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Introduction
A large body of research has examined media images of mental illness. The findings of several review studies demonstrate that between the 1950s and 2005 mental illness was consistently misrepresented and, particularly, people with mental illness were frequently portrayed as violent and dangerous (Nairn, 2007; Sieff, 2004; Stuart, 2006; Wahl, 1992). Recent research has also established the same result (Goodwin, 2014; Kesic et al., 2011; Murphy et al., 2013), while it also identified a wider range of themes, including social roles and the talent of people with such illnesses (Knifton and Quinn, 2008). With respect to time trends, Rhydderch et al. (2016) found a positive change, with stigmatising articles significantly decreasing and anti-stigmatising ones increasing between 2008 and 2014 in English newspapers. Meanwhile, studies have also revealed that people’s views on mental illness can be affected by the depiction of it in the media (Clement et al., 2013; Dietrich et al., 2006).
The present study aimed to describe a time trend in newspaper reporting of mental illness in Japan, where there have been few studies conducted on this topic. It also aimed to compare newspaper articles about schizophrenia and those about depression. This is because schizophrenia and depression may be represented differently in the media since these illnesses have different images among lay people, with schizophrenia being viewed more negatively (Griffiths et al., 2006; Schomerus et al., 2012).
Methods
Four high-circulation national newspapers were selected for analysis: the Yomiuri newspaper, the Asahi newspaper, the Mainichi newspaper and the Nikkei newspaper. As for their political stances, Yomiuri is right-leaning whilst Asahi and Mainichi are left-leaning. Nikkei focusses upon news related to finance, business and industry and is similar to the Financial Times in terms of content. The majority of the readers of Nikkei and Asahi are white-collar with higher educational backgrounds (senior high school or university graduates) while the blue-collar readers or those without occupation with lower educations occupy the highest proportion in Yomiuri and Mainichi (Kimura, 2004). These four newspapers are broadsheets; tabloids were not included, as only relatively recent articles (published after 2001) are available in most Japanese tabloid databases, while the present study aimed to examine the time trend over a longer period. The four...