Psychiatrists Run To Reduce Stigma
Mark Moran
A team of psychiatrists and others concerned about the plight
of mentally ill people participated in San Francisco’s
Bay to Breakers run in May to increase community
awareness of mental illness and related issues.
 
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The "Mental
Health Matters!" team participated in the
Bay to Breakers run
during APA’s 2003 annual meeting as a show of force
against the stigma of mental illness. Top
photo: Team member Fred Martin Jr.,
finished the race with a time of 1:30:53. Bottom
photo: From left are team members Nikki
Campbell, Jana Carroll, Sarah Fetzer, Ron
Sterling (team captain in blue mask), David Benedek,
Alex Marie, Kristin Dean, and M.B. Lardizabal.
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APA members, their families, and affiliated organizations
interested in mental health took to the streets to "walk
the talk"—and run the talk—on behalf of treatment for
mental illness and substance abuse at this year’s annual
meeting in San Francisco.
A 29-member team of psychiatrists, psychologists, and family
members bearing the team name "Mental Health Matters!"
participated in the famous
Bay to Breakers run, which coincided with this
year’s annual meeting in San Francisco.
Seattle psychiatrist Ron Sterling, M.D., who helped organize
the team, said it included members from California, Colorado,
Georgia, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Texas, and Washington.
Paul Zarkowski, M.D., a psychiatrist from Seattle, was the first
of the Mental Health Matters! Team to finish, with a time of
1:04:03. David Benedek, M.D., a psychiatrist from Clarksville,
Md., finished second at 1:07:02.
Sterling told Psychiatric News that participation in runs
and walks like the
Bay to Breakers run is a vital way that
psychiatrists can enhance their relationship with a
community and demonstrate solidarity with others involved
in advocacy for the mentally ill.
"Such runs and walks allow consumers, the general public, and
all sorts of mental health professionals the opportunity to
have face-to-face contact in a nonthreatening and fun
environment," he said. "In a very real way, these types
of events provide a potent form of desensitization for
traditionally stigmatized issues. This is antistigma at
its best. Runs like
Bay to Breakers are great opportunities
for psychiatrists and their friends to influence the
community’s comfort zone about mental health care."
Sterling cites a study by the Chicago Consortium for Stigma
Research testing three ways for combating mental illness
stigma: protest, education, and contact. Results showed
that face-to-face contact between individuals with mental
illness and the test subjects produced the best
anti-stigma results and the most understanding.
"One could extrapolate such results to reliably conclude that
the best way to bring about more understanding and less stigma
related to the profession of psychiatry and psychiatrists is
face-to-face contact," Sterling said. "That principle should
almost be intuitive at this point in history. As
psychiatrists, we have more of an opportunity than ever
to assist in the destigmatization of mental illness and
mental health care. Organizations such as NAMI and NMHA
have paved the way for us. We can join them in their
efforts. We don’t even have to reinvent the wheel."
Sterling says the team is already planning future runs. Next
year’s annual meeting in New York City will coincide with
a women’s health run—the Revlon Run/Walk for Women—which
may provide an opportunity for the "Mental Health Matters!"
team, Sterling said.
He urges APA members and others to visit the Web site at
MentalHealthRun.org
for information on many types of mental health and substance
abuse runs and walks.
"I invite all my colleagues and their friends to join such
efforts everywhere they can," he said. "These are great
opportunities for psychiatrists and their friends to
influence the community’s comfort zone about mental
health care."
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