'Psychiatry in the Media' exhibition

In 2025, the exhibition Psychiatry in the Media by Dr Gavin Miller from Glasgow University, was on loan to the Royal College of Psychiatrists in London.

This exhibition showcased twelve books published by Penguin Books between 1949 and 1975 on matters of psychiatric interest. They have been selected because they have particularly interesting archival file material in the Penguin Archive at Bristol University. Most of the books are by psychiatrists, although three are by non-psychiatrists, including a female psychologist, Rona Fields. Reflecting the biases of Penguin’s list in this period, the psychiatrist authors are white men. Nonetheless, as the exhibition shows, women often played an important but hidden authorial and editorial role.

The exhibition gives a longer historical view on the opportunities and risks in writing about mental illness and psychiatry for the general public. The creator of the exhibition, Dr Gavin Miller of Glasgow University, hopes that it will inspire contemporary professional reflection on what he calls ‘responsible media work’ – a term which encompasses issues broader than narrowly ethical questions such as patient confidentiality. What motivates authors to address the general public beyond merely the desire to educate and help? We might think here of the ‘shadow-side’: the accrual of power and money, a need for admiration, the pursuit of professional rivalries. What are the wider social and cultural implications in media work? These might include questions of exclusion from public representation, the formation of parasocial relationships, and the moulding of media work by the contemporary ‘attention economy’.

View the accompanying exhibition guide.

The exhibition was on display from August 2025 until January 2026.

For more information on the exhibition, please read the interview with Dr Miller conducted by the College’s Historian in Residence, Dr Gordon Bates.

Dr Miller has previously written for the Psychiatric Bulletin on a related theme: ‘Beyond a literacy model for psychiatry in the mass media'.

If you would like to share feedback about the exhibition with Dr Miller, please complete the feedback form.