The Language of Mental Illness

Based on a 45-million-word corpus, this book explores how public perceptions of mental health and illness have changed over time.

Based on a purpose-built 45-million-word corpus, this book offers timely and original linguistic insights into how the UK press report on mental health and illness, one of the key health topics in today's society. It is a vital resource for all researchers working in health communication and the health humanities.Mental health is a matter of vital importance in today's society, with the news media reporting on the topic on an almost daily basis. Despite this, the language associated with mental health has to date been relatively under-explored. Using methods from corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis, this pioneering book is the first large-scale linguistic investigation of UK news reports on mental illness. Based on a purpose-built corpus of 45 million words of UK press reports on mental illness, it offers a range of analyses exploring language development across time, in addition to focusing on the differences between press representations of specific mental illnesses. The book provides linguistic insights into public perceptions of mental illness, as well as stigma creation and perpetuation in the media. It also includes original and significant methodological innovations, making it a vital resource for researchers for in corpus linguistics, health communication, and the health humanities.