Podcast Challenging Mental Health Stereotypes Honored By NPR

Three years ago, Michael Vargas Arango was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. 

The condition, which includes symptoms such as auditory and visual hallucinations and depression, affects approximately three in 1,000 people. 

Until last fall, the 22-year-old had kept his condition mostly hidden. 

Then, he told his girlfriend Elizabeth Pella.

“She wanted to protect me; she didn’t want me to tell her friends because she didn’t want them to judge me,” Vargas recalls. “So at that point, I was like, Why do I have to hide myself?”

Vargas, who was taking a communications course, used the conversation as fuel to produce The Monsters We Create, a podcast aimed at challenging mental illness stereotypes.

Six months later, Vargas, who is studying psychology at Kendall Campus, was selected as National Public Radio’s College Podcast Challenge winner.

He was picked from a pool of more than 500 applicants and will receive a $5,000 scholarship.

“I really think he’s a gifted storyteller, but he also had a very important story to tell,” said his communications professor Emily Sendin, who supported him through the project. “He kind of brings you into this world and that’s a rare gift, so I think that’s what makes it so appealing.” 

The podcast spotlights a flashback to Vargas’ mother Olga meeting Felipe, her then five-year-old son’s “imaginary friend.”

Fearing he was possessed, Olga, a devout Catholic, took him to a priest. 

In 2021, Vargas was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder in Colombia, shortly before arriving in Miami. He battled anxiety and depression.

“I grew up thinking that schizophrenics are dangerous people, [that] they are crazy and delusional,” Vargas explains in The Monsters We Create. “What am I supposed to do now? I am one of them now. Am I crazy?”

With the support of his family, therapy and medication, he has remained resilient. 

“You start appreciating relationships more and the little moments that you get to live with people; you understand that life is not that big of a deal. You’ve got to enjoy it,” Vargas said. “Everyone’s going through their own stuff…you just accept it and start living your life with what you have.” 

The Monsters We Create has audio clips whispering and echoing phrases such as “you’re crazy” and “they won’t understand” to simulate schizophrenic symptoms. 

Vargas, who aspires to become a psychiatrist, also interviewed Miami Dade College students to get their thoughts on people with schizophrenia, without divulging he has the condition. 

Responses ranged from “delusional” and “imbalanced” to “psychotic” and “dangerous.”

“People segregate and mistreat what they don’t understand,” Vargas says in his podcast. 

The project has more than 16,000 views on SoundCloud. 

“He wants to make a difference in the world,” Pella said. “He wants to help people, so just [to] see that he was able to accomplish that was huge for him.”

To listen to Vargas’ podcast, visit https://bit.ly/3K3QHvs.  

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