Tired of Stigmatizing Media Reports? Learn to Use Radio to Your Advantage

The media can be psychiatry’s worst friend—but also one of its best. While the media all-too-often perpetuate stigma by giving one-dimensional reports on news involving people with mental illness, they also help decrease stigma when they present well-researched reports or programs that serve to educate the public about mental illness and effective treatments.

To help psychiatrists learn more about how to use at least one medium—radio—in this positive way, the APA Alliance is sponsoring a workshop at this year’s annual meeting in San Francisco titled “On the Use of Radio to Combat Stigma and to Improve the Image of Psychiatry.” It will be held on Monday, May 19, at 11 a.m. in Salons 14 and 15 on the lower B-2 level of the Marriott.

The chair of the workshop will be Harvey L. Ruben, M.D., M.P.H., a former talk-show host on the NBC Radio Network and current president of the National Association of Medical Communicators. He is also a clinical professor and director of continuing education in the department of psychiatry at Yale Medical School.

Also participating in the workshop are other seasoned psychiatric broadcasters who have a wealth of experience on radio and in the media in general: Fred Goodwin, M.D., Linda Austin, M.D., Michael Blumenfield, M.D., and Harry Croft, M.D.

These psychiatrists have extensive experience in the media and involvement in APA media activities. Ruben hosted a three-hour, call-in show every Saturday and Sunday night on the NBC Radio Network for 11 years and chaired APA’s Joint Commission on Public Affairs (JCPA) for six years. Blumenfield is also a past chair of the JCPA and the host of “Talking About Mental Health” on WVOX in New Rochelle, N.Y. Both Goodwin and Austin are hosts of nationally syndicated radio programs; Goodwin’s is titled “The Infinite Mind,” and Austin’s is “What’s on Your Mind?” Croft, who has also been involved with APA’s public affairs activities, served on the Board of the National Association of Medical Communicators and had a nationally syndicated “Medical Minute” series on television.

The presenters will outline specific techniques for dealing with local radio in small and large markets and national radio in both the commercial and public broadcasting formats. They will also teach participants how to present information in ways that are understandable and appealing to a general audience and give examples of using radio to combat stigma and improve the image of psychiatry. The presentations will be embellished by the use of examples and vignettes from actual radio experiences.

The purpose of this workshop is to sensitize members of APA and the APA Alliance to the valuable opportunities that radio offers in giving the public a greater understanding of psychiatry and those who suffer from a mental illness. ▪