The Real Frasiers

In a bossy voice that would better suit a dominatrix than a radio psychologist, Dr Joy Browne asks, “Are you having sex?” Browne is doling out no-nonsense marital advice to a timid sounding woman who is worried that her husband is taking drugs. Although she inflicts irritating catchphrases such as “Better to be curious than furious” and “What's your question?” on her listeners, five to eight million of them tune into her daily programme, making her the fourth most listened to broadcaster in the United States.

Browne is just one of the psychologists and psychiatrists who host radio phone-in shows around the world. She and four others from India, Argentina, South Africa, and Kenya are interviewed by the UK media personality and psychiatrist Raj Persaud in the course of this five part series.

When Persaud asks Browne how she compares to the eponymous Frasier Crane of the US sitcom, she jokes that she has better hair and legs. They talk about some of her calls, including one from a mafia hitman who didn't know whether to tell his fiancée the truth about his day job. This is armchair anthropology at its finest but hardly the stuff of psychiatric outpatient clinics.

Which is a pity, as Persaud asserts that talking publicly about emotional or psychological problems can help destigmatise psychiatric ailments. Stigma is often a barrier to seeking and accepting treatment for mental illness. Many people associate mental illness with self indulgence, weakness, and malingering. Countless others are embarrassed by mentally ill people. Discrimination may bring on loss of job, home, or friendship, precipitating a depressive episode or relapses of schizophrenia. Almost half of all people with severe and enduring mental illness report abuse. Over a quarter move home because of harassment. Around a third have been sacked or made to resign from work.

Shame and low self esteem among callers are common themes in a couple of the programmes. Radio Mirchi's Dr Sanjay Chung explains that in India the stigma of mental illness is so severe that his callers' voices are almost never heard. In Kenya Dr Frank Njengaare diagnoses depression in his callers. Most were not aware that such an illness existed. These programmes may be going some way to encourage listeners to overcome their preconceptions.

Figure 1.

A comic hit...psychiatrist Frasier Crane

Credit: NBC/EVERETT/REX

High profile psychiatrists and psychologists have many opportunities to lay bare the myths surrounding mental illness through their radio surgeries. Part of the reason Frasier Crane is such a comic hit is his narcissism, self importance, and ego. Some of the real Frasiers are still trapped in his mould. Their audiences may become voyeurs of the worried well but are unlikely to come away with a more positive attitude towards manic depression or paranoid schizophrenia.