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 | You and Yours - Transcript ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4 |
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| TX: 27.05.04 – NEW CELEBRITY MENTAL HEALTH MAGAZINE LAUNCHED PRESENTER: DIANA MADILL |
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| THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE ´óÏó´«Ã½ CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY MADILL A new celebrity magazine is about to be launched, the first edition has Britney Spears on the front cover and it's published by a former editor of Penthouse. But this is a magazine with a difference because it's about mental health. It's called 'There There' and the cover article, headed 'Britney and her tears' examines the stress she feels dealing with the trappings of being a star. The magazine, which at first will only be available in GPs' surgeries but in time will aim to make it to the high street newsagent, controversially makes no apologies for using the current obsession with celebrity to look at a series of mental health issues, whether it's stress, anger management or depression. We gave a copy to Sian Davies, who's the newly appointed disability officer for the National Union of Students. Now she's got personal experience of mental illness and last year won mental health's media survivor award for her contribution to increasing public understanding of mental health issues, what did she make of it? DAVIES I found that the magazine is really good because it's actually kind of tackling the issues in a - not a light hearted manner but bringing them out into the forefront and enabling them to be talked about. MADILL It makes things like what - depression accessible? DAVIES Well definitely because when sort of - my history is that I'm a self harmer, I've also suffered depression on and off for the last six years and very much I feel at times that I'm on my own and no one kind of understands what I'm going through. I think also the magazine is very good because I'm able to maybe give it to my friends or my family who support me through my sort of bad times and that kind of thing, so that they're able to understand what I'm going through but it also makes me feel that I'm not on my own. MADILL Well it's called 'There There' and it's got Britney Spears on the front of it - what do you feel about Britney Spears being there as the main draw into that magazine - is that feel, do you feel, for people who are suffering from mental illness? DAVIES The fact is, is that mental health isn't and mental health issues aren't prejudiced. The unfortunate thing is that people are and I think putting Britney Spears on the front of the magazine demonstrates that it can happen to anyone and those people that maybe you don't expect it to happen to it'll happen to and I think it's starting - breaking down those prejudices that do still exist in society at the moment. MADILL So which article did you like in particular? DAVIES I really liked the things about the sort of the yoga and kind of how to actually self manage their depression and to sort of do things that are proactive, to actually get out there and have a proactive attitude to mental health. I really have to look after my mental health and I do things like - I roller blade and I read the signs and if I'm starting to get down I'll eat properly or sleep properly. MADILL You don't think it trivialises mental illness or sensationalises in a way - 103 ways to get happy from yoga and meditation to chocolate, I wash my hands 27 times a day - living with obsessed compulsive disorder - do you think that there's something voyeuristic in the way that it wants to draw people in to read about that? DAVIES For me I think the fact is that more people need to be talking about the issues. The unfortunate thing is at the moment we have to do things like this - proactively getting the issues out there. I would love to be in a society where we wouldn't need a magazine like this because everyone is so accepting of mental health issues but unfortunately they're not. MADILL And that was Sian Davies. Well Phillip Hodson, fellow of the British Association for Counselling in Psychotherapy, has been telling me what he thinks of it, along with the magazine's editor - Jonathan Richards, who describes it as a lifestyle magazine. RICHARDS The core idea is essentially to bring mental health issues, the quality of life, right into the mainstream. MADILL Even with celebrities? RICHARDS Well I think particularly with celebrities because celebrities really are the global language. If there were another way to address this issue and to popularise it and mainstreamise it and actually push it up the agenda believe me I would do it. But my understanding is that celebrities are the key and I don't have to look very far beyond daily newspapers or weekly magazines to confirm that. MADILL Phillip Hodson, do you think there are dangers in using celebrities to raise awareness of mental health issues? HODSON I think it's inevitable that a magazine has to have a contemporary look and feel and work in the marketplace because if you don't have a market, you don't have a message. I think the danger lies in skimping on the depth of the contributions after that. So I've no quarrel actually with putting Britney Spears on the cover. There are an enormous number of totally unread mental health magazines, because they're so dull nobody wants to open them. And I think that if it's going to be in the GP's surgery - I've just spent the morning visiting the sick in the hospital locally and believe you me it's nice to find something that's bright - the topics are good - I think that I wash my hands 27 times a day - provided the article on OCD is simple, accurate and helpful then I've no quarrel. MADILL What do you think of the title - 'There There'? HODSON I'm mixed about that because although 'There There' sounds quite nice if you're four or five and your mum's saying it late at night and you're afraid of the dark, there can also be an ironic and satirical 'There There'. If 'There There' turns out to have really first rate articles, well researched, comprehensive and yet still simply presented on mental health issues for goodness sake we need them because there's this huge gap between the excellence of academic technological high tech medicine and the human being - the patient. Too many doctors still don't treat their patients as people. MADILL Jonathan Richards, what response have you had from advertisers? RICHARDS Very, very positive so far, which has taken us aback somewhat and I do think that they see it as a valuable vehicle in terms of their own self image and in terms of the people they're communicating with. This is all about going mainstream, this is all about bringing this issue into public focus, that's what we need to do. HODSON Well my main point Jonathan is issues of quality from articles and getting it right because if you're spreading misinformation you actually work against us all. And the question is that you need, as a goal, to be able to say - well mental health is just one of the crosses some people have to bear but if you compare it to behaviour in general, normality of behaviour is abnormal, nobody's wholly normal - you take politicians, we just take editors - I don't know any unbonkers editors do you? RICHARDS No absolutely, no, I'd make no claims myself either on that one. MADILL Phillip Hodson, Jonathan Richards thank you both. Back to the You and Yours homepage The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is not responsible for external websites |
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