Depression in Women’s Magazines

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Mass communication research suggests that the media influence both what a population thinks about and how it thinks about an event or situation by controlling what is covered and how topics are framed. One medium, popular women’s magazines, has published depression-related articles for decades. However, little is known about the content and frame of these articles. OBJECTIVE: The research sought to determine what women’s magazines published about depression between 1980 and 2000. DESIGN: Articles published on depression in the top eight circulating women’s magazines, between 1980 to 1985 and 1995 to 2000 were retrieved and analyzed using qualitative media analysis methodology. RESULTS: Between the two periods, the magazines increased the number of published articles on depression and increasingly framed it as a treatable but stigmatized illness. CONCLUSION: Women’s magazines, which regularly publish information on depression, have high circulation rates, resulting in millions of exposures to their messages. Psychiatric nurse-authors have an opportunity to influence these messages.