How to report on mental health

Media reporting can have a huge influence on public attitudes towards mental health.

When dealing with a topic already entrenched with stigma and misunderstanding, fair and accurate journalism is essential.

The Press Complaints Commission code of practice states that:

1. The press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to an individual's race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation or to any physical or mental illness or disability.
2. Details of an individual's race, colour, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental illness or disability must be avoided unless genuinely relevant to the story.

Time to Change, an anti-stigma campaign run by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, produces guidance on how to cover mental health sensitively and responsibly. There are two guides:

• reporting mental health in the news and
• reporting on on mental health-related storylines in soaps and dramas.

How to report on suicide

The way that suicide is reported can have a direct impact on the incidence of 'copy cat suicides', so it's essential to take care when reporting individual cases. The Samaritans produce a media guide on reporting suicide.