Understanding What You Hear Mental Health Professionals Say
I'll never forget my first television interview as a psychologist. I had completed some research on how people responded to the attacks of September 11, 2001 and was very excited to share about our results. When I watched the news that night my responses included, "That's taking it out of context!" and "Why did they include that instead of what was really important!" The next day I was sharing the story with my mentor and he just laughed saying, "That's why I never watch those things..." Since then, I've learned to do the same.
Many professionals have mixed feelings about doing interviews for the news or newspaper. They do provide a valuable service to the public, but they never seem to turn out they way we'd like. Part of this is because they news often places clips of what was said out of context. Without what was said before of after, the statement often means something very different. Additionally, what the interviewer thinks is really important and informative is often not what the interviewee thinks is most important. So many professionals just choose to not do interviews or not watch the ones they do.
The Camera Effect
You've maybe heard the old saying "the camera adds 10-pounds!" Well, sometimes I think that 10-pounds all goes to the ego. I don't mean this to be overly critical; it is a rather natural response that many people have. As discussed on the opening page to this section, so many professionals speak more authoritatively and definitely when being interviewed. In other words, they are more likely to present opinions or hypotheses as facts and they are more likely to speak as if they are more of an authority on the topic than is reality.
Additionally, many professionals do interviews mostly to promote their business or practice. This is not necessarily a bad thing as long as it doesn't lead them to presenting information in a distorted, self-serving fashion.
What Should I Believe?
I often read a couple of different health magazines. I'm not a medical doctor or an expert in physical health, so I'm more of a novice in this area. My knowledge is pretty limited to the relationship of psychology and physical health. As I read the different magazines trying to figure out what is the healthy choice for me, I'm always baffled that it seems that research supports that almost everything will save me and kill me. Coffee, one of my favorite things in life, is a perfect example. For a long time the medical research seemed to be saying that coffee was very bad for you. Now, research studies are talking about the benefits of coffee. So what am I, the physical health novice, supposed to believe?
The same thing happens in a good deal of psychological research and theory. The confusion gets heightened when filtered through the eyes of the media and other sources which provide us with the information. In general, I'd recommend taking what you hear with a grain of salt. Then follow it up with doing your own research on the topic and/or asking your mental health professional about the issue.