Posted: Thursday 23 July 2009
On Monday 20 July The One Show on BBC One broadcast a feature which linked mental health with dangerous behaviour.
Unfortunately the piece was terrible, containing factual inaccuracies, bias and also causing offence.The discussion in the studio after the film was also very concerning.
You can watch the piece at http://www.bbc.co.uk/theoneshow/ - the report comes just a few minutes into the show.
The feature opened with a montage of examples of news stories where individuals with a mental health diagnosis have committed a murder. The voiceover says that 'Stories like this seem all too familiar but to the families stories like this come as no surprise'. Interviews included a case study whose younger brother has a diagnosis of severe personality disorder and had set fire to his house with parents inside (all survived).
There is some misleading reporting including "Sadly it seems that in too many cases when troubled patients put the public at risk the warnings from the families have been ignored. Tragedies are thankfully rare but 1 in 20 homicides in England are caused by people with severe mental illness."
Perhaps the worst bit of the film is when footage of a coffin is shown while the voiceover says: "Extreme random attacks may be rare but for the families who live with the affects forever it's important for all our attitudes towards mental health to change if we are to prevent the occasional shattering tragedy." The narration and the imagery send out very conflicting messages.
After the film they discussed the issues and comments from Dr Sara Jarvis included;
"Mental health is a horrible thing to have, by definition it robs you of the ability to help yourself, whereas if you have cancer, heart disease or diabetes, then mentally you can make a change."
"[some] people from deprived backgrounds and again if you are in that position then you just haven't got the mental resources to do something about it and that's what makes it so tragic as a condition.
Mind, as part of Time to Change, has made a complaint to the BBC however we are asking members of the public complain too, to show a groundswell of opinion that this was irresponsible reporting by the BBC.
If you would like to complain you can do so by going to https://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/forms/ and follow simple instructions.