In her TED Talk, “How telling our silenced stories can change the world,” psychiatrist Anne Hallward suggests revealing personal stories about uncomfortable topics like sexuality can be beneficial to the health of both speakers and relating listeners, based on observations of her patients and others’ scientific research. However, since conversing about delicate subjects in person can be difficult, she then asserts that speaking through radio is “the perfect solution” to the issue of getting people to open up and thus heal by finding others who understand their problems.  According to Hallward, one reason radio is so effective an outlet is “…[S]hame is about visual exposure.  It’s about feeling like my badness is being observed and witnessed.”  Her point in mentioning this is that “visual exposure” doesn’t occur in dealing with radio because the speaker is unseen by the audience.  The speaker may even choose anonymity, reducing their desire to feel shame since the listener doesn’t know who’s telling the story.  Referring to the listener’s benefit, Hallward states “…[T]he listener is usually alone [when listening to the radio]…It’s a very private and therefore intimate medium.”  This allows listeners who can sympathize with the speaker to be openly relieved at finding someone with whom they can relate who was courageous enough to admit their story.

Based upon this evidence, I agree that radio shows promise in helping people to relieve their pain by sharing personal struggles.  This particular aspect of her talk struck me because it amazes me how such a simple, everyday thing as listening to the radio can have such a powerful psychological impact.  I know from personal experience that talking directly to someone about one’s problems is nerve-wracking, as well as the fact it can be difficult to listen to a story and admit it’s relatable with others present.

Citation

Hallward, Anne, “How Telling Our Silenced Stories Can Change the World”