Psychiatry and the media

We have read with interest Mark Salter's article on ‘Psychiatry and the media: from pitfalls to possibilities’ (Psychiatric Bulletin, April 2003, 27, 123-125).

It is very relevant to the developing world in the sense that both the print and electronic media can be powerful tools to either perpetuate or dispel the many myths surrounding mental illness that particularly abound in our cultures. A case also in point, is that suicide and attempted suicide rates have been high in Sri Lanka over the past few years (World Health Organization, 2001), and the media reports of the events have, most of the time, been a gross misrepresentation of the facts and have sacrificed truth at the altar of sensationalism. The sociopolitical events associated with the event are brought to the forefront, and the under-lying depressive or other psychiatric disorder directly contributing is often ignored.

Against this backdrop, psychiatrists in the developing world should re-think their role vis-à-vis the media. We cannot confine ourselves to the comfort of our clinical settings. If the populace is to be educated regarding psychiatric illnesses, their identification, prevention and treatment, the information we wish to disseminate will have to be packaged in a ‘news-worthy’ form. Only then will the content be noticed and acknowledged. As mentioned by Salter, the ‘tele-dramas’, the local soap operas, could be used effectively to reach the minds of the people in a culturally acceptable and media friendly form.