by type of illness.Scandinavian journal of psychology · 2022Trial
- Effects of public versus media responsibility messages on stigmatization of people with schizophrenia in an American adult sample.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2020Trial
- Prevalence and associated factors of burden, depression, and anxiety among informal caregivers of individuals with severe mental disorders within the '686 program': a community-based cross-sectional study.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Stereotypes about tourette syndrome and associations with social media use: results from a large-scale german population survey.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Attitudes towards Tourette syndrome and schizophrenia amongst psychology students.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Contact Experiences of Adolescents and Family Members Are Associated With Decrease of Personal Stigma But Increase of Perceived Stigma.Journal of adolescence · 2025Article
- Online gambling forums as a potential target for harm reduction: an exploratory natural language processing analysis of a reddit.com forum.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Health Information Scanning and Seeking in Diverse Language, Cultural and Technological Media Among Latinx Adolescents: Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Changing the narrative: A qualitative study on the impact of media portrayals on people with schizophrenia.PloS one · 2025Article
- Impact of the Stigma of Mental Illness: A Descriptive Exploratory Study of Outpatients in a Public Mental Health Hospital in Ghana.Journal of community psychology · 2025Article
- Global, regional, and national burden and trends of schizophrenia among adolescents and young adults aged 15-39 years from 1990 to 2021: an analysis of the global burden of disease study 2021.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Exploring self-presentation posts of people with depression: themes, stigma, and identity construction.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Reducing stigma and improving access to care for people with mental health conditions in the community: protocol for a multi-site feasibility intervention study (Indigo-Local).International journal of mental health systems · 2024Article
- Words and Images Matter: Perspectives on Suicide, Mental Health Concerns and Alcohol and Other Drug Use Depiction.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Development of mental health first-aid guidelines for psychosis: a Delphi expert consensus study in Argentina and Chile.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- Emotional reactions and stigmatization after a parricide in South Tyrol, Italy, among mental health professionals and the general population, including persons with mental disorders, relatives, and persons with no direct or indirect contact.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Exploring print media coverage of elite athletes' mental illness between 2010 and 2023 in Germany: a quantitative content analysis.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2024Article
- Measuring media-related health and mental health information acquisition among Latino adults in the United States.International journal of methods in psychiatric research · 2023Article
- Examining the quality of news media reporting of complex mental illness in relation to violent crime in Australia.The International journal of social psychiatry · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThis review aims to summarise the evidence on the impact of news media and social media reports of severe mental illness (SMI) on stigma, and interventions that aim to mitigate any adverse impact.
methodsA systematic search of electronic databases was conducted in December 2017 to identify studies that report on the impact of media coverage or media interventions on stigma related to schizophrenia, psychosis, bipolar disorder, or mental illness in general. Data were synthesised narratively.
results12 studies met inclusion criteria; seven explored the impact of news media on stigma towards SMI or general mental illness, two explored the impact of social media, while three evaluated interventions that aimed to mitigate this impact. These studies showed that positive news reports and social media posts are likely to lead to reductions in stigmatizing attitudes and negative reports and social media posts are likely to increase stigmatizing attitudes. There were a limited number of interventions aiming to mitigate the negative impact of news reports of mental illness on stigma; however, these were ineffective. Interventions with media professionals appear to be successful at reducing their stigmatizing attitudes, but can also act to increase both positive and negative reports in the media.
conclusionsGiven the limited research evidence on the impact of news and social media on stigma towards SMI, and on the effectiveness of interventions aiming to mitigate this impact, further studies of higher quality are needed in this area. Due to mixed findings, interventions with media professionals are also an area of research priority.
Indexed as
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.