I cringe, wondering what tweeners who watched that think about psychiatric treatment. If they ever experience depression, will they tell anyone, or will they fear the dirty room full of strange adults and security guards? Will parents who saw it shy away at getting a child treatment, thinking the facility will be full of adults acting bizarrely? And what was the point of creating that backdrop? It didn’t further the story line. Stereotypes like these keep stigma alive and well, and keep 60% of teens that need mental health care from getting it. I followed Susan Resko of Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation’s lead and wrote a letter to Nickelodeon’s parent company, Viacom. It’s too late to change this episode of iCarly, but hopefully, they’ll give some thought to the images they promote in the future.

Read the rest at the BringChange2Mind blog.