Johannesburg: Beyond Madness podcast returns to explore mental health issues

After 45 well received episodes, the Beyond Madness podcast, hosted by Professor Christopher Paul Szabo returns with 15 new episodes. This podcast series features psychiatrists and mental health professionals as well as relevant thought leaders in conversation, covering a range of topics related to issues in psychiatry that impact our society as well as societal issues that affect mental health with the aim of providing deeper understanding. In each episode, Prof Szabo discusses a different issue, taking it out of the realm of pure psychiatry and exploring its implications from a broader perspective. Mental health issues affect us all on a daily basis, echoing Prof Szabo’s signature tagline “there is no health without mental health”.

Beyond Madness aims to provide a platform for informed discussion and debate. Each episode provides valuable insights and perspectives on how these issues affect us on a personal and societal level. Societal issues such as poverty, discrimination, violence, and social isolation can have a significant impact on mental health. Individuals who experience these issues are more likely to develop mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The stress and trauma associated with these experiences can also exacerbate pre-existing mental health conditions. Societal issues can create barriers to accessing mental health care and support, which can further contribute to negative mental health outcomes.

The first new episode, titled “Alcoholism, and the 12 steps”, features Prof Szabo in conversation with Dr David Webb (a medical doctor and an Associate at Houghton House Addiction and Mental Health Treatment Centre) for an in depth look at alcoholism and alcohol related diagnoses. They discuss the impact of alcoholism on existing psychopathology, addiction versus substance abuse and the complicated recovery process. A particularly hard-hitting episode will focus on “Journalists and trauma”. With the alarming increase in global political events, this particularly topical episode examines how journalists are subjected to threats to life and the subsequent consequences, which can include psychiatric illness. Another episode, “Poverty and mental illness,” features Prof Szabo in conversation with Prof. Crick Lund (Professor of Global Mental Health and Development at King’s College, London) and Dr John Parker (Psychiatrist – formerly at Lentegeur Hospital, Cape Town) around societal determinants of mental health and challenges surrounding effective interventions. Other episodes in the series will explore the impact of natural disasters and the human cost thereof, trauma and related disorders of stress, sex and psychiatry, psychiatry in the workplace, ageing, grief, loneliness, child sexual abuse and bullying.

“We are excited to share these new episodes in this podcast series, which we believe will provide a valuable contribution to the public discourse on mental health and societal issues,” said Prof Szabo. “We hope that our listeners will find the episodes informative, engaging, and thought-provoking.”

The Beyond Madness podcast series is sponsored by Adcock Ingram OTC, Sponsors of Brave and is produced by a team of experienced podcast producers at CliffCentral who are committed to bringing important issues to a wider audience.

Beyond Madness Podcast – forthcoming episodes (final order of release subject to change):

1. Alcoholism, and the 12 Steps
2. Bullying
3. Natural disasters, and the human cost
4. Trauma, and disorders of stress
5. Child sexual abuse
6. The media, and suicide
7. Journalists and trauma
8. Sex and psychiatry
9. Poverty and mental illness
10. Psychiatry in the workplace
11. Ageing
12. Grief
13. Loneliness
14. Cultural capital and mental health
15. Psychiatry – quo vadis?

New episodes will be available every Tuesday at 10am from Tuesday, 18 April 2023 on cliffcentral.com and are also available on Spotify as well as the Apple and Google podcast platforms.