Book Review: Representing Schizophrenia in the Media: A Corpus-Based Approach by Dr James Balfour

Описание: 00:02 – Last review today (I’m hungry and want a sandwich)
00:06 – Book overview: James Balfour on representing schizophrenia in the UK media
00:28 – Personal note: he was one of my PhD examiners
00:36 – Why his work feels careful and genuinely invested

00:49 – How I’m structuring the review (academic + lived experience)

01:01 – Academic side: mixed methods, done properly
01:06 – Corpus linguistics + critical discourse analysis
01:11 – Accessible writing for non-academics
01:21 – Historical grounding of schizophrenia
01:36 – Tabloid vs broadsheet coverage across chapters

01:45 – Key finding: horror/slasher stereotypes
02:01 – Hollywood villains shaping press narratives
02:17 – Selective reporting: crime stories dominate
02:29 – The other extreme: savant/genius stories
02:43 – Ordinary lives and struggles missing

03:01 – The core problem: only two media archetypes
03:11 – “John Nash genius” or “dangerous killer”

03:33 – Impact on stigma: careful, sensitive treatment
03:40 – Separating media violence from real statistics
03:56 – People with schizophrenia more likely victims
04:06 – Nuance acknowledged (could be another video)
04:17 – Selective sensationalism is the real issue

04:36 – Practical reality: it’s an academic book, so pricey
04:41 – Cost breakdown (hardback, paperback, Kindle)
04:50 – Worth it if you can afford it
04:57 – Short, readable over a couple of days

05:03 – I wrote a chapter-by-chapter review of the book
05:14 – Why that review might be useful first
05:46 – But the book is still very much worth reading

05:54 – Scale of the work: huge corpus, lots of labour
06:05 – Why it matters: media effects and conditioning
06:22 – Challenging embedded stereotypes and imagery
06:32 – Closing: well worth your time