The Stigma of Mental Health is defined as an internalized and external stigma that affects individuals with mental health disorders and the way people see these people.(Psychology Today, 2013) This can lead to lowered likelihood to seek mental health professionals for fear of shaming. According to a study by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, (BRFSS) conducted in 2007, only 25% of adults with mental health symptoms believed that people were caring and sympathetic to persons with mental illness. One major contributor to the stigma is the presentation of mental health and individuals with mental health in popular press media, which has been studied extensively (Aragonès et al. 2014, Betton et al 2015, Corrigan et al 2013,
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Social media is a communication tool used to exchange information, pictures, links and many other electronic items to people within your social circle and sometimes beyond; most of these opinions are based on self-perceived information that come from tenacity and intuition. According to the Pew Research Center, between 2005 and 2015, social media usage increased from seven percent of adults to 65% of adults, with young adults between 18 and 29 reporting 90% usage. (Perrin 2015) Because rates of usage are so high in young adults, combined with the fact that many have little experience with mental health disorders and hold naïve evolving opinions about mental health, I believe this group of individuals will provide me with the most comprehensive information about how social media affects attitudes towards individuals with mental health disorders. In a study conducted by Joseph Et Al. (2015), the researchers studied how Twitter users misused the term schizophrenia and schizophrenic and compared them to diabetes and diabetic. They rated each posts with three criteria: medical appropriateness, negativity, and sarcasm. The researchers found that negativity for schizophrenia (n=331) and schizophrenic (n=354) were 33% and 21.1%, respectively,
Social media is a communication tool used to exchange information, pictures, links and many other electronic items to people within your social circle and sometimes beyond; most of these opinions are based on self-perceived information that come from tenacity and intuition. According to the Pew Research Center, between 2005 and 2015, social media usage increased from seven percent of adults to 65% of adults, with young adults between 18 and 29 reporting 90% usage. (Perrin 2015) Because rates of usage are so high in young adults, combined with the fact that many have little experience with mental health disorders and hold naïve evolving opinions about mental health, I believe this group of individuals will provide me with the most comprehensive information about how social media affects attitudes towards individuals with mental health disorders. In a study conducted by Joseph Et Al. (2015), the researchers studied how Twitter users misused the term schizophrenia and schizophrenic and compared them to diabetes and diabetic. They rated each posts with three criteria: medical appropriateness, negativity, and sarcasm. The researchers found that negativity for schizophrenia (n=331) and schizophrenic (n=354) were 33% and 21.1%, respectively,