PhD Confirmation Seminar: "Mitigating the impact of the media on stigmatising attitudes towards people with severe mental illness"

Anna is currently enrolled in the PhD program in the Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. She has a Master of Clinical Psychology from RMIT University and a Bachelor of Psychology (Honours). Anna is also a Research Assistant within the centre where she has conducted research on Mental Health First Aid and suicide prevention, and is also currently working on an evaluation of the Australian suicide prevention campaign R U OK? Day.

Stigma towards people with severe mental illness (SMI) – including schizophrenia, psychosis and bipolar disorder- is a critical issue as it adversely impacts life satisfaction, self-esteem, help-seeking behaviours, treatment adherence, and overall recovery. The media is known to be a key source of information about mental illness and it has strong potential to reduce stigma towards SMI on a widespread scale. Targeting stigma reduction interventions to media professionals presents a substantial opportunity to reduce stigma.

This PhD aims to mitigate the impact of the news media on stigmatising attitudes towards people with SMI by developing and trialling media reporting guidelines that encourage responsible and balanced reporting of SMI, particularly in the context of violence and crime.

Thursday 28th March 11am-12pm Room 410, Level 4, 207 Bouverie Street.