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“Pretty, Pills, and Perspective: The Not-so Charmed Medicalization of Women’s Mental Health”

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Date Issued:
2023
Abstract/Description:
Using content analysis and in-depth interviews, this study finds variation in perspective of mental health in 1) how it is framed on social media platforms by mental health treatment advertisements and 2) how woman perceive their own mental health struggles, how they sought and maintain treatment, and how the culture of social media influences this perspective. To investigate this topic, this study is separated into two phases: Phase One is a content analysis of 25 mental health treatment advertisements for depression and/or anxiety on Facebook and Instagram with three questions in mind: 1. How do advertisements on social media frame depression and anxiety? 2. What are the solutions proposed? And 3. How are women represented in these advertisements? Phase Two consists of 14 in-depth interviews with three questions in mind: 1. How do women understand their mental health problems? 2. How do social media advertisements affect women seeking mental health treatment? And 3. How does social media affect current course of mental health treatment? Social media advertisements do medicalize women’s perspective of mental health and can best be understood in three terms: communication, convenience, and confidence, through an interplay of medicalization and gender framing. Women give meaning to their mental health through their experience in past and current life circumstances and the culture of social media has shifted understanding and engagement with this dynamic.
Title: “Pretty, Pills, and Perspective: The Not-so Charmed Medicalization of Women’s Mental Health”.
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Name(s): Wilson, Jennifer R. , author
McConnell, William , Thesis advisor
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Department of Sociology
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Created: 2023
Date Issued: 2023
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 118 p.
Language(s): English
Abstract/Description: Using content analysis and in-depth interviews, this study finds variation in perspective of mental health in 1) how it is framed on social media platforms by mental health treatment advertisements and 2) how woman perceive their own mental health struggles, how they sought and maintain treatment, and how the culture of social media influences this perspective. To investigate this topic, this study is separated into two phases: Phase One is a content analysis of 25 mental health treatment advertisements for depression and/or anxiety on Facebook and Instagram with three questions in mind: 1. How do advertisements on social media frame depression and anxiety? 2. What are the solutions proposed? And 3. How are women represented in these advertisements? Phase Two consists of 14 in-depth interviews with three questions in mind: 1. How do women understand their mental health problems? 2. How do social media advertisements affect women seeking mental health treatment? And 3. How does social media affect current course of mental health treatment? Social media advertisements do medicalize women’s perspective of mental health and can best be understood in three terms: communication, convenience, and confidence, through an interplay of medicalization and gender framing. Women give meaning to their mental health through their experience in past and current life circumstances and the culture of social media has shifted understanding and engagement with this dynamic.
Identifier: FA00014163 (IID)
Degree granted: Thesis (MA)--Florida Atlantic University, 2023.
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Includes bibliography.
Subject(s): Women—Mental health
Medicalization
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014163
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.