title: The Nigerian home video boom: should Nigerian psychiatrists be worried? Lessons from content review and views of community dwellers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Media depiction of sufferers of mental illness is a widely viewed source of stigmatization and studies have found stigmatizing depictions of mental illness in Nigerian films. With the recent boom in the Nigerian home video industry, there is a need to know how often Nigerians are exposed to films that contain scenes depicting mental illness and how much premium they place on such portrayals as reflecting reality.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the popularity of Nigerian home videos among Nigerian community dwellers and the frequency of their exposure to scenes depicting mental illness.
  
  
  METHODS
  A semi-structured questionnaire was designed to obtain socio-demographic data and to find out how often respondents see scenes depicting 'madness' in home videos, as well as their views about the accuracy of such depictions from the orthodox psychiatry point of view. Current home videos available in video rental shops were selected for viewing and content review.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All 676 respondents had seen a Nigerian home video in the preceding 30 days: 528 (78%) reported scenes depicting 'mad persons'; 472 (70%) reported that the scenes they saw agreed with their own initial understanding of the cause and treatment of 'madness'. About 20% of the films depicted mental illness. The most commonly depicted cause was sorcery and enchantment by witches and wizards, while the most commonly depicted treatment was magical and spiritual healing by diviners and religious priests.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nigerian home video is a popular electronic media in Nigeria and scenes depicting mental illness are not uncommon. The industry could be harnessed for promoting mental health literacy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. draromedics@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Olayinka
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Atilola
authors.forename: Funmilayo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Olayiwola
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009040:Motion Pictures; D009549:Nigeria; D011570:Psychiatry; D013240:Stereotyping; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014741:Video Recording; D055815:Young Adult