The media should portray the mentally ill more accurately, former first lady Rosalynn Carter told a capacity crowd of students, faculty and community members Monday at the McCormick Tribune Center Forum.
“Better coverage of mental health issues (is necessary) to educate people about mental illness so they can get over the stigma,” said Carter, 75, who has worked in mental health advocacy for the last 30 years. “When people know the facts, the stigma goes away.”
In a Crain Series lecture entitled “How the Press Covers Mental Health Issues,” Carter said the media needs to improve their reporting of this issue.
“The media play a great role in shaping people’s opinions,” she said.”It is important for there to be accurate reporting — all too often reporters perpetuate stigma.”
The former first lady is the vice chairwoman of the Carter Center, a nonprofit, non-governmental organization based in Atlanta and founded by her and former President Jimmy Carter. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the center works to improve global health and build world democracy.
Mental health is the primary focus of the former first lady’s work, and she said all health issues should be in one category.
“I look forward to the day when textbooks do not separate between mental and physical health,” Carter said.
Carter said the mental health field has changed greatly with new research. Since there now is a large amount of knowledge available, myths associated with the mentally ill should be eliminated, Carter said. These fallacies include stereotypes that the mentally ill are violent, untreatable, slovenly dressed and poorly postured.
Mental illness is a disease that affects one in five people, Carter said. Even great figures such as Abraham Lincoln were plagued with depression, she added.
Carter said she was greatly angered by a “60 Minutes” piece that compared the Washington D.C.-area sniper to a deranged mentally ill person.
Despite these myths, Carter said the media is beginning to get the message out and she has taken some steps to help them. The Carter Center offers annual fellowships to eight journalists for further study of mental health issues.
“The goal of these fellowships is to have journalists who know the issues, can report accurately and have some effect on their peers,” Carter said.
She also suggested that the media consult organizations such as the National Stigma Clearinghouse to report more accurate mental health stories.
“(Carter) is putting the message out there, potentially saving lives and increasing the standard of living around the world,” said Malena Higuera, a first-year integrated marketing communications graduate student who attended the event.
Carter said one of the biggest world health issues is contaminated drinking water. In order to eliminate the guinea worm in Sudan and other African countries, Scandinavian countries donated 9 million plastic pipes to filter the water. Similarly, the Merck & Co. Inc., donated costly medicine to control river blindness, a disease transferred by a fly sting that causes many to go blind.
“(The medicine is) so valuable that robbers will steal it,” Carter said.
In addition to improving health in other nations, the Carter Center strives to bring democracy to more than 65 countries, 35 of which are in Africa, Carter said.
“We only monitor countries where there is change from authoritarian to democratic,” she said. “And we never go in unless we’re invited.”
Some audience members agreed with Carter’s opinions and praised her work.
“It is important to have people to keep the media accurate in issues like this,” said Laura Tongue, a Medill sophomore. “Media, like democracy, needs people to check it.”
