Mental health advocacy on social media: a Multimodal Appraisal Analysis 

Antoaneta Dimova, Queen Mary University of London

Tuesday 8th March:

Prevalence of mental health distress is so widespread that one in four people will experience it in their lifetime (Mind 2021). Societal attitudes around mental health are still prone to stigma, which can negatively influence affected individuals. Non-governmental mental health organisations (Mind, Time to Change, Rethink Mental Illness) are conducting social media campaigns (on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) with the aim to decrease stigma and provide support. The WHO (2013) has highlighted advocacy’s ability to induce positive change for affected individuals. Organisations conducting health advocacy campaigns further play an intermediary role “between those with formal power and those communities whose collective ‘voice’ can be used to influence policy decisions” (Jackson & Parker 2021: 153). The discourse used to convey messages within these mental health campaigns can not only impact campaign outcomes but also how messages are perceived by affected individuals. Discourse used further has the ability to shape societal attitudes towards affected individuals and mental health conditions. In my PhD research, I conduct an analysis of the language used in organisational social media mental health awareness campaigns. In order to examine how stigma reduction and support provision are expressed, appraisal theory is used in combination with multimodal analysis (using Kress and Van Leeuwen’s Visual Grammar 2021). Both approaches conflated allow for explorations of how meaning creation occurs linguistically and visually (typography, image/post structure, gaze), through different social media affordances (functions). The WHO has previously pointed out that, in order to improve mental health globally, a “unifying” language needs to be adopted around all sectors of mental health activities, which focuses on “health as opposed to illness” (WHO 2013). This statement forms the basis for what will be investigated in the first research question, whereby focus on health over illness within the campaigns will be explored. The first research question thus (RQ1) seeks to explore what positive and negative evaluations are expressed by UK mental health organisations. This also entails identifying representations of “good” and “bad” mental health, which are of interest due to their impact on societal attitudes. Appraisal’s positive and negative attitudinal categories are particularly relevant for what is framed as good or bad by organisations. The second question (RQ2) focuses on linguistic and semiotic expression of agency, as this can reveal how responsibility, blame and power are assigned to parties represented in the charities’ social media content. Finally, the last two research questions discuss how charities position themselves amongst other mental health actors (RQ3), and how the above explored questions (RQ1-3) work together to construct an organisational identity on social media (RQ4).