IMPACT: International Journal of Research in

Humanities, Arts and Literature (IMPACT: IJRHAL)

ISSN (P): 2347-4564; ISSN (E): 2321-8878
Vol. 6, Issue 6, Jun 2018, 623-628
© Impact Journals

INDIAN MEDIA VIS-À-VIS PERSONS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS –AN ANALYSIS

Kirandeep Kaur
Assistant Professor, Army Institute of Law, Mohali, Punjab, India

Received: 19 Jun 2018 Accepted: 23 Jun 2018 Published: 30 Jun 2018

ABSTRACT

Humans believe in what they see and what is told to them. Media therefore plays a powerful and very vital role in
molding the opinion of the society. What is seen in movies or television channels, read or heard in news and observed on
the social media, together affect the thought process of the people. Perceptions pertaining to mental illness in India are
diverse. Visions of cruelty at mental asylums and violent patients can be blamed to the entertainment industry. So can be
the relying on dargahs and temples for curing the mentally disturbed. The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 lays down
provisions relating to admission of a person with mental illness to a psychiatric institution and his/her treatment and
discharge in the institution. The Act upholds the significance of informed consent before meting out any treatment to the
person with mental illness and lays down provisions for psychiatric advance directives and human rights of persons
receiving mental healthcare. There is lack of awareness about the provisions of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017.
This is where the media can play a pivotal role in ensuring that the importance of equality and dignity of the persons with
mental illness reaches the society. This paper aims at contemplating upon the pertinent role that the media can play in
ensuring that the rights of the mentally ill are known, that proper mental healthcare is available to one and all, and that
the general misconceptions surrounding mental illness can be cleared.

KEYWORDS: Media, Mental, Healthcare, Law, Awareness, Society

INTRODUCTION

Humans believe in what they see and what is told to them. Media therefore, plays a powerful and very vital role in
molding the opinion of the society. What is seen in movies or television channels, read or heard in news and observed on
the social media, together affect the thought process of the people.

Perceptions pertaining to mental illness in India are diverse. Visions of cruelty at mental asylums and violent
patients can be blamed to the entertainment industry. So can be the relying on dargahs and temples for curing the mentally
disturbed.

In this background, there is very little awareness about the human rights of the mentally ill and the provisions
pertaining to their treatment and care. Relying on the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disability,
India passed the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 last year. The Mental Healthcare Act, 20171 came into force very recently,
that is, from 29th May, 20182on which date the Mental Health Act, 1987 stood repealed. The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017

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 624 Kirandeep Kaur

lays down provisions relating to admission of a person with mental illness to a psychiatric institution and his/her treatment
and discharge in the institution. The Act upholds the significance of informed consent before meting out any treatment to
the person with mental illness and lays down provisions for psychiatric advance directives. The Act also enumerates the
human rights of persons with mental illness including right to protection from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment;
right to equality and non-discrimination, right to confidentiality, right to information, right to legal aid, etc.
There is lack of awareness about the provisions of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017. This is where the media can play a
pivotal role in ensuring that the importance of equality and dignity of the persons with mental illness reaches the society.
This paper aims at contemplating upon the pertinent role that the media can play in ensuring that the rights of the mentally
ill are known, that proper mental healthcare is available to one and all, and that the general misconceptions surrounding
mental illness can be cleared.

The Indelible Impact of Media

The term ‘media’ being the plural form of the term ‘medium’ means an agency to do something, and the term
‘media’ as understood from the perspective of this discussion is the collective terminology used to denote the main means
of mass communication.

Media is the way in which we reach out to the outer world and get apprised of the news, the society, the economy,
environment, nation, world, etc. Media is further categorized into the print and electronic media and ranges from books,
newspapers, magazines, journals, newsletters, television, movies, to video games, music, internet, and social media.

What we see we believe, we tend to question and search for answers and then forget about the issue once a new
pertinent topic looms large. However, there are broad images that stay in the sub-conscience, that affect our view point and
mold our opinion. Mental illness is one such sensitive issue which has not been dealt with the apt amount of sensitivity by
the media.

Assigned roles of villains, elements of fun, hate or mere victims, mentally ill have never been portrayed in the
Indian media in the right spirit. They have always been portrayed as perpetrators of hate and crime or victims of the
same.3Persons with mental illness are often the factors that spice up the drama and add the zing element to it with their
idiosyncrasies. It is pertinent to note that fictional depictions lay down an indelible mark on the viewers’ minds.4When
shown in negative light, the images influence the opinion of the general public about persons with mental illness.

The mental healthcare professionals have also not been portrayed in the right spirit generally either.
Electro-compulsive therapy and forced medication as a punishment or for treatment could also been seen in many
mainstream Bollywood movies, namely: Damini, Jewel Thief, Raja, Rat aur Din and Khamoshi.5 At the same time movies
like Love You Zindagi where the female protagonist goes for counseling to a mental health practitioner is an appropriate
portrayal of the situation wherein the patient is helped to come out of her predicaments and get back to her normal life.

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 Indian Media Vis-À-Vis Persons with Mental Illness –An Analysis 625

The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017

Mental health is an integral part of a human’s wellbeing which may be disturbed by illnesses which range for a
span of time, for a crisis in life or for lifetime itself.

The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 aims to provide for mental health care and services for persons with mental
illness in India and to protect, promote and fulfill the rights of such persons during delivery of mental health care and
services.

Rights of persons with mental illness during delivery of mental health care are laid down in Chapter V of the Act
which can be enumerated into the following categories, namely:

Table 1
Section 18: Right to access mental healthcare
Section 19: Right to community living
Section 20: Right to protection from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment
Section 21: Right to equality and non-discrimination
Section 22: Right to information
Section 23: Right to confidentiality
Section 24: Restriction on release of information in respect of mental illness
Section 25: Right to access mental records
Section 26: Right to personal contacts and communications
Section 27: Right to legal aid
Section 28: Right to make complaints about deficiencies in provision of services

Chapter III of the Mental Health Care Act, 2017 provides for advance directives; and Chapter IV of the Mental
Health Care Act, 2017 lays down provisions pertaining to nominated representative.6Every person, who is not a minor,
shall have a right to make an advance directive in writing, specifying any or all of the following:

• The way the person wishes to be cared for and treated for a mental illness;

• The way the person wishes not to be cared for and treated for a mental illness;

• The individual or individuals, in order of precedence, he wants to appoint as his nominated representative.

An advance directive can be made by a person irrespective of his past mental illness or treatment for the
7
same; and can be invoked only when such person ceases to have capacity to make mental health care or treatment
decisions and shall remain effective until such person regains capacity to make those decisions.8 It is the duty of every
medical officer in charge of a mental health establishment and the psychiatrist in charge of a person’s treatment to propose
or give treatment to a person with mental illness, in accordance with his/her valid advance directive.9 Every person, who is
not a minor, has the right to appoint a nominated representative for the purposes of this Act.10 Where no nominated
representative is appointed by a person, the Act lays down the list of persons who in the order of precedence shall be
deemed to be the nominated representative of a person with mental illness.

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 626 Kirandeep Kaur

All persons with mental illness have the capacity to make mental healthcare or treatment decisions; however, each
of them may require varying levels of support from their nominated representative to make decisions.11

The Positive Role Media Can Play

Proper implementation of the right to access mental healthcare can go a long way in enabling the persons with
mental illness to a good life. Very rarely have the concerns of the mentally ill and mentally retarded been the focus of
attention of mainstream news.

Demeaning images of the mentally ill tarnishes their status before the society.12From 2012 to 2014 the Human
Rights Watch team13 visited twenty-four mental hospitals (public and private) and state facilities for residential care.
This Report focuses on issues, including involuntary/forced admissions to mental health establishments; overcrowding in
such institutions, leading to lack of access to general healthcare, adequate hygiene, proper sanitation and clothing facilities,
etc; forced treatment which included electro-convulsive therapy; and abuse and violence, both physical and sexual.
The Team also reported usage of derogatory language for patients with mental illness in such institutions including usage
of terms for them like “pagal” (Hindi for ‘mad’) or “mentally retarded” thereby reinforcing the stigma and derogation
towards such persons in the Indian society.

The rights of the mentally ill persons are not contemplated upon in the media, print or electronic. Positive steps
towards including persons with mental illness in the mainstream society can go a long way in recognizing their right and
dignity. Giving them for a at news panels to air their views about the issues affecting the nation, including them in
mainstream issues of life and getting their opinion about all factors in the nation that have the capability to affect them is
vital.

The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 is a positive step towards protecting the rights of persons with mental illness,
their treatment, admission and discharge in mental health institutions and their capability to give advance directives
pertaining to their treatment. Proper awareness about this new legislation is another pivotal role the media can play in
ensuring that the ultimate aim of equity in mental healthcare can be reached. Awareness can be brought about by
discussions in the mainstream news, advertisements by the Government in the primetime news television, radio channels,
magazines, newsletters and newspapers. It can therefore, be concluded that the media has an important role in the dynamics
of the society and can play a very vital role in ensuring that the human rights of persons with mental illness are fulfilled.

REFERENCES

1. Hereinafter referred to as “the Act”

2. Notification No.: S.O. 2173(E), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India (29th May, 2018)

3. Nancy Signorelli, The Stigma of mental illness on television 325-331 Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic
Media (1989)

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Indian Media Vis-À-Vis Persons with Mental Illness –An Analysis 627

4. See Rebecca Beirne, TV’s troubling storylines for characters with a mental illness, The Conversation (2017),
available at https:// the conversation.com/friday-essay-tvs-troubling-storylines-for-characters-with-a-mental-
illness-81456

5. Ranjan Bhattacharyya, Indian Media and Mental Illnesses: Beyond the Love Hate Relationship (2016), Available
athttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/301357004_Indian_Media_and_Mental_Illnesses_Beyond_the_Love_
Hate_Relationship

6. See also Jeffrey Swanson, et. al., Psychiatric Advance Directives Among Public Health Consumers in Five US
Cities: Prevalence, Demand and Correlates, 34J Am Acad Psychiatry 3443–57 (2006)

7. The Mental Health Care Act, 2017, Section 5

8. Id.

9. The Mental Health Care Act, 2017, Section 10

10. The Mental Health Care Act, 2017, Section 14

11. Id.

12. http://ontario.cmha.ca/wp-content/files/2012/07/moods_media_200812.pdf

13. Human Rights Watch, Treated Worse than Animals- Abuses against Women and Girls with Psychological and
Intellectual Disabilities in Institutions in India (2014), Available at
https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/12/03/treated-worse-animals/abuses-against-women-and-girls-psychosocial-or-
intellectual (Last visited on April 5, 2018)

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