title: On-screen portrayals of mental illness: extent, nature, and impacts.
abstract: This article reviews the published literature on the extent, nature, and impacts of portrayal of mental illness in fictional films and television programs. The literature suggests that on-screen portrayals are frequent and generally negative, and have a cumulative effect on the public's perception of people with mental illness and on the likelihood of people with mental illness seeking appropriate help. The article concludes that there is a need for the mental health sector and the film and television industries to collaborate to counter negative portrayals of mental illness, and to explore the potential for positive portrayals to educate and inform, as well as to entertain.
authors.affiliation: Program Evaluation Unit, School of Population Health, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. j.pirkis@unimelb.edu.au
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pirkis
authors.forename: R Warwick
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Blood
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Francis
authors.forename: Kerry
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McCallum
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders; D009040:Motion Pictures; D011639:Public Opinion; D013690:Television; D014739:Victoria