Social representations of mental illness among martial arts instructors: An ethnomethodological study

This paper analyzes the social representations of mental illness among martial arts instructors in a town in the Hauts-de-France region (France), exploring how these representations shape attitudes and interactions with individuals experiencing mental health issues. The study employs a qualitative methodology, combining double-perspective participant observation, semi-structured interviews with eight instructors from various martial arts disciplines, and breaching experiments inspired by ethnomethodology. Drawing on theories of social representations and stigma, we examine how mental illness is constructed within the martial arts context, where discipline, self-control, and physical mastery are highly valued. The findings identify four discursive patterns: normalization, infantilization, avoidance, and spiritualization. Instructors often minimized or reframed mental illness, relied on humor or deflection to manage discomfort, or explained it through spiritual notions of balance. While martial arts were seen as beneficial for psychological well-being, explicit discussion of mental illness remained rare and constrained. These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of how martial arts instructors talk about and frame mental illness, showing how these representations are embedded in communicative practices and martial arts values, and how they oscillate between inclusion and stigmatization.