This work seeks to expose the myths about mental illness and the way it is distorted by the American media. Statistics show that one out of every five people in the US will experience a psychiatric illness. The author of this book attempts to show the many ways in which false views of mental illness, purveyed in the media, shape the ways even the most enlightened of us view the world around us. He argues that inaccuracies about mental illness in newspapers, magazines, movies and books make it clear that this is not merely stereotyping, but rather a pervasive ignorance. He looks at the media's role in presenting this image.