A4 Refereed article in a conference publication
'Schizophrenia' as a metaphor in greek newspaper websites
Authors: Athanasopoulou C, Välimäki M
Editors: Mantas J, Househ MS, Hasman A
Conference name: International Conference on Informatics, Management, and Technology in Healthcare (ICIMTH)
Publication year: 2014
Journal: Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
Book title : Integrating Information Technology and Management for Quality of Care
Volume: 202
First page : 275
Last page: 278
Number of pages: 4
ISBN: 978-1-61499-422-0
eISBN: 978-1-61499-423-7
ISSN: 0926-9630
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3233/978-1-61499-423-7-275
Often, newspapers use the term ‘schizophrenia’ as a metaphor with negative connotations. The use of the term in Greek newspapers, has never been investigated. The aim of this study is to examine how the term ‘schizophrenia’ is used in Greek newspaper websites. For 2014, ‘To Vima’, ‘Kathimerini’, and ‘Eleftherotypia’, were the most popular newspaper websites. By searching the term ‘schizophrenia’ in Greek (‘σχιζoφρενεια’), the first fifty results were collected from the three websites (N=150). Deductive content analysis was applied. Out of the included articles (N=140), the majority were news (n=39, 28%), while more than a third (n=48, 34%) reported schizophrenia as a metaphor. The metaphoric use of ‘schizophrenia’ indicated predominately incoherence/contradiction/split (n=43, 90%). Monitoring how schizophrenia is presented within popular media is crucial, since it could influence public perceptions regarding the disorder. Continual use of schizophrenia as a metaphor could contribute to maintaining the stigma attached to mental illness.