‘It all fits into place’: Psychiatrists’ linguistic strategies in challenging media representations of their profession
Issued Date: 19 Jul 2013
Abstract
Applied linguistics has a long-standing interest in studying how the media present particular versions of individuals, actions and events. Less attention, however, has been given to the ways in which individuals respond to the media representations of themselves, especially where media representations are of professional categories of people. Here we examine how members of one professional category – psychiatrists – deal with representations of their profession in the cinema. Using discourse analysis, we look at the linguistic strategies used by psychiatrists to challenge and undermine such cinematic versions of their profession. Data come from 13 interviews conducted by a professional journalist with practising psychiatrists from the UK (n=4) and the USA (n=9). In challenging cinematic portrayals of psychiatry, the interviewees construct versions of psychiatry that distinguish these from, and which serve to undermine, media versions. In addition, as members of a category that has category-bound entitlements to explain human behaviour, interviewees can also provide explanations for the inaccuracies found in the versions that film-makers provide. Professional psychiatrists, unlike members of other professional categories, are thus positioned in ways that offer up diverse possibilities for undermining others’ representations of their profession in specific contexts.
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DOI: 10.1558/japl.v8i1.71
References
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Sacks, H. (1992) Lectures on Conversation (Vols. 1-2). Oxford: Blackwell.
Sarangi, S. (2010) Reconfiguring self/identity/status/role: The case of professional role performance in healthcare encounters. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice 7 (1): 75–95.
Schneider, I. (1977) Images in the mind: Psychiatry in the commercial film. American Journal of Psychiatry 134 (6): 613–620.
Schneider, I. (1987) The theory and practice of movie psychiatry. American Journal of Psychiatry 144: 996–1002.
Bhugra, D. (2009) Editorial. International Review of Psychiatry 21 (3): 181–182. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540260902747862
Byrne, P. (2009) Why psychiatrists should watch films (or What has cinema ever done for psychiatry?). Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 15: 286–296. http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/apt.bp.107.005306
Cape, G. (2009) Movies as a vehicle to teach addiction medicine. International Review of Psychiatry 21 (3): 213–217. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540260902747094
Flores, G. (2002) Mad scientists, compassionate healers, and greedy egotists: The portrayal of physicians in the movies. Journal of the National Medical Association 94 (7): 635–658.
Friedman, S.H., Cerny, C.A., Soliman, S. and West, S.G. (2011) Reel forensic experts: Forensic psychiatrists as portrayed on screen. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 39 (3): 412–417.
Gabbard, G.O. (2002) The Psychology of the Sopranos: Love, Death, Desire and Betrayal in America’s Favorite Gangster Family. New York: Basic Books.
Gabbard, G. O. and Gabbard, K. (1999) Psychiatry and the Cinema. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Hocking, D. (2010) The discursive construction of creativity as work in a tertiary art and design environment. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice 7 (2): 229–249.
Hutchby, I. (2006) Media Talk: Conversation Analysis and the Study of Broadcasting. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Jefferson, G. (2004) Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. In G.H. Lerner (ed.) Conversation Analysis: Studies from the First Generation, 13–31. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Kalra, G. (2012) Talking about stigma towards mental health professionals with psychiatry trainees: A movie club approach. Asian Journal of Psychiatry. Available at: http://www.asianjournalofpsychiatry.com/article/S1876-2018(12)00124-4/pdf.
McFarlane, S. (2004) Antwone Fisher: How dangerous is Dr Wonderful? Australasian Psychiatry 12 (2): 176–178.
McKinlay, A. and McVittie, C. (2006) Using topic control to avoid the gainsaying of troublesome evaluations. Discourse Studies 8 (6): 797–815. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1461445606069330
McKinlay, A. and McVittie, C. (2008) Social Psychology and Discourse. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781444303094
McKinlay, A. and McVittie, C. (2011) Identities in Context: Individuals and Discourse in Action. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781444397222
Pollner, M. (1987) Mundane Reason: Reality in Everyday and Sociological Discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Potter, J. (1996) Representing Reality: Discourse, Rhetoric and Social Construction. London: Sage.
Potter, J. and Hepburn, A. (2005) Qualitative interviews in psychology: Problems and possibilities. Qualitative Research in Psychology 2 (4): 281–307. http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/1478088705qp045oa
Robinson, D. J. (2009) Reel psychiatry. International Review of Psychiatry 21 (3): 245–260. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540260902751138
Sacks, H. (1992) Lectures on Conversation (Vols. 1-2). Oxford: Blackwell.
Sarangi, S. (2010) Reconfiguring self/identity/status/role: The case of professional role performance in healthcare encounters. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice 7 (1): 75–95.
Schneider, I. (1977) Images in the mind: Psychiatry in the commercial film. American Journal of Psychiatry 134 (6): 613–620.
Schneider, I. (1987) The theory and practice of movie psychiatry. American Journal of Psychiatry 144: 996–1002.
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