Perceptions of Media's Contribution Toward Stigmatization of Mental Health by Saudi Arabian Nurses.

Public often obtains mental health information from mass media and Saudi Arabia is characterized by high media penetration. Fictional and nonfictional media dramatize, trivialize, and misrepresent characteristics and needs of clients who need mental health care and may create and reinforce existing stigma. This pattern of stigma may adversely affect mental health care clients, practitioners, education, and programs.