BANGOR (AP) – One of the most destructive hurricanes in memory helped put Dr. Linda Austin on the radio, but it was romance that moved her nationally syndicated program to Maine.

Each week, from a Maine Public Radio studio near Bangor International Airport, the 52-year-old psychiatrist hosts “What’s On Your Mind?,” an hourlong call-in show that explores issues tied to mental health.

The program is carried live in Maine and is recorded for broadcast later in the week on public radio stations in 14 states

The program usually features one or more experts who team up with Austin to discuss a specific topic that can range from schizophrenia to stress, from depression to dyslexia.

Austin occasionally dispenses with guest appearances to devote an entire show to responses to caller questions.

That was the plan for a recent Thursday afternoon, until the debate over whether a brain-damaged Florida woman should be allowed to die exploded in the headlines, prompting a late change.

Austin’s spirited discussion with two experts – one in the studio and the other on the phone – underscored the importance of planning ahead for end-of-life decisions to avoid the kind of bitter family dispute that led Florida to halt efforts to take Terry Schiavo off life-support.

A California native, Austin got the idea for a radio program on mental health while serving as a professor at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

“In the pre-Prozac days, there was extraordinary stigma and ignorance and fear about mental disorders,” she said. “So I kind of hatched the thought of wouldn’t it be neat to have a public radio show.”

Austin got her opportunity to connect with listeners in September 1989, when Hurricane Hugo ravaged South Carolina.

She used the broadcast media to help the public respond to the disaster by mobilizing a spirit of cohesion and common purpose. Her message: “We’re in this together. We care about each other. We are a proud people. We’ve been through traumas in the past and we will collectively get through this one.”

She went on to edit a book about disaster response, make a film on depression and expand her public education and outreach work.

Austin then approached South Carolina Public Radio with her idea for the weekly program that became “What’s On Your Mind?,” now in its 13th year.

The program moved to Maine 21/2 years ago after Austin, then divorced with two grown children, fell in love with Jeb Hallett, a surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and longtime summer resident of Maine.

After Austin’s younger child graduated from high school, she and Hallett decided to marry, which forced a new decision: where to live when they merged their lives.

“He always wanted to live in Maine, and I was young and in love,” Austin said with a smile.

Her husband is now affiliated with Eastern Maine Medical Center. Her show shifted seamlessly to Maine Public Radio, where the most obvious difference to listeners is the occasional Down East twang in place of the Carolina drawl.

“What’s On Your Mind?” is put together on a bare-bones budget totaling less than $100,000 a year, Austin said. It has a staff of three – Austin, producer Vicky Blanchette and engineer Jane Warren – and draws major support from Eastern Maine Medical Center and the Medical University of South Carolina.

Unlike “Dr. Phil” or “Dr. Laura,” who delve into some of the same issues, Austin brings to broadcasting a background in psychiatry that looks at human behavior from biological, psychological and social perspectives.

“I am passionately interested in all three and knowledgeable about all three. I read and study all three, and the show really reflects that,” she said.

Austin responds to callers with a blend of expertise and empathy.

“She has a great radio voice, a great presence,” said Dr. Alan Garber of Eastern Maine Medical Center, who participated in the Terry Schiavo discussion. “When I’m listening, I often imagine that she’s sitting on a couch, or a comfortable chair, talking to people.”

Not one to bash or berate her callers, Austin said her program reflects her view of human nature.

“We are imperfect beings who see imperfections in others but believe that we ourselves are supposed to be perfect – and we try to fake that, or feel very guilty if we’re not.

“What I try to bring to the show is some humanizing understanding of the complexity of why individuals do what they do,” she said.

In her program on end-of-life issues, for example, Austin sought to leave listeners with the understanding that if they should wind up like Schiavo, they may not have perfect families who will come together in harmony and make wise decisions.

The audience size for “What’s on Your Mind?” has not been measured, although Arbitron ratings peg the number in Maine at 18,000, Blanchette said. With the show airing in much more populated markets, she says the total runs into the hundreds of thousands.

Austin believes there is a hunger among the public for the kind of information she provides.

“Mental illness is very common and rates of depression are climbing hugely,” she said, “and young people are having major depression four or five times as often as when my generation was young.” She cites alarming increases in substance abuse and anxiety and notes that as people live longer, the incidence of dementia also is on the rise.

Austin sandwiches her show into a busy schedule that includes clinical practice and teaching in a residency program at Eastern Maine Medical Center.

She also finds time to write books.

Her latest, published this year, is “Heart of the Matter,” which explores the core behaviors of love and how people engage with each other.

“Clearly, if there’s one thing people come into therapy about, it’s matters of the heart,” she said. “That’s what we care about.”

—

On the Net:

http://www.mainepublicradio.org/woym/

AP-ES-11-29-03 1215EST