Issue: StigmaWatch received a report about presenters on a major metropolitan radio program joking about obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). The segment breached Mindframe’s national media reporting guidelines and reinforced inaccurate stereotypes about OCD.
Result: SANE contacted the station and producers agreed to interview SANE Speaker Tim the following day to share his story about the realities of living with OCD to help educate the presenters and their listeners.
One listener contacted StigmaWatch said, ‘I just wanted to thank you for your response to the appalling lightness that was made of OCD. Perhaps if those people on such high-rating radio shows and knowing the size of their audience, knew more stories like this, they could do more good rather than make such a joke of it.’
This was an example of StigmaWatch, the community and the media working together to change the conversation that was being had around a complex mental illness.