This paper focuses on the discussion and presentation of data from a study about the representation of mental illness and mental health in the Portuguese press in different decades, from the empirical analysis of informative articles in two newspapers with a different genesis and objectives, Público and Correio da Manhã. First we propose a discussion on the role of newspapers in the representation of mental health and mental illness and its social implications, addressing different theoretical perspectives that alert to the issues of stigma, labeling and the association of mental illness with violence, the inability of recovery, rehabilitation and reintegration into society. The empirical analysis was made from the collection of articles focusing on issues related to mental health and mental illness published in two daily newspapers in 1990, 2000 and 2010. Among other issues, the results of this analysis show that, in general, people who suffer or have suffered from mental illness appear in the press by the representation made of them by specific entities that contribute to the particular forms that the news are constructed.