The portrayal of Schizophrenia: A Content Analysis of Ethiopian Commercial movies
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Date
2021
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Publisher
AAU
Abstract
This study investigated the portrayals of schizophrenia in Ethiopian commercial movies in a
view to expose their depiction of the causes, symptoms, treatments, and stereotypes of
schizophrenia. Movies produced in Amharic language, with at least one character with
schizophrenia and released between 2008 and 2021 were analyzed. Two raters independently
analyzed the causes, symptoms, treatments and stereotypes of schizophrenia using a coding
guide and coding sheet. Of the 18 movies watched, six movies were selected fulfilling the criteria
set a priori. The qualitative content analysis showed that Ethiopian commercial movies depicted
traumatic life experiences as the main cause of schizophrenia. The symptoms were found to be
primarily positive symptoms of schizophrenia including auditory hallucination, delusion and
disorganized behavior and speech. The treatment was found to be a romantic support followed
by a social support. The movies depicted people with schizophrenia as dirty, violent and crazy as
major stereotypes. The findings of this study indicate that in Ethiopian Commercial movies there
are half truths about the causes, symptoms, and treatments of schizophrenia
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Keywords
The qualitative content analysis showed that Ethiopian commercial movies depicted traumatic life experiences as the main cause of schizophrenia