A corpus-based discourse analysis of representations of people with schizophrenia in the British press between 2000 and 2015

Roughly one in a hundred people experience symptoms of schizophrenia during their lifetime, symptoms which include experiencing delusions and hallucinations, such as hearing voices (Johnstone and Frith, 2004). The frequency and intensity of symptoms is exacerbated by widespread negative attitudes and increases the likelihood that an individual will comply with command hallucinations (Harrison and Gill, 2010; Goldstone et al., 2012). In spite of this, the mass media continues to represent people with schizophrenia in an inaccurate and stereotypical way (Clement and Foster, 2008; Chopra and Doody, 2007). This fosters widespread misunderstandings and negative assumptions around the disorder. These misunderstandings gain traction because schizophrenia is widely misunderstood by the public at large (Jensen et al., 2016), and because people are unlikely to have first-hand experiences with people with schizophrenia. Despite the harmful nature of media representations, no study to date has seriously considered how misconceptions of schizophrenia and people with schizophrenia are mediated linguistically in the media. This is curious given that scholars in fields outside of Linguistics are increasingly recognising that the manner in which mental illness is represented plays an important role in reproducing stereotypical and prejudiced attitudes (Goulden et al., 2011, Kalucy et al., 2011). With these considerations in mind, this thesis draws on theories and methods from the field of Corpus Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS) to examine representations of people with schizophrenia in articles published in the British press between 2000 and 2015. This thesis uses a combination of corpus toolkits (Wordswmith 5.0, Sketch Engine) to examine repetitive lexicogrammatical patterns in articles published in the press that refer to schizophrenia and people with schizophrenia. It takes a particular interest in ‘non-obvious meaning’ (Partington, 2012:11), meanings that are only visible when examining how lexicogrammatical patterns converge around broader semantic and evaluative structures in large repositories of text. Do these patterns, working cumulatively over hundreds and thousands of texts suggest certain ways of understanding or viewing schizophrenia that would not be discernible to the naked eye? The root of the problem revealed in the analysis was a tension between reporting schizophrenia accurately and the press’ interest in reporting on schizophrenia in a way that is newsworthy in accordance with news values (Galtung and Ruge, 1965; Jewkes, 2015). In particular, there was a tendency to report on exceptional cases of people with schizophrenia (e.g. worst cases where people experience florid symptoms, people with schizophrenia who have succeeded creatively) that do not represent the majority of people diagnosed with the disorder. In the same vein, there was also a tendency for the press to repackage hard news as entertainment, for instance, by interdiscursively drawing on language and tropes associated with horror fiction. Salient language patterns converged around two main discourses: (1) that people with schizophrenia pose a risk to others, and (2) that people with schizophrenia who kill are intentional immoral agents. The analysis also identified a problematic metaphorical usage, which potentially reproduced the widespread misassumption that schizophrenia refers to a ‘split personality disorder’ (e.g. Jensen et al., 2015). I conclude by supporting a suggestion made in the academic literature (e.g. Ellison et al., 2018) that the diagnostic term ‘schizophrenia’ should be relabelled so that individuals diagnosed with the disorder do not carry the additional burden of negative stereotypes and misassumptions associated with the label

What is it like to have a mentorship 10,000 miles apart? A think piece working paper.

A short paper exploring the possibilities, challenges and strategies of long distance, online mentoring

Book review: Hunt, D. & Brookes, G. (2020) Corpus, Discourse and Mental Health. Bloomsbury.

No abstrac

Introductory Physical Education Courses (UGA)

This Grants Collection for multiple introductory Physical Education courses was created under a Round Eleven ALG Textbook Transformation Grant. Affordable Learning Georgia Grants Collections are intended to provide faculty with the frameworks to quickly implement or revise the same materials as a Textbook Transformation Grants team, along with the aims and lessons learned from project teams during the implementation process. Documents are in .pdf format, with a separate .docx (Word) version available for download. Each collection contains the following materials: Linked Syllabus Initial Proposal Final Reporthttps://oer.galileo.usg.edu/health-collections/1008/thumbnail.jp

De episiorhaphia : Dissertatio inauguralis chirurgica quam auctoritate amplissimi medicorum ordinis in Universitate Caesarea Literarum Dorpatensi ut gradum doctoris medicinae rite consequatur publice defendet

http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b2657782~S1*es

A screen of Crohn's disease-associated microbial metabolites identifies ascorbate as a novel metabolic inhibitor of activated human T cells.

Microbial metabolites are an emerging class of mediators influencing CD4+ T-cell function. To advance the understanding of direct causal microbial factors contributing to Crohn's disease, we screened 139 predicted Crohn's disease-associated microbial metabolites for their bioactivity on human CD4+ T-cell functions induced by disease-associated T helper 17 (Th17) polarizing conditions. We observed 15 metabolites with CD4+ T-cell bioactivity, 3 previously reported, and 12 unprecedented. A deeper investigation of the microbe-derived metabolite, ascorbate, revealed its selective inhibition on activated human CD4+ effector T cells, including IL-17A-, IL-4-, and IFNγ-producing cells. Mechanistic assessment suggested the apoptosis of activated human CD4+ T cells associated with selective inhibition of energy metabolism. These findings suggest a substantial rate of relevant T-cell bioactivity among Crohn's disease-associated microbial metabolites, and evidence for novel modes of bioactivity, including targeting of T-cell energy metabolism

Letter from Arthur James Balfour, London, England, to Bertram Savile Ogle : manuscript signed, written in the hand of an amanuensis, 1890 February 4

Embossed letterhead: Irish Office, Gt. Queen St., S.W. Taken from Palmer copy, Balfour, The foundations of beliefhttps://repository.wellesley.edu/autographletters/1165/thumbnail.jp

Letter from Arthur James Balfour, London, England, to the secretary of the English Speaking Union, Mr. Johns : typed manuscript signed, 1928 July 4

Accompanied by a letter from H.C. Macdougall referring to the Balfour letter (1 page)https://repository.wellesley.edu/autographletters/1166/thumbnail.jp

Letter from Arthur James Balfour, Dublin, Ireland, to H.W. Hoare : manuscript signed, written in the hand of an amanuensis, 1889 January 2

Embossed letterhead: Chief Secretarys Office, Dublin Castle. Taken from Palmer copy, Balfour, A Defense of philosophical doubthttps://repository.wellesley.edu/autographletters/1164/thumbnail.jp