The reporting of mental disorders research in British media

BackgroundWhile the media may significantly influence public attitudes and government policies affecting the research agenda, how mental health research is reported in the media has been virtually unstudied. The aim of this study was to examine stories concerning mental health research published on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) website between 1999 and 2008 and in New Scientist between 2008 and 2010.MethodStories were retrieved from on-line archives. Story content was coded and assessed against: ‘disease burden’ of mental disorders; the general corpus of research papers in mental health and the countries from which they originated; the journals in which cited papers were published; and funding sources.ResultsA total of 1015 BBC stories reporting mental health research and 133 New Scientist stories were found. The distribution of stories did not reflect ‘disease burden’; research on dementia was over-represented, while depression and alcohol were under-represented. There was an emphasis on biological research while stories on psychological interventions were rare. UK research was over-represented. Research funded by government and private non-profit sources was over-represented. Commentators from Alzheimer's Disease charities were prominent.ConclusionsConsideration of reported stories may suggest approaches to working with the media to improve the public understanding of, and support for, mental health research. The role of commentators may be especially important.

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Global Mental Health Research: Time to Integrate Basic Science

International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction ◽

10.1007/s11469-021-00625-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Susan M. Meffert

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Disorders ◽

Health Research ◽

Basic Science ◽

Global Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Research ◽

Biological Study ◽

Global Burden ◽

Diverse Populations

AbstractThe Lancet Commission on Global Mental Health recommends the inclusion of research on the biological underpinnings of mental disorders as part of efforts to reduce the global burden of mental disorders. The search for defining features of mental disorders in non-Euro American settings is historically charged for the field. Yet, as illustrated by analysis of the NIMH objectives, the biological study of mental disorders cannot be scientifically sound without better inclusion of under-represented, globally diverse populations. It is time for global mental health researchers to take up the challenge and advance impactful research across the full translational spectrum.

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Normality, subjectivity and mental health: A genealogy of Danish psychiatry, 1938–2017

Health An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health Illness and Medicine ◽

10.1177/1363459319874102 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 136345931987410

Author(s):

Malene Broch Clemmensen ◽

Simo Køppe

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Disorders ◽

Health Research ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Mental Healthcare ◽

Interdisciplinary Approach ◽

Mental Health Research ◽

Health Problems ◽

The Subject

The increasing prevalence of mental disorders together with the uncertain validity of psychopathological diagnostics challenges psychiatry as the primary home of studying, diagnosing and treating mental health problems and developing mental healthcare. This marks an emerging paradigmatical shift towards ‘alternative’ mental health perspectives. With the ambition of attending authoritatively in definitory practices, contemporary scholars of psychology, sociology, anthropology and philosophy call for an interdisciplinary approach to mental health, with a predominant focus on the subject. We argue that a paradigmatical shift of mental health requires structural–historical considerations of the foundations upon which subjectivity has been and still is manifested through psychiatry. On this basis, we critically investigate fluctuating psychiatric discourses on subjectivity, normality and pathology. We conducted a genealogical analysis of 13 psychiatric sources (1938–2017) focusing on ‘Psychopathy’ as a fluctuating diagnosis. We elucidate how subject concepts in psychiatry develop in parallel to subject concepts in society and culture, exemplified through convincing similarities between psychopathic symptoms and neoliberal ideals. Considerations like these, offer scholars valuable bases for mental health research and debate, and also valuable insights to healthcare professionals.

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Rethinking the Diagnosis of Mental Disorders: Data-Driven Psychological Dimensions, Not Categories, as a Framework for Mental-Health Research, Treatment, and Training

Current Directions in Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/0963721421990353 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 30 (2) ◽

pp. 151-158

Author(s):

Christopher C. Conway ◽

Robert F. Krueger ◽

David C. Cicero ◽

Colin G. DeYoung ◽

Nicholas R. Eaton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Disorders ◽

Mental Disorder ◽

Health Research ◽

Research Training ◽

Diagnostic System ◽

Mental Health Research ◽

Diagnostic Categories ◽

Diagnostic And Statistical Manual ◽

Psychological Dimensions

Generations of psychologists have been taught that mental disorder can be carved into discrete categories, each qualitatively different from the others and from normality. This model is now outdated. A preponderance of evidence indicates that (a) individual differences in mental health (health vs. illness) are a matter of degree, not kind, and (b) broad mental-health conditions (e.g., internalizing) account for the tendency of narrower ones (e.g., depression, social anxiety, panic) to co-occur. With these observations in mind, we discuss an alternative diagnostic system, called the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP), that describes the broad and specific components of mental disorder. It deconstructs traditional diagnostic categories, such as those listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and recasts them in terms of profiles of dimensions. Recent findings support the utility of this approach for mental-health research and intervention efforts. HiTOP has the potential to put mental-health research, training, and treatment on a much sounder scientific footing.

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