mind over matter

• Train-wreck celebrities: In 2007, the U.S. watched in part-glee, part-horror as one young celebrity after another crashed and burned. Paris Hilton was trotted off to jail, Lindsay Lohan spent her days either hidden away in rehab or being photographed drinking from large bottles of booze, and Britney Spears, well…where to begin. And media outlets are loving it. Of course the gossip blogs are having a field day, but even more reputable titans of media like the Associated Press are joining in the how-low-can-she-go gawk-fest. Dr. Phil even drew fire after making an impromptu appearance in Britney’s hospital room, allegedly hoping to provide some Dr. Phil-style therapy. As blogs and comment boards toss around terms like “total psychotic breakdown,” I want to give special attention to the coverage of young celebrities’ mental states in the mainstream media. I’ll also keep an eye out for psychological theories on the public’s obsession with “She’s crazy!”-type gossip. Why do we care? Is this kind of coverage increasing awareness, or making mental illness the topic of ridicule?
• Health care: With the 2008 election heating up, candidates’ health care plans are getting a lot of attention. Currently, millions of Americans are uninsured, and even those with health care plans may have trouble getting their insurance to pay for proper treatment of some mental conditions. This is not a new phenomenon; In 1999,Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher wrote,

“Even more than other areas of health and medicine, the mental health field is plagued by disparities in the availability of and access to its services. These disparities are viewed readily through the lenses of racial and cultural diversity, age, and gender. A key disparity often hinges on a person’s financial status; formidable financial barriers block off needed mental health care from too many people regardless of whether one has health insurance with inadequate mental health benefits, or is one of the 44 million Americans who lack any insurance. We have allowed stigma and a now unwarranted sense of hopelessness about the opportunities for recovery from mental illness to erect these barriers. It is time to take them down.”

This blog will continue to examine how insurance companies help and hinder the treatment of (and public feelings toward, vis-a-vis media coverage) mental illnesses. How will presidential hopefuls address the needs of the estimated 26.3 percent of American adults who suffer from a diagnosable mental illness in a given year (according to the National Institute for Mental Health)?  

• The impact of the media on self-esteem: or, more specifically, the impact of advertising on perceptions of self. Dove made headlines in 2004 when it completely eliminated its  photo retouching department and launched its Campaign for Real Beauty, showing photographs of women in their non-Photoshopped glory and producing videos that are critical of the beauty industry’s marketing methods. Has anything changed since Dove’s groundbreaking campaign launch? Is the media still at odds with people’s (specifically women’s) self-esteem?