Ptsd And The Media?

[Bill Dickerson]

Here in the states there has been a huge resurgence of gun control antics and contentions since the school shooting. Seems that everyday there are discussions in the media about PTSD and the ability to carry.

It felt for awhile there was a more a positive vibe about PTSD. Especially since so many of the Veterans are returning to civilian life.

Now it seems that each discussion is about people with PTSD going crazy and shooting everything up.

I remember the same type of hysteria after Nam with returning soldiers.

I was getting more comfortable telling people what my condition is if it comes up but now I don't want anyone to know. The stigma seems to have taken a nasty turn.

I'm even nervous bringing it up here.

Anyone else getting this vibe from people or the media?

 

[shoulderblades]

I get that general vibe from the media about ALL mental illness and mental health issues. Regardless how much of a push there is for acceptance of mental illness ("RUOK Day", for instance), there is so much reductionist crap out there that portrays mental illness as a thing to be fearful of, untrusting of, constantly vigilant for, blamed for all the awful things that go on in the world, constantly suspicious of. It's as if the media (and politics, for that matter) is determined to box mental illness into a corner where the severely complex issues of mental illness intersecting with all manner of other sociopolitical issues (class, race, sex, gender, etc) are reduced to something that can have labels slapped all over it, with incredibly unhelpful generalisations about what those "labels" mean. As if the entire spectrum of mental illness can be defined as one size fits all.

Of course, people who commit atrocious crimes most likely do suffer from mental illness of some kind. But it bothers me how much the media (and politics, for that matter) seems to have a penchant for correlating ALL mental illness with such atrocious acts of violence and violations; as though everyone who has mental health issues are capable of doing those exact same kinds of things. You can hear it in the way people talk about mental illness and mental health - the "insidiousness" of it, how you can often never "tell" if someone is insane and maybe plotting homicide, how you have to be "careful of everyone because you can never tell who is insane". As thought all mental illness is solely about insanity and criminal insanity. It bothers me that people would think the same things about me just because I have mental health issues and PTSD. The stigma attached to mental health issues, including PTSD, is huge, and it's damaging, and it's extremely, extremely ableist.

Sorry I've ranted. I guess I have a lot of pent up frustrations about having to live with mental illness in a world that shuns and ostracises mental illness as something to be fearful and suspicious of, and as something that finding help for can be near impossible because of other people's judgements about what mental illness is "supposed" to look like.

 

[safenow]

Anyone else getting this vibe from people or the media?

OH my goodness. Bil, that is one of the reasons why I don't listen to the news. I hate what the media have said about those of us with PTSD. They have it so wrong, it's pathetic. Most people who run around killing other people don't have PTSD, and the few that do have other problems as well.

Just this past weekend I had to tell someone I have PTSD. They had no clue what it is. So, I had to share a little bit about my history with them. Only one thing, the stalker from last year who broke into my apartment and tried to blow me up by having it catch on fire.

He took it as a joke and started to laugh, but luckily my other neighbor, who was here at the time it all came down was sitting at my kitchen table. He was able to verify what I was saying. When the other guy realized I was serious, he said, "I sure do hope the guy is in jail." I let him know that no, in fact, he is out now, and I've been getting phone calls from a breather who I think might me him. Which is why I'm going to see my own therapist to get some help so I can calm down, since the police can't do anything about it.

I don't know what he is thinking now. But when he comes to help me, he is quick - in and out.

A few years ago, I had a neighbor who called the cops on me when she learned I have multiple personality disorder (MPD) now called Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). She told them I was a danger to the complex and she wanted me locked up. Luckily, when they came out and learned I have PTSD they understood immediately. Told me to not worry about it. When my landlady found out what she had done, she let that woman know in no uncertain terms that I am not dangerous. And if she tried to harass me again, she would be kicked out.

 

[saffy]

I think it is very easy for the media to blame things on mental health issues. They cannot justify or grasp the concept that bad things happen for a reason and not everything is caused by a mental illness, blaming gives reason. Having a reason to do this gives understanding, even if the reason is so far from the truth.

People with little understanding will always look for something or someone to blame. PTSD is one of many things ignorant people are going to point fingers at. They try not to 'blame' people who are not sufferers because this raises the question that everyone, including themselves can be capable of such atrocities. No it must be because of a mental illness they say, it cant be just that someone was pissed off at the world and how people treat each other. That would then make them have to think about their own behaviours.

The media can be very damaging in a lot of ways and can get into people heads with scaremongering and manipulations.

I makes me very angry when they push the blame on something without looking at the bigger picture.

Everyone is too blame if that is the case, human beings as a whole are too blame one way or another, we are forced as society to act and think in certain ways and self fulfilling prophecies set the stage.

The media themselves cause destruction and hatred in society.

best wishes
Saffy :)

 

[winterose]

Yep, media did this to sexual abuse survivors in the 90's too. First it was all out support. The it got into a soap opera fanatic stuff which hurt the one's who really were going through stuff. The it was False Memories. Then it was if you were abused then you would be abusive to others.

People who own the media are apart of the folks who want to keep stuff stirred up about things in order so we won't be looking at the parts a's b's and c's and other exceptions they benefit from and the rest of us don't. IMO.

 

[Lucasta]

This is why only a few of my friends (and not even my entire family) know about my diagnoses. I hate being treated differently and I can't stand being condescended to by people who think they "understand" because they watched some scare piece on cable news. Knowing that people around me know that I'm sick also feeds into my paranoia that they're going to use that information to hurt me.

I know somebody has to be brave, go public and raise awareness to make life better for all of us, but it ain't me.

 

[Whitneys story]

Bill, I am sorry you have been affected by the media's constant insensitivity. PTSD seems to be the latest "Buzz Word".

Just my honest opinion, I have never seen anyone judged on the forum. This is a place for healing. Whitney

PS: Thank You for your service!

 

[Anna]

Yes. I think it is terrible. It is the typical stereotyping that society does. It is wrong in so many ways.

For a start you can get PTSD even if you were never in the military, people automatically think PTSD= Combat which simply isn't true.

Then they make all kind of unfair assumptions. It makes me angry to the point of boiling when I read the media articles about it.

This is another reason I NEVER ever talk to anyone about my illness. It is so misunderstood. It also makes me sick that people who suffer from ANY mental illness feel like they have to live under a blanket of shame.

 

[Lionheart]

I think the media, with it's penchant for sensationalism to boost ratings, is a medium that can raise awareness, but also blatantly confuses the issues. I think that the people who go out and commit atrocious crimes are beyond help (at that time), and are not representative of the majority of PTSD sufferers. I was severely abused but I do not want to hurt others. I don't entertain revenge fantasies, I do not own a gun, nor do I have any trouble separating right from wrong.

I think that most of the people who do commit acts of outrageous violence do so due to deep psychosis, desperation, tormenting hallucinations, etc., and not out of simple stress or anxiety. I think the media owes it to the public to air truthful information to raise awareness and not lead people into a blind panic over mental illnesses that they mostly do not understand!!!

 

[Maggiemay]

I'm in the UK and was watching news report last night on Channel 4 about Oscar Pistorious. I was so cross! One of the reporters named people with mental health problems, on live TV, as 'crazy'. How are we supposed to be accepted by society if the media is full of sterotyping??? Grrr..

 

[Lucasta]

I think that when somebody does something truly horrific, like mass murder, we as a society feel a need to understand why they did it, and more importantly, that the perpetrator is fundamentally different from "us." Mental illness is a quick and easy way to do both.

 

[Emma13]

I hate being treated differently and I can't stand being condescended to by people who think they "understand" because they watched some scare piece on cable.

Non-PTSD-er: "I understand what you're going through."
Me: Oh! How long have you had PTSD?
Non-PTSD-er: I don't have PTSD.
Me: Unless you are a supporter so someone with PTSD then you don't understand sh*t.

That's what I would say if I actually told people about what I have.