How Mental Health is Affected by the Media

As a person who suffers from depression, you most likely have begun to understand the impact your environment may have in complicating your mental health. From quality of living, family life to even education and career, our environment plays a key role in exacerbating depressive symptoms.

So what about media attention? As a person who experiences bouts of depression, do you notice that specific media coverage tends to exacerbate your symptoms? Often, in the case of celebrity deaths, especially suicides, an individual who feels depressed may suddenly experience an increase in depressive thoughts and tendencies.

In fact, in many individuals who are actively treating for depression, cognitive behavioral therapy teaches that, in order to improve depressive tendencies and thoughts, one must focus on healthy lifestyle practices. This may mean avoiding media coverage of many events. Because a person who lives with depression often experiences a complication involving emotional processing of information, any media coverage, especially which related to a celebrity suicide, many conjure up depressive thinking and, in some cases, even prompt suicidal thoughts.

Likewise, if you are the parent of a teenager or child who experiences depression, it is important to find lifestyle activities that work to promote positive information processing and positive experiences. Avoiding media coverage may be one of those lifestyle practices. There has been some evidence to support that, especially in depressed children and teenagers, the processing of negative media coverage, may prompt further depressive responses, suicidal thoughts and even go so far as to prompt suicide tendencies.