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Mental

Denver

Penultimate Amazing
Denver
Joined
Sep 8, 2007
Messages
10,015
(Posting in medical forum, though maybe it should go in tv? Not sure...)

A new tv show premiered on Fox last night, called Mental. It centers around a "radically unorthodox psychiatrist" and his team.

I am actually hopeful for this series: while of course much of it involved scenarios that could only happen in a tv show, it didn't demonize the mentally ill: rather, so far it has tried to show their human side, how they try to cope, how their illness effects their families, and the challenges of working with the health system. Having more than one relative close to me that has such an illness, this show has interested me quite a bit, and I hope it can be accurate and educational for a wide audience.

I was wondering if anyone else caught it, and your opinion, especially if your life is effected because of this kind of illness close to you.
 
I'd be grateful if they would show the human side of people with Autistic Spectrum Disorders, especially those with Asperger's Syndrome. While many of us may come across as stuttering, stammering, socially inept geeks, we have feelings too.
 
I just hope it does not engage in some sort of neo-freudian mumbo-jumbo

(Former mental health worker and current person living with PSMI)
 
I watched the pilot episode, and barely got through it.

It seems wholly unoriginal formulaic stuff. Slightly kooky, unorthodox doctor gets in trouble with the establishment because he doesn't play by their rules, but damnit, he cares about his patients and he gets results!

In the pilot episode alone, we see him spending time with the patient and his family (because, you know, other doctors have loads of time to spend on patients but choose to play golf instead), bring patients into staff meetings (because, you know, bureaucracy sucks!), and take a patient off the meds that have been working for 12 years because Big Pharma is evil, and we should try homeopathy, aromatherapy, or whatever "works."

And even all that would be ok -- not every show can be original, and formulas exist because they work -- but I didn't see a single interesting character. The lead guy is more smarmy and self-righteous than likeable (or even interestingly dislikeable).
 
Dunstan said:
and take a patient off the meds that have been working for 12 years because Big Pharma is evil, and we should try homeopathy, aromatherapy, or whatever "works."
Click to expand...


That is what I hate. Sometimes the meds don't work or soemtimes another med works better.

But NO-ONE in a mental health setting is going to do better off meds after twelve yaers of successful treatment. Lower the dose maybe, adjust the medication and try another , sure. But mental illness does not just go away and "homeopathy, aromatherapy" are a recipe for suicide. People end up in mental health for a reason, and it is not evil family members it is because they have a PSMI that is treatment refractory or have major co-occurent substance abuse issues.

Schizophrenia untreated results in effectual termination 16%. As in they kill themselves.
 
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Denver said:
A new tv show premiered on Fox last night, called Mental. It centers around a "radically unorthodox psychiatrist" and his team.
Click to expand...

I am actually hopeful for this series: while of course much of it involved scenarios that could only happen in a tv show, it didn't demonize the mentally ill: rather, so far it has tried to show their human side, how they try to cope, how their illness effects their families, and the challenges of working with the health system. [/quote]

Yeah, I'm getting a little sick of the Law and Order shows where the mentally ill are always depicted as murderers, rapists, etc.

[/quote]

FYI: It's on the net at FOX.COM for those who want to watch it that way.
 
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