Video by Maggie Feldbloom
Multimedia by Reedah Hayder
By Samreen Maqsood
Canadian news media has shown research that coverage on mental health and veterans is lacking.
A study published in 2017 showed that suicide rates are higher among veterans than of the Canadian general public.
The research also showed that nothing has changed over the study’s four decades.
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According to Dr. Robert Whitley, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University, media coverage of veterans tends to be “negative” and “stigmatizing.”
He said articles often used language such as “ticking time bombs,” “broken hero” and “people who snap.”
Dr. Whitley and his team had tracked coverage of mental health issues within the Canadian media between 2005 and 2010.
The findings indicated that the media often negatively portrayed mental health issues in their reporting (Whitley & Berry, 2013).
The Centre Excellence on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Related Mental Health Conditions launched a study to help raise awareness about the issues related to veterans’ mental health.
According to Military Medicine, “once soldiers seek help from mental health sources and have a positive experience, their perceptions of stigma may decrease.”
The Department of National Defence and Veterans Affairs Canada released a suicide prevention strategy that will help target and strengthen media’s reporting of mental health and suicide.
“Majority of people who have these conditions make an excellent recovery, especially when given the right services and support,” said Dr. Whitley.
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