What Makes You Happy Also Makes You Sick: Mental Health and Well- Being in Media Work
There is a mental health crisis across all media industries worldwide. Both industry reports and scholarly research on the mental health and well-being of media professionals suggest that they tend to score high on depression, stress and burnout, and suicidality. The main contributing factors to these problems tend to be particular to the working conditions of the media as industries. In this study, data and insights from surveys, focus groups, and interviews among practitioners across different media professions (film and television, popular music, games, and journalism) are combined to specify the aspects “on the job” that make so many people happy and excited to work in the media while also making them sick. In mapping and analyzing issues at work that impact media workers’ mental health and well-being, a paradoxical conclusion emerges: what makes media work special is also what can make its people sick.
Deuze, M. (2025). What Makes You Happy Also Makes You Sick: Mental Health and Well- Being in Media Work. International Journal Of Communication, 19, 21. Retrieved from https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/23583