Mental Health and the Media
Over the weekend there were a number of media outlets that reported on a new study linking marriage and depression. Unfortunately, many of these so called reputable outlets, went with a sensationalist headline, that did not actually match up the results of the study in question.
Case in point, The UK’s Daily Mail went with this headline:
Being married makes you MORE depressed: Constant nagging triggers deep-rooted stress, study reveals
Except, if you read deeper into the story, that’s not really what the study says at all. What it really says is that people in bad marriages, ones that are a constant source of stress in their lives, are more likely to show symptoms of depression.
Frankly, that’s not exactly earth-shattering news. Of course, you are going to show more signs of stress and depression if your marriage is a source of stress and depression as opposed to a marriage that isn’t. But that wouldn’t make for a very interesting story, so they spiced it up a bit to make it seem like all those studies that talk about how married people are generally healthier and happier, must be wrong. Except they aren’t. Those studies also give us the not exactly surprising result that people in a happy marriage, tend to be happier and happier people are generally healthier.
This isn’t exactly rocket science here.
The Daily Mail wasn’t alone either. I saw a number of articles and blog posts with similar headlines, indicating that marriage causes depression. Most of them went on to the details of the study, contradicting their own headline, but in this day and age, how many people read the headline and will take away the “knowledge” that marriage causes depression. This is why we cannot trust the media when it comes to mental health. They have a vested interest in sensationalizing the story, to grab readers attention, not in presenting a fair, balanced view of the matter. This is why we have stigma.
For a more balanced view, check out the Psych Central article, Forget Wedded Bliss: Marital Stress Linked to Depression
See how that slight change in focus changes the entire assumption of the headline?
Unfortunately some of these unhealthy marriages could be less stress free and the depression lessened if not cured if the MHA would Child abuse survivor.net would look at a problem with our medicaid-medicare coverage I’ve been I’ve been advocating for, for months now and neither group has chosen to share my posts. For some unknown reason, our Government in it’s ultimate wisdom has decided not to cover Licensed Marriage and family counselors or licensed practicing counselors (LCPC’s) So people who need the services of people trained in thesese fields either need to go to a psychologist who knows less and costs more or get no help at all. The system is also over charging themselves because these counselors, as MAs would be reimburse at 75% instead of 80% at would have a lower starting charge. I see a LCPC who luckily charges a very reduced rate in my case. He specializes in Self injury. Seeing a psychologist in my case would cost the government over A $7,000 a year for something that I could get for less than $4,000 Medicare-Medicaid coverage if LCPC’s were covered and Chris were allowed to charge the govt. his full amt. multiply this by the millions of patients that are seeing Psychologists instead of LCPCs or Lic. Marriage and family therapists when they don’t need to and are not receiving the best care available and you can see this is a hole in the system that needs to be filled.
RT @SurvivorNetwork: Mental Health and the Media:
Over the weekend there was a number of media outlets that reported on a new study… h…
@SurvivorNetwork thanks for the follow…another example of how the media shouldn’t be playing the role of “researcher” #autismawareness