International Journal of Mental Health
ISSN: 0020-7411 (Print) 1557-9328 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/mimh20
Mental health reportage in Ghanaian newspapers
between 2000 and 2015: A qualitative analysis
Vivian Dzokoto, Christina Barnett, Annabella Osei-Tutu & Alexis Briggs
To cite this article: Vivian Dzokoto, Christina Barnett, Annabella Osei-Tutu & Alexis Briggs (2018)
Mental health reportage in Ghanaian newspapers between 2000 and 2015: A qualitative analysis,
International Journal of Mental Health, 47:3, 192-214, DOI: 10.1080/00207411.2018.1488557
To link to this article:  https://doi.org/10.1080/00207411.2018.1488557
Published online: 28 Aug 2018.
Submit your article to this journal 
Article views: 90
View Crossmark data
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at
https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=mimh20
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH
2018, VOL. 47, NO. 3, 192–214
https://doi.org/10.1080/00207411.2018.1488557
Mental health reportage in Ghanaian newspapers
between 2000 and 2015: A qualitative analysis
Vivian Dzokotoa, Christina Barnetta, Annabella Osei-Tutub, and Alexis Briggsc
aDepartment of African American Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia,
USA; bUniversity of Ghana, Legon, Ghana; cBoston College, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Print media plays an important role in the circulation of infor- Ghana newspaper; mental
mation in contemporary Ghanaian society. We thematically health; media; Africa
examined the content of 164 mental health-related articles
published between 2000 and 2015 in six widely circulating
Ghanaian newspapers. The articles included investigative
reports related to specific public events and incidents; advice
columns; editorials; and didactic pieces. The articles covered
the following four major topics: (1) Mental health awareness
and advocacy; (2) Suicide; (3) Donations; and (4) Religion. Our
findings demonstrate that Ghanaian newspapers promote
awareness about mental disorders; advocate for those with
mental disorders; provide mostly accurate basic knowledge
about the nature and management of specific disorders; and
inform the public about the state of mental health care in
Ghana. We also observed that newspapers serve as a medium
through which social representations of mental disorder in
society are circulated, and in which tensions between com-
mon sense views and evidence-based information on mental
health are expressed.
Adinkrah’s article “Crash-Landings of Flying Witches in Ghana: Grand
Mystical Feats or Diagnosable Psychiatric Illnesses?” published in
Transcultural Psychiatry analyzes Ghanaian newspaper articles about the
salience of cultural and religious beliefs in the conceptualization of psychi-
atric illness and experiences of the elderly in a contemporary African soci-
ety. The stories also highlight the fact that in this age of social media, print
media still plays an important role in keeping the Ghanaian public
informed about local events. Furthermore, Adinkrah’s (In press) analysis of
the local meanings made of—and narratives constructed around—finding
disoriented elderly people in urban public spaces is a reminder of the utility
of looking at newspapers as an indirect gauge of public knowledge of men-
tal illness and the cultural models of meaning that people use to make
sense of newsworthy, mental disorder-related events that occur in their
CONTACT Vivian Dzokoto vdzokoto@vcu.edu Department of African American Studies, Virginia
Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.

 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH 193
world. The present study explores the content and type of mental health
relevant information covered in Ghanaian newspapers between 2000 and
2015. In contrast to Adinkrah’s (In press) work and the earlier work of
Dzokoto and Adams (2005), the focus of this study is the typical—and not
the sensational—mental health-related entries featured in newspapers. To
achieve this objective, we first review the state of print media in Ghana.
Second, we review two theoretical perspectives about the interplay between
media and information in society. Third, we discuss our sources of data
and approach to collecting and analyzing our data. Fourth, we summarize
the content of our dataset of mental health-related articles. Finally, we dis-
cuss the implications of our observations.
Mental health in Ghana
A variety of mental health conditions has been reported in Ghana. The
prevalence of common mental health disorders like depression and anxiety
is estimated at 20%, and that of severe mental illness like schizophrenia is
an estimated 3% (World Health Organization [WHO], 2015). People tend
to use a variety of health services (including biomedical and alternative
health systems) to address mental health needs (de-Graft Aikins, Dzokoto,
& Yevak, 2015; Read, Adiibokah, & Nyame, 2009). As of 2011, Ghana
housed 123 mental health outpatient facilities, three psychiatric hospitals,
seven community-based psychiatric inpatient units, four community resi-
dential facilities, and one day-treatment center (Roberts, Mogan, & Asare,
2014). Most individuals who sought treatment did so at outpatient facilities
and psychiatric hospitals. The most prevalent presenting diagnoses at out-
patient and psychiatric facilities included schizophrenia, mood disorders,
and substance abuse disorders (Roberts et al., 2014). Within the country,
there were 18 psychiatrists, 19 psychologists, around 1,070 registered
Mental Nurses, 72 Community Mental Health Officers, and 21 social work-
ers dedicated to mental health. Roberts et al. (2014) noted the limited num-
ber of mental health facilities and services available within the country.
Additionally, they recognized that nurses’ responsibility for providing the
majority of mental health care is disproportionate for a country of Ghana’s
economic status. The reality of a low resourced mental health public sector
is a reality of neighboring West African nations as well. In 2011, Nigeria
housed only 44 health outpatient facilities and eight mental hospitals
(WHO, 2011). Schizophrenia was the highest diagnosed mental health dis-
order across all psychiatric settings. Mood disorders and substance abuse
disorders were also among the most prevalent disorders. In Burkina Faso,
where psychiatric disorders are estimated to contribute to 5.8% of the glo-
bal burden of disease (WHO, 2008), as of 2011 there were no reported
194 V. DZOKOTO ET AL.
mental health facilities available for its citizens (WHO, 2011). Ghana for-
mulated and passed a new Mental Health Act (Act 846) in 2012 to coord-
inate services to meet the mental health needs of the country. The Act
prioritizes public education, correction of human rights breaches, decrimin-
alization of suicide, and implementation of drug rehabilitation facilities and
halfway houses. The Act ensured the creation of the Mental Health
Authority, and promotes the creation of the Mental Health Fund, and men-
tal health review tribunals. Ghana’s 2012 Mental Health Act is the only
piece of stand-alone mental health legislation, distinct from policy or other
integrationist mental health legislation, in West Africa. The implementation
of training for mental health care providers as well as adherence to the
new policies and guidelines set forth by the Act have progressed slowly. As
such, mental health services are still inadequate, quality of care is poor, and
social responses to mental disorders are negative (Barke, Nyarko, & Klecha,
2011; de-Graft Aikins, Dzokoto, & Yevak, 2015).
Social stigma surrounds mental health disorders. This is partly attributable
to cultural practices and beliefs about mental disorders (Opare-Henaku &
Utsey, 2017). Adinkrah (2015) noted that the attribution of negative life
events to witches, evil spirits, and other demonic forces, was also ascribed to
those with mental health disorders. Thus, those who experience mental
health crises are suspected of a cultural wrongdoing. Barke et al. (2011)
report that this stigma often manifests as familial shame, rejecting attitudes
towards those with mental health disorders, and the belief in social conse-
quences, like the removal of citizenship rights for the individual.
One means of dealing with stigma surrounding mental disorder is
through education. Education has been associated with more positive
regard towards those with mental health disorders (Barke et al., 2011). The
print media, as an arbiter of information, is an important way in which
knowledge about mental disorders is disseminated. However, Adjorlolo,
Abdul-Nasiru, Chan, and Bambi (2016) reported that oftentimes Ghanaian
print media perpetuates stigma by reporting on the criminal activities of
those with mental health disorders, and not addressing the risk factors or
context present that precipitated the crime in the first place. To gain a
good understanding of the role of the Ghanaian print media in shaping
public opinion and disseminating knowledge about mental health disorders,
it is important to systematically explore the mental health-related informa-
tion that is circulated in print.
The state of print media in Ghana
While the future of print media in many Western markets is anticipated to
be similar to that of the rotary phone, it is unclear whether the patronage
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH 195
of print media in Ghana is headed for a similar decline any time soon. On
the one hand, print media is now more accessible to the population than it
has been in previous decades. Illiteracy was cited as a barrier for 50% of
non-newspaper readers in a 2009 AudienceScapes survey (Bowen &
Goldstein, 2010). However, Ghana’s adult literacy rate increased from
57.9% in 2000 to 76.6% in 2015 (a 15.30% average annual growth rate).
Additionally, the youth literacy rate of Ghana increased from 70.7% in
2000 to 90.6% in 2015 (a 13.5% rate of growth; World Bank Group, 2017).
Arguably, one could assume that increased literacy in an age of increased
smartphone availability would push people more in the direction of more
internet-based news. However, Ahiabenu (2015) observes that the expense
associated with internet access in Ghana, as well as the fluctuating reliabil-
ity of available internet service make it unlikely that print media will be
completely replaced by electronic sources—at least not in the near future.
In conjunction with relatively low computer literacy rates, Ahiabenu’s
(2015) reasoning may help explain the internet penetration estimate of
34.7% (Ghana Internet Usage Stats and Market Report, 2016) and a mobile
internet subscriber penetration of 14% in a population where the mobile
phone penetration rate is estimated at 129% due to multiple phone owner-
ships (Acquah, 2017). Pew Research Center (2007) reported that newspa-
pers are the third media-based source of information used by Ghanaians,
with television and radio being the primary sources of information, and the
internet in fourth place. Although the newspapers with circulations above
80,000 (such as the Daily Graphic and Chronicle) maintain a non-subscrip-
tion-based online presence, smaller solely in-print newspapers suffer from
declining circulation and profitability (African Media Development
Initiative, 2006; Yeboah-Afari, 2016). The existence of online versions of
print media does inextricably link the impact of print and internet media,
although some print content is often left out of internet versions. In sum,
larger sections of the population can access newspapers than they could
before, and print newspapers appear to be a sustainable business in Ghana,
at least in the short term.
On the other hand, Ahiabenu (2015) observes that while newspaper read-
ership may not be on the decline, it is certainly not growing in this
Anglophone West African country’s market. While this speculation has not
been substantiated, it is possible that the lack of growth might be due to
more people sharing newspapers to save cost given recent inflationary
trends (Ghana’s inflation rate between 2013 and 2017 has fluctuated
between 12 and 20%; Trading Economics, 2017). Thirteen percent of par-
ticipants in the 2009 AudienceScapes survey cited cost as a barrier to news-
paper patronage (Bowen & Goldstein, 2010). Yeboah-Afari (2016) states
that the current cost of newspapers make them an “affordable luxury” for
196 V. DZOKOTO ET AL.
Ghanaians. Rashid (2017) indicates that newspaper sales have been on the
decline, though his account of the trend references more global information
than it does local. However, his perspective is supported by a 2015 survey
by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) that pegged daily
national newspaper patronage at only 1.5% (Tsikata, 2015; Adogla-Bessa,
2015). While she does not give specifics, Yeboah-Afari (2016) also alludes
to declining sales and readership of Ghanaian print media.
Like broadcast media, print media use in Ghana follows gendered and
residential patterns (Power, Khatun, & Debeljak, 2012). At least 30% of
urban Ghanaians and 9% of rural residents report getting news from news-
papers on a weekly basis (Bowen & Goldstein, 2010), with men being twice
as likely to read newspapers as women. The reach of information garnered
from this source is greatly enlarged due to the circulation of knowledge
within communities through word of mouth. Bowen & Goldstein (2010)
report that viva voce is an important distribution modality for general news
and information in Ghanaian communities for both women (29%) and
men (46%). Information provided by friends and family, as well as others
outside one’s immediate circles, is generally considered relatively trust-
worthy (87% for friends and family, and 80% for less proximate commu-
nity members). In contrast, estimates of trust in the information presented
in newspapers ranges from 43% to 80%. Clearly, print media plays an
important role in the circulation of information in contemporary Ghanaian
society both directly and indirectly.
A 2016 Nielsen report indicates that a common feature of the media
scene across many Sub-Saharan countries mirrors the pattern observed in
Ghana: television, radio, and mobile have higher market penetration rates
than print media and the internet. Internet connectivity affords consumers
the ability to engage in a variety of activities of which reading email; read-
ing news; searching for information; and viewing, downloading, and
uploading photos, music, and videos were reported as the most popular
activities. The obvious advantage of accessing information via the internet
is its convenience. The ability to engage in real-time, have accessible infor-
mation at any time, the lower cost of participation, and the capacity to
interact with others set these platforms apart from print media (Agboola,
2014). While internet access is on the rise and will continue to increase
over time, available data suggests that it has not yet outpaced traditional
media sources as a primary information source in Sub-Saharan Africa. One
possible reason may be perceived trust and quality. For example, in a sam-
ple of 20–35 year-old-Nigerian citizens queried, 64% preferred information
and computer technology platforms (e.g., social media platforms, online
news sources) to access news although they cited that the quality of print
media content was superior to other platforms (Ohila & Arthur, 2014).
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH 197
While the different forms of media are generally pitted against each other,
they may not necessarily be independent of each other. For example, many
newspapers now have websites, which means their readership can get the
news off the internet rather than in print, and in some countries, such as
Ghana, radio presenters read news articles on the air (Nyarko, 2016).
The media as a reflection of mental health cultural norms
The relationship between mass media and the society it influences is a
complex one. Shah, McLeod, and Yoon (2001) indicate that access to infor-
mation via mass media has pro-civic consequences. That is, the audience is
invoked to engage with a representation of certain processes of civic life
and the human experience, such as politics, health, entertainment, policy,
business, technology, sports, and science. The media, inherently, plays an
essential role in the depiction of mental health in society. Thus, some ana-
lysts argue that undertaking an assessment of the media’s representation of
mental illness serves as a medium through which the social representations
of mental illness can be observed (Wahl, 1995). Several studies covering the
role of media in the United States, Israel, and The Czech Republic
(Diefenbach & West, 2007; Klin & Lemish, 2008; Nawkov
a et al., 2012)
have pointed out that the broadcast and the print media’s negative por-
trayal of mental illness have influenced the attitudes of people and subse-
quently contributed to the stigmatization of mental illness in society and
this represents the wider attitudes of society to mental illness.
It has also been argued that the print media’s negative portrayal of men-
tal illness is reflective of society’s outlook and is not due to the media’s
bias or influence (Anderson, 2003). In fact, the individuals who consume
print media play an active role as co-creators of the articles they are pre-
sented with (Allen & Nairn, 1997). According to Allen and Nairn, (1997),
newspaper articles are written in such a way that the readers are required
to draw on common sense notions of mental illness to make meaning of
the texts they read. Thus, the public are actively involved in the creation of
meaning generated about mental illness (Olstead, 2002). The conceptualiza-
tion of mental illness, then, is a socially constructed one and as a result,
mental illness is a production of the schemas that inform one’s society
(Olstead, 2002). Thus, mental disorder can be understood via a cultural
lens that is related to the social, economic, and political frameworks func-
tioning in a particular society (Olstead, 2002).
The media as educator and influencer
The media is a tool that serves to educate, inform, and shape the opinions
of people with regards to mental disorder. The print media by virtue of
198 V. DZOKOTO ET AL.
defining, maintaining, and redefining how mental illness is framed, has
become the hub for producing cultural meanings associated with mental
disorder (Gamson, 1985). In particular, the media in general and newspa-
pers specifically, play a crucial role in promoting the stigmatization of men-
tal disorder (Anderson, 2003). In Central Europe–-Croatia, Czech Republic,
and Slovakia–-a majority of media coverage of mental disorder contains
stigmatizing content, much of which becomes front page stories (Nawkov
a
et al., 2012).
This phenomenon is not exclusive to content involving mental disorder,
however. As an institution, newspapers routinely promote controversy with
pieces that oftentimes endorse bias (Corrigan et al., 2005). Regarding media
about mental illness, Corrigan et al. (2005) argue that print media ranks
content about danger above other stories, placing pieces about mental ill-
ness on its front pages as a sensationalist tactic, while reporting scant con-
structive content about this topic. Mental illness is tantamount to crime,
violence, malice, and intent to harm (Hannigan, 1999).
This portrayal of mental disorders feeds into the consumers’ prejudices
about those with mental illness (Magliano, Read, & Marassi, 2011). In Italy,
for instance, Magliano et al. (2011) found that newspapers tended to use the
terms “schizophrenia” and “schizophrenic” figuratively, (73.7%), and not in
reference to an individual diagnosed with the disorder (19.2%). When used
figuratively, the terms “schizophrenia” or “schizophrenic” typified individu-
als who were behaving incoherently or in a contradictory manner (85.1%);
dangerously or aggressively (4.4%); and eccentrically or oddly (10.5%). In
articles where schizophrenia was mentioned in relation to the psychiatric
disorder, these stories were about homicides (48.7%), and assaults carried
out by the diagnosed (14.5%) or assaults of the diagnosed (28.2%).
Not only does the media’s negative depiction have the capacity to influ-
ence a stereotypical understanding of mental illness (Coverdale, Nairn, &
Claasen, 2002), it also influences the audience’s desire for social distance
from people with mental illness. Angermeyer, Dietrich, Pott, &
Matschinger (2005) found that the more people watched television that
depicted those with mental illness in a stereotypical fashion, the more they
cultivated the desire for social distance from those with schizophrenia. In a
study that looked at the ways in which Eating Disorders (ED), notably ano-
rexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, are represented in newspaper articles,
O’Hara and Smith (2007) found out that EDs were represented as disorders
which affected mostly white, female, adolescents, and young adults, and
could be cured by simply changing one’s mind about their eating behavior
and eating decisions. The biopsychosocial etiology or treatment for these
disorders were not discussed. According to O’Hara and Smith (2007),
popular opinion about EDs is largely shaped by the media’s portrayal.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH 199
Fortunately, the representation of mental disorder in the media is not
always negative. Research has shown the utility of media campaigns as a
way of reducing stigma surrounding mental health and motivating people
to shift attitudes or change behavior based on information. Several studies
have shown that the media also portrays mental illness constructively, or
without a pejorative characterization. For example, the media was instru-
mental in educating Jamaicans about the benefits of a community-based
treatment approach that did not involve institutionalizing people with men-
tal illness (Whitley & Hickling, 2007). The foremost Jamaican newspapers
gave an optimistic outlook on the benefits of deinstitutionalization by citing
evidence-based data and “appealing to reason” (Whitley & Hickling, 2007).
Australian nonfiction media does not cater to content about crime and vio-
lence as do European media outlets (Francis et al., 2004). In the U.K.,
Goulden et al.’s (2011) longitudinal study about newspaper portrayals of
mental illness from 1992–2008 found that there was a significant reduction
in the amount of pejorative content indicating the media’s influence as a
change agent in the depiction of mental health.
In sum, the print media, which remains an important source of informa-
tion in Ghanaian society, may play multiple roles relevant to information
about mental illness. It can serve a representational function, capturing
“newsworthy” local depictions of mental disorder, thus providing insight
into problems and events relevant to the experience and management of
mental illness. Newspapers may also serve an educational function, since
they can be used as a didactic medium to disburse information about men-
tal health problems, and associated resources and policies.
The goal of the current study is to explore the content and type of men-
tal health relevant information covered in Ghanaian newspapers between
2000 and 2015. We chose this period because of mental healthcare develop-
ments at national (e.g., revision of the national Mental Health Policy and
Programmes in 2000, passage of the new 2012 Mental Health Act) and
international (e.g., 2007 WHO report on mental health in Ghana) levels
that occurred during this period. While mental health was clearly relevant
to national policy, a look at newspaper reportage on mental health provides
a lens of the extent to which it was a matter for public discourse and edu-
cation. Thus, our analysis provides insight into the “pulse” of mental illness
awareness and concerns in the public sphere in Ghana. It informs on
extant social representations of mental illness and mental health concerns,
identifies dimensions of mental illness that form part of a national conver-
sation on this issue, and identifies information gaps which need to
be filled.
200 V. DZOKOTO ET AL.
Method
Data source
A multiple-step process was used to identify newspaper articles for our
analysis. First, the Ghanaian newspapers with the largest circulations were
identified. Next, a research assistant manually went through hard copies
of newspaper archives and made photocopies of all articles published
between 2000 and 2015 in the selected group of newspapers that were
relevant, directly or indirectly, to psychology, broadly defined. In the next
phase, two co-authors searched through all the selected articles to identify
general and diagnostic terms that alluded to mental health. Examples of
general terms identified included the following ones: alcoholism, crazed,
crazy, hospital, institution, mad woman, madman, mental disorder, men-
tal health, mentally ill, psychiatric hospital, psychiatry, psychology, sub-
stance abuse, substance use, suicidal, suicide, and witch. Examples of
diagnostic terms included the following ones: anxiety, depressed, depres-
sion, obsessive compulsive disorder, psychotic, and schizophrenia. These
terms were used to inform the subsequent phase of the data analysis, in
which the articles were sorted into mental health relevant and irrelevant
articles. Criteria for inclusion were that the articles’ subject matter was
explicitly or implicitly about mental health as deemed by the raters and/
or informed by theory relating to subjective well-being (Diener & Ryan,
2009) as well as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association (APA), 2013).
Articles pertaining to clinical symptoms and disorders, such as depres-
sion, anxiety, and suicide, were included. Articles that discussed mental
health treatment services were also included. Those articles that did not
meet criteria were excluded. Articles related to substance abuse and sexu-
ality are discussed elsewhere.
The resulting dataset consisted of newspaper articles from six Ghanaian
newspapers that spanned the period of January 2000–August 2015 and cov-
ered issues pertaining to mental health. These included The Chronicle
(14.6%), the most distributed private English-language newspaper in Accra,
Ghana; The Daily Graphic (0.6%), a state owned newspaper; The Ghanaian
Times (6.0%), a government-owned newspaper; The Mirror (15.2%; the
weekly sister paper of the Daily Graphic); The Spectator (41.5%), a weekend
paper; the Times Weekend (0.6%, the Ghanaian Times’ weekend publica-
tion); and a series of articles from these aforementioned sources whose
originating newspaper was unfortunately lost during the photocopying pro-
cess (21.5%).
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH 201
Procedure
Qualitative data analysis: Inductive thematic analysis
To explore the content and type of mental health relevant information cov-
ered in Ghanaian newspapers between 2000 and 2015, Braun and Clarke’s
(2006) six-phase process of thematic analysis was conducted. In Phase 1,
the coding team familiarized themselves with the data. In Phase 2, the cod-
ing team manually and systematically generated initial codes. These codes
were data-driven. Coding was done via thematic analysis. A culturally rele-
vant coding framework was created by the primary rater, and a second
rater was trained to categorize the data accordingly. During this process, a
subsample of articles (10%) were independently coded by both raters to
assess reliability and refine coding criteria as needed. Once training and
fine-tuning of the coding criteria was complete, coding was conducted by
the two raters independently. In Phase 3, the coding team searched for
themes and transformed codes into themes. In Phase 4, the coding team
reviewed themes by collapsing or separating themes based on pattern and
relevance. Both raters collaborated to review the final theme codes for every
article. In Phases 5 and 6, the coding team defined the themes and pro-
vided detailed descriptions of the themes to be used for analysis. The reli-
ability check of the articles yielded strong agreement. Discrepancies were
revisited and resolved via discussion.
The primary unit of analysis was the content (central focus) of the art-
icle. These archival newspapers were advantageous in allowing the research-
ers to have access to a national sample, look at longitudinal implications of
the data. Archival data analysis informed our qualitative analysis by allow-
ing the researchers to take an exploratory approach using data that
reflected normative cultural information for this period of time. The articles
focused on the following issues: mental health, donations, misinformation,
cultural incongruence, religion, suicide, and taboos. In addition, our ana-
lysis paid attention to the type of newspaper feature (the manner in which
these topics were explored in the papers), such as whether the articles were
didactic editorials, an investigative report, or an advice column.
Results
A total of 164 articles were included in the final sample. The articles were
categorized into 4 types (99% inter-rater agreement; Interrater reliability
was presented as an evidenced-based best practice to demonstrate agree-
ment when conducting qualitative content analysis; High Interrater reliabil-
ity justifies the coding scheme by speaking to its quality and applicability
(Burla et al., 2008)). Articles in this arena were categorized as (1) investiga-
tive if they described a publicly available incident pertaining to mental
202 V. DZOKOTO ET AL.
Table 1. Article thematic content by article type.
Theme Investigative Advice Opinion Didactic Evidenced Based N %
Mental Health 32 11 16 43 65 102 60.4%
Awareness 11 10 7 42 37 70 42.7%
Advocacy 11 0 3 0 14 14 8.5%
Opinion 3 0 5 0 5 8 4.9%
Report 7 0 0 0 7 7 4.3%
Misinformation 0 1 1 1 2 3 1.8%
Suicide 34 5 4 2 37 45 27.5%
Report 24 0 0 0 24 24 14.6%
Crime 8 0 0 0 8 8 4.9%
Awareness 1 0 4 2 4 7 4.3%
Ideation 1 5 0 0 1 6 3.7%
Donations 13 0 0 0 13 13 7.9%
Religion 2 0 0 2 4 4 2.4%
N represents sum of article type (i.e., investigative, advice, opinion, and didactic). Articles within each type cat-
egory were either evidence-based or not.
Boldface indicates major category.
health; (2) advice if the reader wrote to the columnist posing a question
and expecting a response on how to change an aspect of their life and the
columnist provided the requested information; (3) opinion, if the article’s
author made an argument that was biased toward their personal beliefs and
provided a social commentary that may or may not draw upon evidence;
and (4) didactic if the author provided information to the reader in order
to teach about a particular subject. A majority of the articles were consid-
ered investigative (49.4%). The second most frequently represented articles
were didactic in nature (28.7%), while opinion (12.2%) and advice (9.8%)
were similarly represented in the articles (see Table 1).
Observed themes
Mental health
There were a variety of articles that directly focused on mental health. A
subset of these articles was about mental health awareness. They attempted
to raise awareness about a particular facet of mental health, as well as high-
lighted how mental health intersected with other elements, such as gender
and child rights. For example, a 2012 article from The Spectator, titled “Are
You Suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder” written by Professor
Dodoo, raises awareness about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder as follows:
Do you always walk back to the house to check whether the electric iron is still
plugged in and turned on? . . . Are you superstitious such that certain numbers,
colors, shapes or figures make so much meaning to you that they drive your
activities and actions? If so you may be suffering from obsessive-compulsive
disorder! . . . Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder causing
sufferers to have unwanted, intrusive, and repeated thoughts, feelings, ideas,
behaviors sensations that force them to do things just to relieve the anxiety . . . The
exact cause of OCD is unknown but it is known to run in families. Hence people
whose family have OCD are more likely to have OCD . . . OCD is very difficult to
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH 203
treat. Medicines used to treat depression (anti-depressants) have been found to be
useful . . . (Dodoo, 2012).
This and similar articles bring specific mental disorders into public atten-
tion, providing information about the nature of such disorders and avail-
able treatment options to audiences that may have no or limited knowledge
about such issues.
Other articles unfortunately included mental health misinformation, in
which they made false claims or misidentified mental health issues. For
example, in a 2013 article titled “This is Killing Me Softly,” in The Mirror,
advice columnist Nana Ama responds to Bismark’s request for help for
being shy around women. The 19-year-old male writer, who described him-
self as “shy and fearful,” reported a life-long difficulty with speaking in
mixed company, including in the classroom. In such situations, he consist-
ently experienced difficulty opening his mouth, shaky voice, shivering, and
increased heart rate. He reported being depressed about his problem
(which was hampering ongoing class participation since he was the only
male in his class at the time of seeking help); being convinced that many
girls looked down on him, and was concerned that he might be unable to
marry in the future. He observed that many people attribute his problem
to his mother’s possible behavior when she was in labor prior to his birth.
The columnist responds as follows:
Dear Bismark,
You need to overcome your fear of girls. Happily, you have been thrown into an all-
female class. Set yourself the task of overcoming your fear. For a start, try being nice
to your classmates. Greet them politely, make sure you smile. But remember it, is
not everybody who’s nice so don’t get discouraged if one or two do not respond
warmly to you. Then, try to make friends with a few of them. Study very hard to
ensure that you perform well in class. This will boost your ego, which appears to be
very low at the moment. Forget about what your mother might or might not have
done when she was in labor. That is past and besides, there is no substance in it.
What you need is to boost your self-esteem, which appears to be low. (Ama, 2013,
p. 20)
While Nana Ama’s response has a few recommendations for Bismark
about challenging himself to interact with women, her advice can be con-
sidered misinformation because it fails to acknowledge the mental health
implications of Bismark’s symptoms in offering him solutions. Bismark’s
letter suggests a chronic history of anxiety, perhaps triggered by social sit-
uations. Advising him to “overcome” his fear of girls can be considered dis-
missive, and not particularly useful in addressing his concerns about the
cause of his anxiety nor how to deal with his symptoms. Instead, it would
behoove Nana Ama to consult with a mental health professional to deter-
mine if he meets criteria for an anxiety disorder diagnosis, address the
204 V. DZOKOTO ET AL.
expressed depression, and provide him with coping strategies and interven-
tions that may be of use to him.
Another example is an article by Edmund Mensah, titled “Why Should
Women Abandon Their Children,” in which the columnist conflates post-
partum depression with sexual and parental irresponsibility on the mother’s
behalf. He writes as follows:
If there is anything about women which I don’t envy is pregnancy. I don’t envy
pregnancy because of the trauma women go through . . . . However, I find it
intriguing that a woman will endure all pains and later abandon a baby . . . a woman
attempted to strangle her child, but it was rescued. My research into the issue
revealed that there is a medical condition called post-partum depression . . . In worse
cases, if a mother suffers it, she can kill her own baby. However, this condition can
be brought under control within three weeks, if detected . . . For me, there should be
nothing like accidental births. If one is unsure of how one can take care of a child or
ward, one should have protected sex . . . . For a woman to suffer this tedious
phenomenon of pregnancy and delivery, only to abandon the child or maltreat it is
not only shameful but wicked . . . (Mensah, n.d.)
This perspective does not accurately operationalize postpartum depres-
sion, nor does it provide context to the stories of these women who either
gave up or harmed their babies. Rather, it misinforms the public about the
nature of a mental health issue while simultaneously painting the phenom-
ena and women with the same broad brush.
The last example of this type of articles was found in The Spectator.
Written by Raymond Kyekye, the article titled “Women More Prone to
Depression, Mental Issues” similarly genders mental health as a wom-
an’s issue:
Women are more prone to stressful conditions which eventually lead to depression
and results in mental problems. Unlike men who easily forget about issues and move
along cheerfully, women, on the contrary, keep issues to heart which develops stress
and finally becomes depression. The Chief Psychiatrist of the Ghana Health Service,
Dr. Akwesi Osei told The Spectator, in an interview on Wednesday that women, by
their disposition, have myriad of problems ranging from hormonal factors, menstrual
cycles, pregnancy, menopausal conditions, and obnoxious cultural practices among
others culminating in depression . . . (Kyekye, n.d.)
Again, this article highlights the relation between mental health disorder
and gender. While the input from the Chief Psychiatrist of the Ghana
Health Service (it is unclear whether this is actually what was said or the
journalist’s interpretation of what was said) sets an authoritative tone about
the triggers of depression for women, this information misrepresents litera-
ture on the incidence of mental disorders. Essentially, the article spreads
propaganda under the guise of expert advice. While these types of articles
miseducate the audience, it is important to note that only 1.8% of articles
spread misinformation in these types of ways. This can be a testament that
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH 205
in general, the information newspapers provide to their audiences about
mental health is more realistic and precise.
Some articles focused on mental health advocacy and aimed to rally pub-
lic support around mental health policy or recommendations. A 2014 art-
icle in The Chronicle titled “Ghana’s Population in Psychological Distress”
calls for the implementation of Ghana’s Mental Health Law:
Dr. Akwasi Osei, Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Mental Health
Board said the study organised by the Yale University has showed that Ghana
had 41 percent prevalence of psychological distress in various degrees, out of
which . . . seven percent [was] severe, meaning there was a problem serious
enough to be considered mental illness . . . . The current state of mental health
is one of a centralised over medicalised, lack of human resource, stigma,
discrimination, human right abuses which contributes to poor mental health care.
Under the [new] law, there will be the establishment of the Mental Health
Authority, a fund training of human resources, decentralisation of mental health,
emphasis on research, community oriented care, criminalisation of human right
abuse among other measures . . . Members of the proposed mental health fund
should put in place measures to ensure release of funds in order to not inherit
problems (Ghana News Agency, 2014, p. 5)
This and similar articles illuminate barriers to implementation of mental-
health policies, and administrative hurdles facing the expansion of mental
health services in the public sector.
Other articles’ content expressed the author’s opinion about a mental
health issue. As an illustration, the following quote from a 2010 editorial,
“Probe Psychiatric Health Institutions,” expresses a writer’s view on a probe
into psychiatric health institutions in Ghana. The editorial was written
in response to a revelation of malpractices in mental health institutions
in the country made public by an investigative journalist, Mr. Anas
Aremeyaw Anas:
The Spectator is gladdened by the prompt response elicited by the health authorities
to get to the very bottom of the “Madhouse Story” broken by Mr. Anas Aremeyaw
Anas of the New Crusading Guide newspaper. The story alleges several forms of
abuse of patients, peddling of drugs, . . . neglect, confinement in inhabitable
enclosures, brutality, deaths, and the naked theft of hospital supplies . . . The
authorities must be willing and able to find out for certain how long these alleged
offences have been committed against humanity . . . If hard drugs will continue to be
sold to patients in hospitals that are mandated and funded by tax-payers’ money to
cure patients, then it is better those institutions shut down. If they cannot be shut
down, then they must be properly run by conscientious staff, people who have love
in their hearts for suffering people, and have the milk of human kindness in their
being. (Mensah, n.d.)
This illustrates the use of newspapers (especially editorials) as a platform
for providing social commentary on mental health-related matters. This is
a good example of the press’s role in holding public agencies accountable,
206 V. DZOKOTO ET AL.
and illuminating and keeping tabs on issues which would otherwise be
swept under the rug.
Other articles that depicted mental health issues did so from an investi-
gative journalist perspective. These articles, or mental health reports, are
articles in a journalistic or news-writing style that give an account or inves-
tigative depiction of an event pertaining to mental health. These stories
typically answer the basic “who, what, where, why, and when” about a
mental health event. An example was found in a 2013 article in The
Spectator titled “Mad Men Take Over Walkway.” Samuel Opare Lartey
(2013, p. 33) writes as follows in reference to an accompanying picture of a
populated sidewalk:
Picture shows a mad man stationed at the pedestrian way in front of the Melcom
Shopping Centre at the business centre of Koforidua. Most of the people therefore
prefer to use the main road instead of the walkway for fear of their lives. A passersby
. . . appealed to the New Juaben Municipal Assembly and the Social Welfare to find
a way of clearing the mad men and women in the town because they pose a threat
to the society.
This class of articles reflects the spatiality of the performance of mental
illness in the public sphere. The care of the mentally ill is generally split
between families, psychiatric hospitals, and traditional healing centers.
Thus, the majority of issues related to mental illness are kept away from
everyday life in both urban and rural settings for individuals not directly
involved with care provision for the mentally ill. It is through cases such as
those highlighted in the article above that individuals are reminded about
the closeness of the reach of mental illness: it does not just affect those
restricted to homes, prayer camps, or psychiatric wards. It intersects with
everyday life, and the geography of everyday life, traversing the spaces
where people live, work, shop, and pass through.
Suicide
A number of articles covered content related to suicide, and included
articles pertaining to suicide ideation, reports on completed suicide, and
awareness campaigns about the link between mental health and suicide.
Most articles about suicide were investigative reports about completed sui-
cides. These articles identified the victim and the alleged circumstances that
led to suicide completion. Other articles aimed to raise awareness about
suicide. For example, Benjamin Xornam Glover’s (2008) article, “More
Youth Attempt Suicide,” published in The Mirror, described the number of
cases of attempted suicide recorded in the Kassena-Nankana District of the
Upper East Region. It highlights the alarmingly large number of youth sui-
cide deaths, and provides context by citing how loss of social cohesion, the
breakdown of marital relationships, growing economic instability,
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH 207
unemployment, and rising prevalence of depressive disorders may explain
the rising rates.
Still, other articles highlighted the role that newspaper columnists play in
the lives of their readers as authorities about the topic of suicide, as it per-
tained to suicide ideation. For example, one reader writes to an advice col-
umnist who works for The Spectator, soliciting advice about his thoughts of
suicide in a 2012 letter titled “I have Sextuplets, I want to Commit Suicide.”
He wrote that he was contemplating suicide because he was not able to finan-
cially provide for his sextuplet newborns. The advice columnist provided
resources where the writer could obtain services via the Department of Social
Welfare, organizations, non-profits, and philanthropists.
Finally, articles provided investigative reports about the criminality of
attempted or completed suicides. In a 2014 Mirror article titled, “Cobbler
Remanded for Attempted Suicide,” Ekow Yamoah (2014, p. 23) writes
as follows:
The Agona Swedru District Magistrate Court, presided over by Mr. Kwaku Baah
Frempong, has remanded a cobbler, Richard Kwaku Nimo, in prison custody for
attempting to take his own life by hanging. Nimo pleaded not guilty to the charge of
attempted suicide but the judge remanded him in prison custody for a fortnight . . .
Nimo was said to have stated in his caution statement to the police that he had
consulted a Mallam at Agona Swedru to help him stop drinking but the problem
rather got worse after he applied the soap given to him by the Mallam; considering
self-destruction as a result.
These articles point to the reality of suicide in contemporary Ghanaian
life. While not all featured stories report on completed suicides (giving sui-
cide a “face”), these articles introduce the idea of suicide into the public
sphere, allowing for citizens to learn more about it. Advice columns allow
for safe and anonymous spaces for people to share their suicidal ideations
and associated motivations, while suicide awareness articles discuss suicide
in a more abstract, factual manner. Still, a majority of the articles with con-
tent about suicide ideation indicate that while readers feel safe asking for
advice and columnists are willing to give advice about the topic, only a
small percent of these articles have content that is evidenced based (see
Table 1). The suicide reports are framed in an investigative reporting slant,
which is reminiscent of the fact that suicide is considered a crime in
Ghana, so the tone is similar to what it would have been if the article were
reporting a murder or other criminal act.
Donations
A subset of articles reported on donations (time, cash, and in-kind contri-
butions) by individuals, corporations, organizations, and churches to psy-
chiatric hospitals to improve their conditions for the inhabitants.
208 V. DZOKOTO ET AL.
The Mirror’s 2009 article “Methodist Church Donates to Psychiatric
Hospital” is an example of such an article:
The women’s group of the Komenda Wesley Methodist Church has presented items
worth GH 2000 cedi to the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital. The items included
assorted clothing, a quantity of soap and fruits. An executive member of the group,
Mrs. Rejoice Arko-Mensah, said the presentation was to show the love of Christ
towards others in obedience to God’s word. She promised that the group would
continue to support the hospital from time to time . . .
The recurrent theme of local philanthropy that this article illustrates
reflects (i) the low rate of funding available to support the operation of
psychiatric hospitals, and (ii) the public recognition of this funding gap
and the willingness to assist with the provision of resources.
Religion
Other articles explored the relationship between Christian religiosity and
mental health as a means of self-care. In a 2014 article, “Trusting God with
Our Anxieties,” Dr. Joyce R. Aryee (2014, p. 18) suggests how to trust God
for help dealing with the anxieties of life:
Jesus tells us that worrying is of no use. In Matthew 6:25-34 we find seven reasons
why we should not worry: (1 God is the giver of our lives and so we can trust him
for all that is necessary to support life . . . 7) Jesus tells us that we can defeat worry
when we learn to live one day at a time. We should learn to handle the demands of
each day as it comes without worrying about the unknown future . . .
The intersection of religion with well-being as promoted by this article is
not surprising given the high rate of religious affiliation in Ghana (DOS,
2015), and the centrality of the spiritual in African cosmology. Articles
such as these promote religious strategies for managing daily hassles. On
the one hand, they reflect prevailing notions about coping, and the
Ghanaian reality that religion is often a default resource for dealing with
lifestyle disruptions. On the other hand, such articles serve as a spiritual
education, and perhaps an evangelical tool through the lens of challenges
to well-being.
Discussion
Newspapers are the third largest media-based source of information used
by Ghanaians (Pew Research Center, 2007). This study explores the content
and type of mental health relevant information published in six Ghanaian
newspapers between 2000 and 2015. The articles covered perceptions of
mental health, suicide, donations to mental health facilities, and the inter-
section of religion and mental health. Collectively, they were sources of
advice, information, advocacy, incident reports, and occasionally
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH 209
misinformation about matters pertaining to the experience, expression,
treatment, and policies of mental health and illness. The newspaper dis-
course includes information about the most prevalent mental disorders as
well as problems of living that can negatively impact mental well-being.
The reviewed newspaper articles demonstrated that mental health is part
of the contemporary narrative in Ghana. On the one hand, the media’s
coverage of the aforementioned themes indicates that the print media has
created a space for people to learn about mental health problems prevalent
in Ghanaian society. For example, some articles reported on cases of sui-
cide, thus informing the public about incidences of suicides that occurred.
Missing from the newspaper discourse, however, is information about
rights-based and community-centered mental healthcare, which are foci of
the Mental Health Act. On the other hand, some articles had an educa-
tional function, and created awareness about the risk factors of suicide for
instance, and offered the public resources to prevent suicide.
The coverage of mental health related topics also presents a picture of
the types of articles featured in Ghanaian print media. For example, a
majority of articles were investigative (49%) and didactic (29%) articles.
While traditional investigative reporting is maintained as a standard or
traditional vessel to provide information about society’s goings-on, there
appears to be a large commitment to providing readers with education or
knowledge about mental health. This didactic angle also seems to be delib-
erate posturing–-essentially to prove to their audiences that print media
outlets are trustworthy authorities. The small percentage of articles that
promoted misinformation about mental health is testament to the validity
of these newspaper outlets’ efforts. In a similar vein, 62.5% of articles that
were opinion based and 100% of articles that advocated for mental health
in some capacity were evidenced based–-referring to evidence, either speci-
fied or unspecified, that implicated a professional organization, research
study, professional opinion, or provisional statistics.
Whilst it is important that people find avenues to learn about and discuss
mental health issues, it is equally critical that they receive accurate informa-
tion. In this regard, we found that some (a small number) of the representa-
tions on mental health in the media do not reflect current understandings in
psychology or mental health but reflect societal positions. This is a tension
that the media has to address with care. To illustrate, when discussing the
social consequences of mental health disorders, in some circumstances, col-
umnists implicated their own gender bias by deferring to antiquated stereo-
types about the association between the fragility of women and resulting
mental distress, rather than citing professional sources. Similarly, the coverage
pertaining to the criminalization of individuals exhibiting suicidal behavior is
another arena in which the print media reflects on this accepted societal
210 V. DZOKOTO ET AL.
norm rather than on the psychological implications or invoke the need for
treatment for those who struggle with depression or suicidal ideation.
These results also speak to the role of print media as influencer. For
example, newspapers showcased individuals’ requests for help in dealing
with distressing situations. In the case of the later, the print media has
become a consulting outlet for obtaining mental health services. Advice col-
umns offer a “safe” outlet to discuss sensitive issues as writers can be ano-
nymized. The print media as an outlet offers commentary about the
prevalence of mental health concerns within society, and also indicates the
ways in which mental health issues can still be shameful or stigmatizing.
The liberty people feel to anonymously ask for mental health help also
seems to reinforce this authoritative role that the newspaper plays in pro-
viding information for its readers about available resources.
The newspaper articles highlight the reality that there is room for improve-
ment in the realm of public sector funding of mental health services. The
articles that focus on donations are a stark reminder that mental health serv-
ices are severely underfunded in Ghana and health care services have often
depended on philanthropists to meet their needs (Roberts, Mogan, & Asare,
2014). Due to an integration of mental health services into the general health
budget and a thrifty allocation of funds that are often incongruent with con-
crete spending, outsourced funds have become essential to the continued run-
ning of mental health services, and have often come in the form of
philanthropies made by non-government organizations (Roberts, Mogan, &
Asare, 2014). According to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2015),
Ghana spent about US$0.12 per capita on mental health in 2014.
Given that print media plays a role in the public’s understanding of
mental health matters, it behooves newspapers to do everything within
their power to ensure that they consistently disseminate accurate mental
health information to their readers. One avenue to achieve this might be
for newspapers to hire a mental health professional as a consultant for fact-
checking purposes. The onus for accurate mental health reporting should
also fall on journalists as individuals and members of organizations. In this
regard, mental health experts could be an important resource for providing
continuing education in journalism, training media personnel on general
mental health concepts that they may encounter in their journalistic
endeavors. This type of training ought to also stress how everyday occur-
rences naturally intersect with mental health concerns. Furthermore, it
might be a good idea to include courses on mental illness, social work,
helping skills, and psychology in the training curricula of aspiring journal-
ists and advice columnists. This will maximize the likelihood that future
journalists will have an appropriate knowledge base about mental health
related matters to assist in the quality of their future reporting.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH 211
One limitation of our study is the scope of the newspapers we examined.
Our selection of the top six newspapers with the most widespread readership
in the country was at the expense of print media with significantly smaller
distributions. (In 2012, it was estimated that there were over 136 newspapers
in distribution in Ghana; Center for Research Libraries, 2012) Assuming that
some of the smaller newspapers featured unique content relevant to mental
health, the tradeoff may have resulted in their exclusion. Narratives about
mental health from these less known newspapers could have contributed to
richer results. However, the lesser-known papers tend to be niche papers
that rarely generate national conversations. A second limitation of our study
concerns the study’s time span. We explored newspapers published during a
decade and a half of Ghana’s history to exclusion of other periods. As such,
our study neither captures reportage in the previous century nor immedi-
ately current coverage. Finally, as previously stated, our focus on print media
exclusively does not reflect the increasingly blended nature of media in
Ghana such as the introduction of newspaper content online and the broad-
casting of radio programs that read newspapers, both of which makes the
boundaries of true print media less distinct.
Overall, this study provided a panoramic view of mental health informa-
tion featured in Ghanaian print media for a decade and a half.
Newspapers—such as those reviewed in our study—provide insight into the
extant societal and cultural concerns of their target audience. The scope
and content of our analyzed reportage provided insight into local under-
standings of mental health and illness; a glimpse at the cultural lens
through which mental illness is viewed; and an assessment of the quality of
mental health information that Ghanaian citizens read about. As previously
stated in this article, (i) Ghana—similar to its neighbors—has a low
resourced mental health system, and (ii) the status of print media in Ghana
is similar to that in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, our findings may
have relevance beyond Ghana’s borders to such settings. Our review should
not be taken as an exhaustive overview of public sources of knowledge
about mental illness, since such information is also accessible to the public
via radio, television, websites, and social media. Future research should
therefore explore mental illness reportage in these complementary sources
of information in Ghana and elsewhere.
References
Acquah, N. (2017). Ghana’s smartphone adoption on the rise - Jumia. Ghana Web.
Retrieved from https://www.ghanaweb.com
Adinkrah, M. (2015). Witchcraft, witches and violence in Ghana. New York, NY: Berghahn Books.
Adinkrah, M. (In press). Crash-landings of flying witches in Ghana: Grand mystical feats
or diagnosable psychiatric illnesses? Transcultural Psychiatry.
212 V. DZOKOTO ET AL.
Adogla-Bessa, D. (2015). Newspapers will remain relevant – Graphic CEO. Citi FM Online.
Retrieved from http://citifmonline.com
Adjorlolo, S., Abdul-Nasiru, I., Chan, H. C., & Bambi, L. E. (2016). Mental health profes-
sionals’ attitudes toward offenders with mental illness (insanity acquittees) in Ghana.
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 62, 629–654.
doi:10.1177%2F0306624X16666802
African Media Development Initiative (2006). Ghana research findings and conclusions.
London, UK: Samuel Kafewo.
Agboola, A. K. (2014). The influence of new media on conventional media in Nigeria.
Academic Research International, 5, 105–113.
Ahiabenu, K. II (2015). Future of news blog: Death of newspaper - Myth or reality? Joy
Online. Retrieved from http://www.myjoyonline.com
Allen, R., & Nairn, R. G. (1997). Media depictions of mental illness: an analysis of the use
of dangerousness. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 31, 375–381.
doi:10.3109/00048679709073847
Ama, N. (2013). This is killing me softly. The Mirror.
American Psychiatric Association (APA). (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of men-
tal disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
Anderson, M. (2003). ‘One flew over the psychiatric unit’: Mental illness and the media. Journal
of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 10, 297–306. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2850.2003.00592.x
Angermeyer, M., C., Dietrich, S., Pott, D., & Matschinger, H. (2005). Media consumption
and desire for social distance towards people with schizophrenia. European Psychiatry,
20, 246–250. doi:10.1016/j.eurpsy.2004.12.005
Aryee, J. (2014). Trusting God with our anxieties. The Spectator.
Barke, A., Nyarko, S., & Klecha, D. (2011). The stigma of mental illness in Southern
Ghana: Attitudes of the urban population and patients’ view. Social Psychiatry and
Psychiatric Epidemiology, 46, 1191–1202. doi:10.1007/s00127-010-0290-3.
Bowen, H., & Goldstein, P. (2010). Making connections: Using data on Ghanaians’ media
use and communication habits as a practical tool in development work. AudienceScapes
Africa Development Research Series: Ghana. Washington, DC: Intermedia.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research
in Psychology, 3, 77–101. doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Burla, L., Knierim, B., Barth, J., Liewald, K., Duetz, M., & Abel, T. (2008). From text to
codings: intercoder reliability assessment in qualitative content analysis. Nursing
Research, 57, 113–117. doi:10.1097/01.NNR.0000313482.33917.7d
Center for Research Libraries (2012). Newspapers Held in Microform: Ghana (PDF).
Cooperative Africana Materials Project. United States.
Corrigan, P. W., Watson, A. C., Gracia, G., Slopen, N., Rasinski, K., & Hall, L. L. (2005).
Newspaper stories as measures of structural stigma. Psychiatric Services, 56, 551–556.
doi:10.1176/appi.ps.56.5.551
Coverdale, J., Nairn, R., & Claasen, D. (2002). Depictions of mental illness in print media:
A prospective national sample. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 36, 697–700.
doi:10.1046%2Fj.1440-1614.2002.00998.x
de-Graft Aikins, A., Dzokoto, V. A., & Yevak, E. (2015). Mass media constructions of ‘socio-
psychological epidemics’ in sub-Saharan Africa: The case of genital shrinking in 11 coun-
tries. Public Understanding of Science, 24, 988–1006. doi:10.1177/0963662515600391
Diefenbach, D. L., & West, M. D. (2007). Television and attitudes toward mental health
issues: Cultivation analysis and the third person effect. Journal of Community Psychology,
35, 181–195. doi:10.1002/jcop.20142
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH 213
Diener, E., & Ryan, K. (2009). Subjective well-being: A general overview. South African
Journal of Psychology, 39, 391–406. doi:10.1177/008124630903900402
Dodoo, A. (2012). Are you suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder. The Spectator.
Dzokoto, V. A., & Adams, G. (2005). Understanding genital-shrinking epidemics in West
Africa: Juju, koro, or mass psychogenic illness? Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 29,
53–78. doi:10.1007/s11013-005-4623-8
Francis, C., Pirkis, J., Blood, R. W., Dunt, D., Burgess, P., & Morley, B. (2004). The por-
trayal of mental health and illness in Australian non-fiction media. Australian and New
Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 38, 541–546. doi:10.1080/j.1440-1614.2004.01407.x
Gamson, W. A. (1985). Goffman’s legacy to political sociology. Theory and Society, 4,
605–622. doi:10.1007/BF00160018
Ghana Internet Usage Stats and Market Report. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.inter-
networldstats.com
Ghana News Agency (GNA). (2014). Ghana’s Population in Psychiatric Distress. The Chronicle.
Glover, B. X. (2008). More youth attempt suicide. The Spectator.
Goulden, R., Corker, E., Evans-Lacko, S., Rose, D., Thornicroft, G., & Henderson, C.
(2011). Newspaper coverage of mental illness in the UK, 1992-2008. BMC Public Health,
11(1), 1–8. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-11-796
Hannigan, B. (1999). Mental health care in the community: An analysis of contemporary
public attitudes towards, and public representations of, mental illness. Journal of Mental
Health, 8, 431–440. doi:10.1080/09638239917148
Klin, A., & Lemish, D. (2008). Mental disorders stigma in the media: Review of studies on
production, content, and influences. Journal of Health Communication, 13, 434–449.
doi:10.1080/10810730802198813
Kyekye, R. (n.d.). Women more prone to depression. The Spectator.
Lartey, S. O. (2013). Mad men take over walkway. The Spectator.
Magliano, L., Read, J., & Marassi, R. (2011). Metaphoric and non-metaphoric use of the
term “schizophrenia” in Italian newspapers. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric
Epidemiology, 46, 1019–1025. doi:10.1007/s00127-010-0274-3
Mental Health Act (Act 846). (2012). (Parliament) (Gh.).
Mensah, E. (n.d.). Why should women abandon their children. The Spectator.
Methodist Church Donates to Psychiatric Hospital (2009). The Mirror.
Nawkov
a, L., Nawka, A., Ad
amkov
a, T., Rukavina, T. V., Holcnerov
a, P., Kuzman, M. R.,
… Raboch, J. (2012). The picture of mental health/illness in the printed media in three
Central European countries. Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives,
17(1), 22–40. doi:10.1080/10810730.2011.571341
Nielsen. (2016). Africa Prospects Macro Environment, Business, Consumer and Retail
Outlook Indicators. Edition 2, February 2016.
Nyarko, J. (2016). Newspaper review show in the broadcast media space in Ghana: An explora-
tory qualitative study. Sage Open, 6, 215824401665495. doi:10.1177/2158244016654952
O’Hara, S. K., & Smith, K. C. (2007). Presentation of eating disorders in the news media:
What are the implications for patient diagnosis and treatment?. Patient Education and
Counselling, 68, 43–51. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2007.04.006
Ohila, F. O., & Arthur, S. (2014). A news study of information media usage in Nigeria.
African Journal of Computing & ICT, 7(1), 1–6.
Olstead, R. (2002). Contesting the text: Canadian media depictions of the conflation of
mental illness and criminality. Sociology of Health & Illness, 24, 621–643. doi:10.1111/
1467-9566.00311
214 V. DZOKOTO ET AL.
Opare-Henaku, A., & Utsey, S. O. (2017). Culturally prescribed beliefs about mental illness
among the Akan of Ghana. Transcultural Psychiatry, 54, 502–522. doi:10.1177/
1363461517708120
Pew Research Center. (2007). World publics welcome global trade – but not immigration.
47-Nation Pew Global Attitudes Survey. Chapter 7. Where People Get Their News. Pew
Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewglobal.org
Power, G., Khatun, S., & Debeljak, K. (2012). Citizen access to information. In I. Volkmer
(Ed.). The handbook of global media research. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. doi:10.1002/
9781118255278.ch15
Rashid, M. A. (2017). The newspaper industry is dying. Ghana News Agency. Retrieved
from http://www.ghananewsagency.org
Read, U. M., Adiibokah, E., & Nyame, S. (2009). Local suffering and the global discourse of
mental health and human rights: An ethnographic study of responses to mental illness
in rural Ghana. Globalization and Health, 5, 13. doi:10.1186/1744-8603-5-13
Roberts, M., Mogan, C., & Asare, J. (2014). An overview of Ghana’s mental health system:
results from an assessment using the World Health Organization’s
Assessment Instrument for Mental Health Systems (WHO-AIMS). International Journal
of Mental Health Systems, 8, 16–13. doi:10.1186/1752-4458-8-16
Shah, D. V., McLeod, J. M., & Yoon, S. H., (2001). Communication, context, and commu-
nity: An exploration of print, broadcast, and Internet influences. Communication
Research, 28, 464–506. doi:10.1177/009365001028004005
Trading Economics (2017). Ghana inflation rate. Trading Economics. Retrieved from
https://tradingeconomics.com
Tsikata, M. (2015). Where Ghanaians turn to for information [Infographic]. Citi FM
Online. Retrieved from http://citifmonline.com
Wahl, O. F. (1995). Media madness: Public images of mental illness. New Brunswick, NJ:
Rutgers University Press.
Whitley, R., & Hickling, F. W. (2007). Open papers, open minds? Media representations of
psychiatric de-institutionalization in Jamaica. Transcultural Psychiatry, 44, 659–671.
doi:10.1177/1363461507083903
World Bank Group (2017). Literacy rates. The World Bank. Retrieved from https://data.
worldbank.org
World Health Organization (WHO). (2006). Mental health systems in selected low- and
middle-income countries: a WHO-AIMS cross-national analysis. Geneva.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2007). Ghana: Avery progressive mental health law.
The country summary series. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mental_health/policy/
country/GhanaCoutrySummary_Oct2007.pdf.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2008). mhGAP Mental Health Gap Action Programme
Scaling up care for mental, neurological, and substance use disorders. Geneva.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2011). Mental health atlas 2011. Geneva: World
Health Organization.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2015). Mental health: Ghana. Retrieved from http://
www.who.int/mental_health/policy/country/ghana/en/
Yaa, O. (2012). I have sextuplets. I want to commit suicide. The Spectator.
Yamoah, E. (2014). Cobbler remanded for attempted suicide. The Spectator.
Yeboah-Afari, A. (2016). Newspapers in Ghana must be affordable again. Ghana Business
News. Retrieved from https://www.ghanabusinessnews.com