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| Amanda Bynes and the crass media treatment of 'troubled starlets' | Amanda Bynes and the crass media treatment of 'troubled starlets' |
| (5 months later) | |
| Question: when does a Mail article about a celebrity posting nude selfies on Twitter transcend from banal lechery to something truly, irresponsibly odious? | Question: when does a Mail article about a celebrity posting nude selfies on Twitter transcend from banal lechery to something truly, irresponsibly odious? |
| Answer: when the subject of that article is somebody displaying signs of mental illness. | Answer: when the subject of that article is somebody displaying signs of mental illness. |
| Amanda Bynes, Disney starlet, is currently being mocked across online media, gossip mags and dailies for her increasingly erratic behaviour. Attacks on journalists, bitchy tweets, impromptu haircuts, and excessive spending are all offered up in a buffet of schadenfreude. Or, as the Mail delicately puts it, "the latest slice of crazy". | Amanda Bynes, Disney starlet, is currently being mocked across online media, gossip mags and dailies for her increasingly erratic behaviour. Attacks on journalists, bitchy tweets, impromptu haircuts, and excessive spending are all offered up in a buffet of schadenfreude. Or, as the Mail delicately puts it, "the latest slice of crazy". |
| Ritual humiliation is just one of the ways the media consistently and pervasively mistreats the subject of mental health. In the case of Bynes, like Britney Spears before her, the bullying is accompanied by a disingenuous sense of caring. This often involves frequent use of the word "troubled" and asking a "psychiatric expert" to diagnose a serious condition. It makes no difference whether they actually have one or not – Bynes has dismissed claims she has any sort of mental health issue. ("I have no clue why people say I'm insane. Every time I've heard it, it came from an ugly person's mouth, so I don't care"). | Ritual humiliation is just one of the ways the media consistently and pervasively mistreats the subject of mental health. In the case of Bynes, like Britney Spears before her, the bullying is accompanied by a disingenuous sense of caring. This often involves frequent use of the word "troubled" and asking a "psychiatric expert" to diagnose a serious condition. It makes no difference whether they actually have one or not – Bynes has dismissed claims she has any sort of mental health issue. ("I have no clue why people say I'm insane. Every time I've heard it, it came from an ugly person's mouth, so I don't care"). |
| The flip side of this is the tortured artist cliché, or mental health issues as an artsy fashion accessory. This is just as dangerous as the bullying; note articles about the so-called 27 Club (artists and musicians dying at the age of 27), or stars checking in and out of The Priory. Casually perusing a dog-eared account of someone's mental instability left behind on a tube seat, or being able to "Like" a celebrity having a crisis isn't merely distasteful; it contributes to a culture of stigma that is part of the reason that people are actually dying. | The flip side of this is the tortured artist cliché, or mental health issues as an artsy fashion accessory. This is just as dangerous as the bullying; note articles about the so-called 27 Club (artists and musicians dying at the age of 27), or stars checking in and out of The Priory. Casually perusing a dog-eared account of someone's mental instability left behind on a tube seat, or being able to "Like" a celebrity having a crisis isn't merely distasteful; it contributes to a culture of stigma that is part of the reason that people are actually dying. |
| When I was 16, I changed from being a high-achieving, well-rounded kid: string of A* grades at GCSE, co-chair of the school council, playing on pretty much every sports team going, huge circle of friends … to not leaving my house for around nine months. At the most important time in my life – when I should have been acing A-levels and planning my future – I was hit with a crippling depression. I was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder. | When I was 16, I changed from being a high-achieving, well-rounded kid: string of A* grades at GCSE, co-chair of the school council, playing on pretty much every sports team going, huge circle of friends … to not leaving my house for around nine months. At the most important time in my life – when I should have been acing A-levels and planning my future – I was hit with a crippling depression. I was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder. |
| It took me almost two years to ask for help, partly due to the stigma that persists around mental health issues. This needs to change so that suicide is no longer the reason for more deaths per year than murder and war combined; so that no parent has to watch their child struggling to reach their potential while dealing with a mental health condition; so that no teenage girl is ashamed to admit her concerns about body image are causing her mind to become unwell; and so that the government cannot call someone who is signed off sick for depression, schizophrenia or PTSD "a skiver". | It took me almost two years to ask for help, partly due to the stigma that persists around mental health issues. This needs to change so that suicide is no longer the reason for more deaths per year than murder and war combined; so that no parent has to watch their child struggling to reach their potential while dealing with a mental health condition; so that no teenage girl is ashamed to admit her concerns about body image are causing her mind to become unwell; and so that the government cannot call someone who is signed off sick for depression, schizophrenia or PTSD "a skiver". |
| There is progress. Thanks to the Time to Change campaign – a collaboration between the charities Rethink Mental Illness and Mind – there are anti-stigma in the advertisement break of Coronation Street. Stephen Fry's documentary The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, and Clare Allan's monthly column both help to raise awareness of mental health issues. | There is progress. Thanks to the Time to Change campaign – a collaboration between the charities Rethink Mental Illness and Mind – there are anti-stigma in the advertisement break of Coronation Street. Stephen Fry's documentary The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, and Clare Allan's monthly column both help to raise awareness of mental health issues. |
| Over six years ago, the Guardian published the most viscerally moving article by Felicity Bryan about her family's experience with bipolar disorder, an account which I am still tempted to print off and tape to lampposts daily. If I knew anybody involved in the Anonymous hacking collective, I would be tempted to ask them to reroute all Amanda Bynes articles to that piece. | Over six years ago, the Guardian published the most viscerally moving article by Felicity Bryan about her family's experience with bipolar disorder, an account which I am still tempted to print off and tape to lampposts daily. If I knew anybody involved in the Anonymous hacking collective, I would be tempted to ask them to reroute all Amanda Bynes articles to that piece. |
| It also helps when public figures such as Alastair Campbell "come out" about their issues with mental health, but it does a hell of a lot of good when an international movie star discusses their own experience calmly and without shame, as Catherine Zeta-Jones did this week after hospitalisation to treat her bipolar II disorder. | It also helps when public figures such as Alastair Campbell "come out" about their issues with mental health, but it does a hell of a lot of good when an international movie star discusses their own experience calmly and without shame, as Catherine Zeta-Jones did this week after hospitalisation to treat her bipolar II disorder. |
| Clare Danes' portrayal of bipolar CIA operative Carrie Mathison in Homeland is another rare triumph for media representation of mental health. And it is nothing short of wonderful that Jennifer Lawrence not only won an Oscar for her portrayal of a woman with debilitating depression, but also went on to discuss mental illness on the red carpet in the same breath as ordering a McDonalds. | Clare Danes' portrayal of bipolar CIA operative Carrie Mathison in Homeland is another rare triumph for media representation of mental health. And it is nothing short of wonderful that Jennifer Lawrence not only won an Oscar for her portrayal of a woman with debilitating depression, but also went on to discuss mental illness on the red carpet in the same breath as ordering a McDonalds. |
| We need more of this. We need more openness. We need people talking about their experiences. Depression is letting the moss roll over you, sleeping 22 hours of the day or not being able to sleep for weeks. It is navigating your flat like a game of Tetris, because you've been so catatonic there's stuff all over the floor and you haven't bothered to tidy, or wash, for days. It is not funny and it is not the punchline to a joke. | We need more of this. We need more openness. We need people talking about their experiences. Depression is letting the moss roll over you, sleeping 22 hours of the day or not being able to sleep for weeks. It is navigating your flat like a game of Tetris, because you've been so catatonic there's stuff all over the floor and you haven't bothered to tidy, or wash, for days. It is not funny and it is not the punchline to a joke. |
| Nor is it a celebrity accessory. I have been to The Priory. I went because there were no beds in the nearest psychiatric ward, and because my mother was so concerned about me attempting suicide that she was willing to get into thousands of pounds worth of debt to do all she could do to help me. | Nor is it a celebrity accessory. I have been to The Priory. I went because there were no beds in the nearest psychiatric ward, and because my mother was so concerned about me attempting suicide that she was willing to get into thousands of pounds worth of debt to do all she could do to help me. |
| That's the reality of living with a mental health condition; building a support network of friends and family. It's feeling elated about getting better due to the right combination of medication after monotonous trial and error, but hating the aftertaste of the pills and the effect they have on your weight, libido or ability to orgasm. It's about routine and knowing what works for you and what doesn't, learning how best to cope, and discovering what to do when you're not coping. It's about surprising people by how "normal" you are. | That's the reality of living with a mental health condition; building a support network of friends and family. It's feeling elated about getting better due to the right combination of medication after monotonous trial and error, but hating the aftertaste of the pills and the effect they have on your weight, libido or ability to orgasm. It's about routine and knowing what works for you and what doesn't, learning how best to cope, and discovering what to do when you're not coping. It's about surprising people by how "normal" you are. |
| So if a picture is worth a thousand words, then I'd like us to replace every photo of a young woman in distress with those words – thousands of them. Talking, typing, writing so that we have a healthier debate on mental illness, and are not OK with an article that starts thus: "Troubled starlet Amanda Bynes uploads lascivious pictures of her wearing skimpy lingerie". It's most certainly not OK. | So if a picture is worth a thousand words, then I'd like us to replace every photo of a young woman in distress with those words – thousands of them. Talking, typing, writing so that we have a healthier debate on mental illness, and are not OK with an article that starts thus: "Troubled starlet Amanda Bynes uploads lascivious pictures of her wearing skimpy lingerie". It's most certainly not OK. |
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