There has been an increase in how often mental health language has been used in popular media, but no one really knows what effect this is having. The Museum of Mental Health in the Media was set up by psychologists at the University of Oxford to understand this better.
The museum has the following aims:
- To collect and share examples of mental health language in popular media
- To stimulate discussion around two questions:
- Are portrayals of mental health problems in popular media accurate?
- What impacts do these examples have on us all, including those with and without mental health problems?
What are we including in the museum?
Each exhibit in the museum is an example of mental health language being used in a film, song, TV programme, or advert.
Exhibits cover lots of topics including anxiety, depression, general mental health, obsessive compulsive disorder, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder/trauma, psychiatric treatment, and schizophrenia/psychosis.
Who are we?
The Museum of Mental Health in the Media is run by two research psychologists from the University of Oxford:
Lucy Foulkes – Museum Director
Dr. Lucy Foulkes is a Prudence Trust research fellow, and her group researches mental health and social development in adolescence. Her group is particularly focused on the impact of the changing public conversation around mental health, including in schools and online.
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Isaac Winterburn – Museum Director & Curator
Isaac Winterburn is an ESRC-funded 1+3 year PhD student assessing the effects of increased mental health awareness campaigns on how adolescents understand their mental health. He is also interested in the influence of popular media on these understandings.
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The Museum of Mental Health in the Media is funded by an NIHR Senior Research Fellowship awarded to Lucy, and was co-designed and built by Minervation Ltd.
Douglas Badenoch
Douglas is an Information Scientist in digital education for Evidence-Based Health Care. In 2002, he co-founded Minervation to help health care organisations build reliable and usable knowledge systems. Since then he’s worked with a wide range of clients in the NHS, academic, charity and private sectors. He’s happiest when he’s working with users to make sure they’re actively involved in shaping projects and designing websites.
Tom Brooks
Tom is a freelance website designer. He specialises in design for the web, but also has first hand experience in print design (including Prepress and production).
Tom designed and developed the Museum and has worked with Minervation since 2012. He has worked with a range of clients across public and private sectors, including BCG, NHS, Diageo, Vodafone, SUEZ and Aardman Animations.
André Tomlin
André Tomlin is Founder of Minervation Ltd and The Mental Elf. He’s a mental health information scientist with a passion for puns, podcasting, blogs, videos, social media and teaching.
Andre runs the Mental Elf, an influential digital communication platform promoting reliable evidence in mental health. Andre brings breadth and depth of knowledge of mental health over the past 30 years. He is an expert in engaging effectively with researchers, methodologists, clinicians, commissioners and service users about important new evidence in mental health.
