Radio as a therapeutic tool for people with mental illness

Abstract

In recent years, the effectiveness of radio as a tool for people integration has a very close link with mental health (Pulido, Martín-Pena, Aguaded, 2015). A reference point in this area has been the work carried out by Radio Colifata in Argentina, a radio station installed in Borda, the psychiatric hospital of Buenos Aires, that achieved the visibility of mental disorders through waves. The existing literature on this subject focuses on the stigmatized image of mental disorders (Lay et al., 2001) or the problems caused by them (Merrill, 2018) rather than on radio therapeutic power (Austin, & Huste, 1998; Richardson, 2018). Therefore, this work aims on providing an x-ray photograph of the spaces dedicated to mental health in private, public and communal radio stations in Spain and on determining how the participation on radio of people with mental disorders influences their own lives. To accomplish this project, it is made an analysis of: 1. Programs of RNE, the national public radio, 2. Private radio stations such as Onda Cero, COPE and Cadena SER; and 3. Several online stations such as Carne Cruda or Radio Cable and other 11 communal stations associated with the Community Media Network (REMC). On the other hand, semi-structured interviews are carried out with people involved in these projects: professionals, associations and patients. As a result, we can advance the necessity of programs aimed at mental health and the involvement of numerous professional groups in radio as a tool for social transformation and demolition of social stigmas.