Nickelodeon Stigma

Just wanted to share a letter I sent off to Nickelodeon today. NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) is full of great information, and includes a section on how to fight the stigma of mental illness. StigmaBusters shares many of the stories of how mental illness is portrayed, both good and bad. If you have a minute, I encourage you to take a peek!

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Dear Nickelodeon,

Your network received a black mark in my book this last weekend (April 20, 2008) with the recent airing of a “Back to the Barnyard” episode. This animated episode, “Saving Mrs. Beady” focused on the delusions of Mrs. Beady and addressed psychiatric hospitals, mental illness and treatment for mental health in a most inaccurate and inappropriate manner.

This episode merely instigated the stereotypes surrounding the issues of mental health. I am surprised you would air an episode with this sort of content given the circumstances of one of your leading stars, Jamie Lynn Spears (Zoey 101). Jamie Lynn faces issues surrounding mental health with her sister (Britney Spears) on a daily basis. How disrespectful to expose one of your biggest moneymakers to the already sensitive subject? In any other workplace, members of the Legal and Human Resources Department would hand out discrimination and/or harassment suits faster than imaginable for subjecting an employee to such a situation.

As a family member of persons with mental illnesses, I did not appreciate the stigma this created. The information was inaccurate and the stereotypes were undignified. Nickelodeon’s portrayal of mental illness only propagates the struggle, prejudice and discrimination millions of people experience on a daily basis. The U.S. Surgeon General has not only condemned the actions Nickelodeon has taken with this episode, but under the Americans with Disabilities Act, I imagine you could face legal liabilities.

A network that focuses on children as a target audience is certainly not preparing appropriate content for airing. How many of your child viewers have a parent with a mental illness? I know of at least two. An even more important question is how many of your child viewers suffer from a mental illness themselves?

I highly recommend you refrain from running any further episodes of this cartoon. Perhaps it may be necessary for your writers to further research sensitive subjects before actually airing an episode. Advocates of any mental health organization, such as NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), would gladly offer suggestions for more positive content.

Thank you,

Alicia Peterson