Media-Driven Paranoia?


  Image taken from the Sunrise House American Addiction Center @ sunrisehouse.com/paranoia-disorders/.

For years, the news and media have reported on stories of  murder and crime.  From the local to national news, it seems as though reports of positive stories are becoming more scarce, and stories of shootings, assaults, and robberies are flooding our media outlets.  Is the world falling apart?  Is it just going to continue to get worse, or is the severity of it just a media ratings grab?

The definition of paranoia, according to Professors of Psychiatry at Oxford and King's College in London, is the fear that something bad will happen and that others may intend to cause this.  As the reports come in, such as the Parkland, Florida school shooting, or the shooting at the YouTube Headquarters in California, there is an outcry for stricter gun control and checks on criminal and psychiatric backgrounds.  On the other side, there are those that want the freedom to own whatever type of gun, and are worried about the government coming in and taking them away.  Both of these have logical bases for their beliefs, but do their arguments stem from paranoia?  If it is, then wouldn't it be considered a "mental illness"?

The Oxford Dictionary states that paranoia is an unjustified suspicion and mistrust of other people.  This being said, on an individual basis, there are those that side with one group or another because of feelings rather than being truly educated on the subject.  Those that just jump on the "bandwagon" could, by definition, be considered paranoid and therefore suffer from a mental condition.  The education of people as to what is going on locally to globally falls, more often than not, on the media as most people do not have a reputable contact in a location that an issue may arise in to find out what really happened.  Those interested in finding the truth can look to reputable sources for news and information, but it can sometimes be a lot of work.

So, is the media correct in its portrayal of what is going on in this country?  Is crime getting worse?  According to a study by Pew Research Center, the FBI and the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported violent crimes in the U.S. have dropped dramatically since the early 1990's.  In this study, it was also shown that at least six out of ten Americans believe there to be an increase in crime even though the statistics show different.

In a Gallup poll, only 27% of those polled, have faith in their ability to distinguish fact from opinion in the media.  That leaves 73% that may believe false news reports.  The media throughout history has been accused of endangering national security to only focusing on the negatives.  Focus on the negatives tend to boost the ratings of media outlets.  As a result, those suffering from paranoia concerning this nation and its reported worsening, is not easily solved.  Laziness is on the rise in the United States and has an affect the extent of how far we will look into news reports and issues of our day.  Protesting and refusing to give time and money to those who embellish the news should be an issue worthy of fighting.  In this current time, where people need to know all about who did what with whom, the future of crime may be on the decline, but the future of issues of mental illness are going to be on the rise.       


Comments

  1. Julie Quinn TACApril 22, 2018 at 8:18 AM

    This is a scary post simply because of its accuracy and relationship to the actions taken by those in our community. Each individual only has one vote, but those who are paranoid have the same vote I do. Paranoia (as evidenced by the last election) can be a factor in who is elected and then the rules we live under are affected for generations. Can you tell that perhaps I'm paranoid?
    What do we do to reach Americans who refuse to read books, who refuse to stop watching cable news talking heads, and who think their rights trump others'? Is it paranoid to think that we are living in a society that is diverging wildly from rational discourse?

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