Austen Riggs Center Announces Winners of Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media

2.01.2011

February 1, 2011 – The Erikson Institute for Education and Research at the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge has announced the 2011 winners of the annual Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media. The Institute will honor three esteemed journalists who have brought nuance, compassion, and scientific rigor to their coverage of mental illness and recovery, as well as to broader questions of psychology in both clinical environments and in everyday life.

Erikson Prize winners will be recognized with a cash award and honored in a colloquy on mental health media at the Center. The 2011 forum, which is open to the public, will take place from 1:30-4:30pm, Saturday, May 7, featuring this year’s winners: Jennifer Senior, a contributing editor to New York magazine; Carl Elliott, an author, essayist, and professor at the University of Minnesota; and Karen Brown, a producer of national radio documentaries and a health reporter for WFCR in Amherst, Mass. The fee for the event is $15, and early registration is recommended.

The Erikson Prize recognizes major contributions to public understanding of mental health issues, primarily in the print, online press and broadcast media. Contributions in film, literature, and the arts may also be recognized. The prize exists to reward and encourage sophisticated, accessible work on mental illness and recovery, and to stimulate conversation about the broad range of mental health issues, including how to dispel stigma and promote well-being.

“Everyone in the mental health field understands how critical good journalism is,” says Dr. M. Gerard Fromm, the Evelyn Stefansson Nef Director of the Institute. “We spend our days in treatment, conducting research, and in close conversations with our patients and colleagues. So we need help with an additional, and vital, task—communicating the big questions and central truths to the public at large.”

Fromm adds, “with the prize and the colloquy, we’ve not only established a way to recognize hard-working writers and editors, but to engage them in a dialogue with clinicians and others in the mental health field. The goal is an open conversation about the way that clinical perspectives can be brought accurately and helpfully to public discussion.”

Joshua Wolf Shenk, an essayist and member of the prize committee, agrees that the Erikson Prize model is an unusually helpful one. “Journalists need to know the nuances of life on the front lines. And clinicians can only benefit from understanding the lenses through which journalists see their world,” Shenk says. “As we saw last year, the colloquy is a chance for both sides of this conversation to question each other—and to challenge each other. It makes for a lively and memorable day.”

Education and outreach are at the core of the Erikson Institute, which attempts to bring learning from the Riggs clinical program into broader conversation with mental health professionals and the public at large. The Erikson Institute takes its name from Erik H. Erikson, the renowned humanist psychoanalyst and former Riggs staff member, whose work explored the connection between individuals and their psychosocial contexts.

The winners have years of experience creating evocative pieces on mental health for major national media outlets.

JENNIFER SENIOR is a contributing editor to New York magazine where her cover essays often draw on insights from psychology to inform major questions in culture and politics — and offer fresh insights into psychology through the lens of contemporary concerns. Senior’s journalism has taken on positive psychology, loneliness and community in urban life—and even the thicket patients face when they consider breaking off treatment with their therapists. Her 2010 cover story “All Joy and No Fun,” which received 1.5 million hits on New York’s website, will be the foundation of Senior’s first book, an investigation into the complex relationship between parenting and happiness to be published by Ecco Press in 2013. A contributor to the New York Times Book Review, Senior has appeared as a regular guest on NPR, Charlie Rose, Today, and other national programs. Senior has won the Front Page Award from the Newswomen’s Club of New York for magazine feature writing. She graduated summa cum laude in anthropology from Princeton University.

CARL ELLIOTT, M.D., a professor in the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota, has written about the ethics, culture, and characters of psychiatry for The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The American Prospect, Slate.com, and Mother Jones, where his recent essay covered the provocative story of a young man who died in the midst of a clinical trial and shed light on what Elliott calls “a system of clinical research that has been thoroughly co-opted by market forces, so that many studies have become little more than covert instruments for promoting drugs.” Drawing on medical training and a doctorate in philosophy, Elliott has also written for medical journals such at The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine and has authored or edited seven books, including Better than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream and White Coat, Black Hat: Adventures on the Dark Side of Medicine. A native South Carolinian, Elliott has held positions at the University of Chicago, McGill University, the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine at the University of Natal in Durban, South Africa, and the University of Otego in New Zealand, where he is an honorary member of the faculty.

KAREN BROWN is a longtime health reporter for WFCR public radio in Western Massachusetts, an independent radio documentarian, and a freelance contributor to National Public Radio, American RadioWorks, and other national outlets. Brown’s work focuses on in-depth, voice-rich portraits of mental health issues, including childhood bipolar disorder, the effects of mental illness on “well” siblings, the legacy of trauma on non-Western refugees, and the role of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the collapse of a marriage. She was a 2008-09 Kaiser Media Fellow and a 2005-06 Rosalyn Carter Fellow in Mental Health Journalism. Her features and documentaries have won national awards, including the National Edward R. Murrow Award and the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Before entering radio journalism, Brown wrote for The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Durham Herald Sun in North Carolina. Karen has a Masters in Journalism from U.C. Berkeley, where she also earned a B.A. in Psychology. She lives with her husband and 12-year-old twins in Northampton, MA. Many of her features and documentaries can be heard at www.karenbrownreports.org.

This year marks the second awarding of the Erikson Prize. In its inaugural year, the winners were Alex Spiegel of National Public Radio News;
Erica Goode of The New York Times; and Richard Simon, the editor of the Psychotherapy Networker.
Established in 1919, the Austen Riggs Center provides psychiatric treatment in a voluntary, open, and non-coercive community. Named one of America's best hospitals by U.S. News & World Report, Riggs is renowned for its work with patients previously regarded as “treatment resistant.” The treatment includes intensive psychodynamic psychotherapy in a therapeutic community, state of the art psychopharmacology, family and group treatment and a vibrant activities program, all within a series of step-down programs and continuity of care with a multidisciplinary team.

The Austen Riggs Center is located at 25 Main Street, Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Individuals interested in attending the Media Colloquy can call (413) 931-5236 to register or go to http://www.austenriggs.org/education-research-the-erikson-institute/event-calendar/media-colloquy/.

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The Institute will honor three esteemed journalists who have brought nuance, compassion, and scientific rigor to their coverage of mental illness and recovery, as well as to broader questions of psychology in both clinical environments and in everyday life. Erikson Prize winners will be recognized with a cash award and honored in a colloquy on mental health media at the Center. The 2011 forum, which is open to the public, will take place from 1:30-4:30pm, Saturday, May 7, featuring this year’s winners: Jennifer Senior, a contributing editor to New York magazine; Carl Elliott, an author, essayist, and professor at the University of Minnesota; and Karen Brown, a producer of national radio documentaries and a health reporter for WFCR in Amherst, Mass. The fee for the event is $15, and early registration is recommended. The Erikson Prize recognizes major contributions to public understanding of mental health issues, primarily in the print, online press and broadcast media. Contributions in film, literature, and the arts may also be recognized. The prize exists to reward and encourage sophisticated, accessible work on mental illness and recovery, and to stimulate conversation about the broad range of mental health issues, including how to dispel stigma and promote well-being. “Everyone in the mental health field understands how critical good journalism is,” says Dr. M. Gerard Fromm, the Evelyn Stefansson Nef Director of the Institute. “We spend our days in treatment, conducting research, and in close conversations with our patients and colleagues. So we need help with an additional, and vital, task—communicating the big questions and central truths to the public at large.” Fromm adds, “with the prize and the colloquy, we’ve not only established a way to recognize hard-working writers and editors, but to engage them in a dialogue with clinicians and others in the mental health field. The goal is an open conversation about the way that clinical perspectives can be brought accurately and helpfully to public discussion.” Joshua Wolf Shenk, an essayist and member of the prize committee, agrees that the Erikson Prize model is an unusually helpful one. “Journalists need to know the nuances of life on the front lines. And clinicians can only benefit from understanding the lenses through which journalists see their world,” Shenk says. “As we saw last year, the colloquy is a chance for both sides of this conversation to question each other—and to challenge each other. It makes for a lively and memorable day.” Education and outreach are at the core of the Erikson Institute, which attempts to bring learning from the Riggs clinical program into broader conversation with mental health professionals and the public at large. The Erikson Institute takes its name from Erik H. Erikson, the renowned humanist psychoanalyst and former Riggs staff member, whose work explored the connection between individuals and their psychosocial contexts. The winners have years of experience creating evocative pieces on mental health for major national media outlets. JENNIFER SENIOR is a contributing editor to New York magazine where her cover essays often draw on insights from psychology to inform major questions in culture and politics — and offer fresh insights into psychology through the lens of contemporary concerns. Senior’s journalism has taken on positive psychology, loneliness and community in urban life—and even the thicket patients face when they consider breaking off treatment with their therapists. Her 2010 cover story “All Joy and No Fun,” which received 1.5 million hits on New York’s website, will be the foundation of Senior’s first book, an investigation into the complex relationship between parenting and happiness to be published by Ecco Press in 2013. A contributor to the New York Times Book Review, Senior has appeared as a regular guest on NPR, Charlie Rose, Today, and other national programs. Senior has won the Front Page Award from the Newswomen’s Club of New York for magazine feature writing. She graduated summa cum laude in anthropology from Princeton University. CARL ELLIOTT, M.D., a professor in the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota, has written about the ethics, culture, and characters of psychiatry for The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The American Prospect, Slate.com, and Mother Jones, where his recent essay covered the provocative story of a young man who died in the midst of a clinical trial and shed light on what Elliott calls “a system of clinical research that has been thoroughly co-opted by market forces, so that many studies have become little more than covert instruments for promoting drugs.” Drawing on medical training and a doctorate in philosophy, Elliott has also written for medical journals such at The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine and has authored or edited seven books, including Better than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream and White Coat, Black Hat: Adventures on the Dark Side of Medicine. A native South Carolinian, Elliott has held positions at the University of Chicago, McGill University, the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine at the University of Natal in Durban, South Africa, and the University of Otego in New Zealand, where he is an honorary member of the faculty. KAREN BROWN is a longtime health reporter for WFCR public radio in Western Massachusetts, an independent radio documentarian, and a freelance contributor to National Public Radio, American RadioWorks, and other national outlets. Brown’s work focuses on in-depth, voice-rich portraits of mental health issues, including childhood bipolar disorder, the effects of mental illness on “well” siblings, the legacy of trauma on non-Western refugees, and the role of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the collapse of a marriage. She was a 2008-09 Kaiser Media Fellow and a 2005-06 Rosalyn Carter Fellow in Mental Health Journalism. Her features and documentaries have won national awards, including the National Edward R. Murrow Award and the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Before entering radio journalism, Brown wrote for The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Durham Herald Sun in North Carolina. Karen has a Masters in Journalism from U.C. Berkeley, where she also earned a B.A. in Psychology. She lives with her husband and 12-year-old twins in Northampton, MA. Many of her features and documentaries can be heard at www.karenbrownreports.org. This year marks the second awarding of the Erikson Prize. In its inaugural year, the winners were Alex Spiegel of National Public Radio News; Erica Goode of The New York Times; and Richard Simon, the editor of the Psychotherapy Networker. Established in 1919, the Austen Riggs Center provides psychiatric treatment in a voluntary, open, and non-coercive community. Named one of America's best hospitals by U.S. News & World Report, Riggs is renowned for its work with patients previously regarded as “treatment resistant.” The treatment includes intensive psychodynamic psychotherapy in a therapeutic community, state of the art psychopharmacology, family and group treatment and a vibrant activities program, all within a series of step-down programs and continuity of care with a multidisciplinary team. The Austen Riggs Center is located at 25 Main Street, Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Individuals interested in attending the Media Colloquy can call (413) 931-5236 to register or go to http://www.austenriggs.org/education-research-the-erikson-institute/event-calendar/media-colloquy/.
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