Selling Drugs and Books to the So-called Mentally Ill
Emotions in motion (pictures)
If you’ve been reading my newsletter (or the Daily Dose) for
any length of time at all, you already know that in my
opinion, certain segments of the mental health field are
based less on medicine than on marketing. In other words,
convincing people that they’re mentally ill, then selling
them the drugs, (or self-help books) they “need” in order to
deal with it. However, I’m not exactly sure what to make of
the latest treatment that’s making inroads in the mental
health community
Movie therapy.
In this latest twist on psychology, patients
are “prescribed” a course of motion pictures that are hand-
selected by a therapist based on the particular patient’s
issues and challenges. According to a recent WebMD article,
an increasing number of mental health professionals are
turning to this course of therapy to help troubled or
depressed people to mend their wounded or damaged psyches.
According to the story, movie therapy can be useful for
people of almost all personality types and levels of
therapeutic need. One therapist highlighted in the story
even uses movie therapy to help prison inmates learn from
their crimes (since their paltry sentences teach them
nothing except that the American criminal justice system is
laughable).
On the one hand, I’m skeptical of the notion that watching
movies, however poignant or moving some of them may be,
constitutes meaningful therapy. It’s a slippery slope,
because to embrace this idea is to also give credence to the
idea that what we see on screens big or small can actually
influence our behavior. That’s an old saw of the “no-fault”
political left – the notion that viewing violence on screen
breeds violent behavior in real life (personal
accountability be damned).
On the other hand, a good movie can be a great and enriching
source of stress-relieving entertainment that most certainly
could yield at least as much benefit as a session on the
average shrink’s couch – and at a micro-fraction of the
cost. Also, experiencing a catharsis through real-seeming
characters you can relate to instead of being lectured and
made to feel inferior by some PhD or M.D. definitely has
some merit
And at the very least, a prescription of film-therapy would
be infinitely preferable to a prescription of drugs – under
almost any circumstances.
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Stout solution for colon health
Time and again, I’ve talked about the benefits of
responsible beer consumption – now here’s one more feather
in the cap of those who tip a frothy pint or two every now
and then: It seems that drinking beer may protect against
colon cancer, if some new animal research from Japan is any
indication.
According to an article in a recent issue of the
International Journal of Cancer, laboratory animals
nourished with a steady diet of beer (or its primary
components) over a period of 2 weeks showed a measurable
reduction in the amount of DNA damage caused by a form of
chemically induced colon cancer. Furthermore, these beer-
guzzling rodents formed fewer of the kind of early-
developing lesions linked to the development of colon cancer
later on.
The effects of the dark-roasted malt varieties were
noticeably greater in their protective effects than lighter
pilsner varieties.
A 42-week follow-up study showed the brew-fortified rats
were 22% less likely to develop tumors, and exhibited a
corresponding drop in cancer rates. Now, rats aren’t people,
of course, but this research is encouraging nonetheless -
and will surely spur more study on the matter in the
future
But until such proof comes, a daily pint of stout should
tide you over nicely.
Choosing a frothy head over a medicated one,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD
