My guess — with no data to back me up other than what I know about the people I know— is that most people don’t think about antipsychotic drugs on a regular, or even occasional, basis. For that matter, I suspect most people couldn’t name an antipsychotic if asked — though I’m pretty sure they could figure out what an antipsychotic is used for just from the name “antipsychotic.”

Why, you ask, am I blathering on about antipsychotics? I’ll tell you why: Because the press seems completely unable to understand the difference between “psychiatric medication” and “antipsychotic.”

What is the difference? A psychiatric medication is, as the name suggests, a medication used to treat a psychiatric condition. There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of different classes of psychiatric meds: the fairly common anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds used in subclinical depression and anxiety disorders, stimulants like Ritalin used for ADHD, all the way through to mood stabilizers like Lithium and actual antipsychotics like aripiprazole. Antipsychotics, which are a class of psychiatric medications, are intended to treat psychosis or psychosis-like symptoms, though they have other uses as well (for example, some are good anti-depressants for certain types of patients).

Why am I telling you this? Two reasons: 1) May is National Mental Health Awareness Month, and being in possession of a psychiatric condition myself, I tend to be a bit of an advocate about mental illness, and 2) Because it ticks me off when mental illness is sensationalized for TV ratings, especially when it involves deliberately pushing misinformation. There is enough stigma attached to having a psychiatric condition — a big reason that many people won’t seek help for their illness — without having the press making things worse by spreading untruths.

Unfortunately, I can’t remember the specific networks responsible — perhaps because I was a bit busy being outraged — but twice recently, I’ve gone clicking through the channels only to fall on a CNN/Fox/MSNBC report with a large banner declaring “Antipsychotics caused [X]” or “[X] was on antipsychotics.” Given that psychosis is a very serious — and very rare — condition, I stop and pay attention when that word is being bandied about, only to find that the “antipsychotic” in question is Zoloft, Xanex, or Lunesta.

I hate to be the one to break this to the major news networks, but Zoloft, Xanex, and Lunesta aren’t antipsychotics. They’re not even close. An analogy, to demonstrate how far apart they are: Lunesta is to antipsychotic as sparkler is to H-bomb. My grandma takes stronger stuff than all three of those combined before breakfast.

So, why does it matter? Because it’s sensationalism, intended to stir up fear, uncertainty, and doubt (No, Microsoft doesn’t have a monopoly on FUD — about the only thing they’re involved in spreading that they don’t have a monopoly on) toward the mentally ill, as well as engendering stigma and discrimination. Every time the press attributes a crime, disaster, or tragedy to “antipsychotics” (and by extension, the “psychotics” who take them), they paint everyone with a psychiatric condition as a deranged manic and a threat to the population at large.

It would be bad enough if the person in question was actually on an antipsychotic — because it would propagate the image of those who suffer psychosis as dangerous — but when the press misrepresents someone who was taking sleeping pills or an anti-depressant as a lunatic on the loose in order to increase their ratings, it’s slander against those of us who live with a mental illness, take our medication faithfully, and remain valuable, productive, completely non-threatening — if a bit odd, on occasion — members of society.

I say shame: Shame on the writers for writing it, shame on the hosts for saying it, shame on the researchers for not correcting it, shame on the producers for allowing it, and shame on the networks for broadcasting it. Perhaps if they or someone they knew suffered a mental illness — and statistically, that’s probably the case — they’d think twice about painting themselves or their friends and family as a maniac.