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APA's Division of Public Affairs held its first conference on psychiatry and the media last month in Washington, D.C., to understand the role each profession plays in society and to develop consensus statements on pressing psychiatric issues.
About 20 journalists, many specializing in health and mental health reporting, and about 15 psychiatrists (see below) attended the one-day conference.
The conference featured a panel of psychiatrists and medical journalists interviewed by a psychiatrist-medical journalist and work groups to develop consensus statements on such "hot topics" as herbal and alternative treatments for mental illnesses.
The conference is a continuation of the media outreach efforts of APA President Herbert S. Sacks, M.D. APA's Doctors on Call (DOC) media program was also initiated by Sacks, which matches a journalist with a psychiatrist whom the journalist can contact quickly when covering mental health-related topics. The goal of the program is to enhance coverage of psychiatric news and issues.
Nada Stotland, M.D., chair of APA's Joint Commission on Public Affairs, commented in her opening remarks, "This first consensus conference offers us the opportunity to learn how news and information journalists view our world of psychiatric issues. I hope the journalists here today will leave with a new view into the world of psychiatry and its treatment of mental illnesses."
Sacks welcomed the participants and thanked them for giving up their time "to be here today to help us sort through some issues and perhaps arrive at some consensus agreements on what the public needs to know about psychiatry."
Sacks mentioned that media references to ECT as causing brain damage, the DSM as a "labeling system," and such nonexistent diagnoses as the "Woody Allen syndrome" have the effect of triviliazing serious psychiatric illness and may discourage people from recognizing signs of mental illness and seeking treatment.
"I came to the presidency of APA with a strong conviction that we needed to improve communication between psychiatry and the media," Sacks observed.
APA Medical Director Steven M. Mirin, M.D., also gave welcoming remarks. "Over the last decade there has been increased respect for and understanding of our respective roles and responsibilities. I, like most other psychiatrists, do not fully appreciate the pressures that the media face in deciding what news to print or put on the air and the avalanche of information they get everyday.
"Likewise, you may not understand why we as psychiatrists may get upset when reading a report glamorizing some herbal remedy for treating psychiatric illness or a television program that leaves the impression that everyone who suffers from mental illness is dangerous. But with your help and the significant progress made in research over the last two decades, we have witnessed a real lifting of stigma, though it still exists."
Psychiatrists and journalists met in four work groups and developed consensus statements on what the public should know about herbal and alternative treatments for mental illnesses, psychiatric diagnosis and the DSM, confidentiality of psychiatric medical records, and psychopharmaceutical advertising.
The following is a sample of the consensus statements that were presented later to all participants. APA's Division of Public Affairs plans to make the consensus statements available soon on APA's Web site.
The conference was cosponsored by APA, the Program in Medical Journalism in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the National Association of Medical Communicators.
APA's Consensus Conference on Psychiatry and the Media last month drew about 40 participants, including Trustees and former APA presidents Harold Eist, M.D., and Jerry Wiener, M.D.