Mental health stigma and serial dramas in Singapore: deconstructing tropes of violence, criminality, and danger

Abstract In Singapore, a multi-ethnic city-state in Southeast Asia, stigma against people with mental health conditions is sadly common; patients are often unfairly associated with the threat of violence, criminality, and danger. Over the past two decades, serial dramas in Singapore have included storylines that revolve around mental illness, yet problematic depictions are rife. Since stigma discourages disclosure of mental health conditions, without professional training or the intervention of educational campaigns, serial television dramas may serve as the layperson’s main source of knowledge, regardless of the lived experience of patients and practitioners. In response, our diverse, interdisciplinary team critically analysed free-to-air television dramas broadcast over the last 20 years in the four official languages of Singapore – English, Mandarin Chinese, Bahasa Melayu, and Tamil – with particular attention paid to the pervasive association of violence and criminality with mental health conditions. This article details the complex ways in which these narratives construct images of people with mental health conditions that risk reinforcing fear and avoidance rather than empathy and understanding.