[The image of psychiatry in the "Leipziger Volkszeitung" - historical longitudinal study].
OBJECTIVE
This is the first paper to analyse historical changes and trends in psychiatric reports in one German daily newspaper.


METHODS
A total of 4362 issues of the Leipziger Volkszeitung from 14 selected years of publication, 2 subsequent every 15 years starting in 1897, was analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively, thus covering all relevant eras of German history (with the exception of the years of World War I and the era of "National Socialism").


RESULTS
The presentation of psychiatric issues changed from rather neutral reports to negatively connotated reports. On the other hand the language used altered significantly: from mostly paraphrases to the use of exact psychiatric terms. Unexpectedly, however, this did not have a positive or smoothing impact on the character of the report.


CONCLUSIONS
Further and more extensive studies are necessary to find out whether our findings are suggestive to a general tendency toward stigmatisation and selective negative reporting on the subject of psychiatry in the history of German daily papers.
Rottleb
Ulrich
U
Archiv für Leipziger Psychiatriegeschichte, Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie, Universität Leipzig.
Steinberg
Holger
H
Angermeyer
Matthias C
MC
D005858:Germany; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009524:Newspapers as Topic / Q000266:history*; D011287:Prejudice; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000266:history*; D011639:Public Opinion