Questioning the psychiatric construction of mental distress as 'illness', and challenging existing studies of media stigmatization, Stephen Harper argues that today's media images of mental distress are often sympathetic, yet tend to reproduce the sexist, classist, racist and individualist ideologies of contemporary capitalism.

Autorentext
STEPHEN HARPER is Senior Lecturer in Media Studies at the University of Portsmouth, UK.

Inhalt
Acknowledgements Framing Madness: Historical and Cultural Debates Stigmatisation, Violence and Media Criticism The Suffering Screen: Cinematic Portrayals of Mental Distress Channelling Affliction: Television Discourses of Distress A New Leaf?: Changing Representations of Mental Distress in Print Media Conclusion: Media, Madness and Ideology in Capitalist Society Notes Bibliography Index