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Exemplification and Stigmatization of the Depressed: Depression as the Main Topic versus an Incidental Topic in National US News Coverage

ABSTRACT To understand the associations between the use of exemplars and other communication themes known to contribute to the stigmatization of the depressed, we conducted a content analysis of news stories about depression in three national media outlets – CNN.com, The New York Times, and The Washington Post (N = 986). The study found exemplars were often used in the coverage of depression by national news outlets. Such use was associated with an increased presence of common stereotypes about the depressed as violent and suicidal regardless of whether depression was the main topic of the news stories. Exemplars appeared more often in stories providing biomedical and environmental explanations for the mental illness when depression was mentioned incidentally rather than as the main topic of the news coverage. As for the context, stories with exemplars appeared most often in the healthcare, and culture and celebrity contexts when depression was the main topic. When depression was mentioned incidentally rather than as the main topic, news stories with exemplars appeared most often in the culture and celebrity context. These combinations of context and exemplar use were all associated with less frequent presentations of violent stereotypes and a more frequent use of biomedical attributions, which seem to challenge the stigma associated with the mental illness depression.