A retrospective study exploring how South African newspapers framed Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders over an 11-year period (2004–2014)

Background: The way schizophrenia is portrayed in the media contributes to the dissemination of misinformation about the symptoms, causes, and treatment of mental disorders and has the potential to perpetuate or mitigate the stigmatization of schizophrenia. While research on the news media’s role in exacerbating or mitigating the stigmatization of schizophrenia has been conducted widely in other contexts, our search did not yield any study on media framing of schizophrenia in South Africa. Therefore, this study used the framing theory to examine the media framing of schizophrenia following the enactment of two mental health policies in South Africa. Methods: We examined 216 news stories that covered the schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders from 20 South African newspapers retrieved from the SABINET – SA Media online archive over an 11-year period (2004–2014). Thematic analysis was used to analyse the news stories. Results: The findings show that most of the news stories had problems as their main frame. These were followed by stories framed to diagnose the causes of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders; and stories that made moral judgements about issues around the schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders. Stories that were classified as suggesting remedies were relatively less frequent. A common thread in the news stories was the misperceptions about schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Media framing of the cultural interpretations of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders tended to be derogatory and therefore stigmatising. Most news stories framed schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders as mainly caused by using psychoactive drugs/substance with Cannabis as the most frequently mentioned psychoactive drug. Conclusion: The study underscores the role of media analyses in framing schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders following the development of major mental health policies. The study showed that the media framing of schizophrenia could perpetuate stigmatisation, discrimination and social rejection of people with lived experiences of the condition. Our findings highlight the need for collaboration between researchers and the media to enhance opportunities for improved and more nuanced reporting of mental health issues.