The Psychiatrist, the Hero and the Romance Genre

Publication year
1994
Journal
Psychiatric Bulletin
Volume
18.2
Pages
97–98
Comment

Here's the final paragraph:

Attitudes to the mentally ill tend to be fearful, negative and frequently misinformed, and the best way of reducing fear of something is to present it in a controlled, safe environment. Although frequently decried for their predictability it is this very quality that allows Mills & Boon romances to depict psychiatry in a non-threatening fashion. If people are to be less frightened by mental illness and psychiatry than they need to encounter it as part of their everyday lives. For readers of romance, psychiatry in Mills & Boon makes it accessible; it makes it ordinary. (98)