"Broken," and why I hate it when pop culture portrays mental illness

[sabotabby]

Ah, House. You have been a fun diversion for the past five years, but I think it may be time to call it quits. As in, what the fuck was with the season opener? Did we really need a pale copy of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (a book/movie that I already find deeply problematic) with every possible Hollywood stereotype of people with mental illnesses thrown in for good measure?



For those who missed it, the last season of House ended with the titular character hallucinating first his best friend's dead girlfriend, then an affair with his boss, and finally deciding that yes, he had a Bit of a Problem. Whereupon he checked himself into a psychiatric hospital. So far so good. One worries about this from a narrative point-of-view, because a sane and well-adjusted House without a Vicodin addiction is not exactly the world's most interesting character, but hey, I'll put up with a lot because of Hugh Laurie's pretty, pretty eyes.

So this season opened with a withdrawal montage. I hate withdrawal montages, but probably the only thing more annoying is actually witnessing withdrawal (have you ever seen someone go through withdrawal?) so, okay. Vicodin-free, he tries to check himself out, only to find that while he's technically free to leave, he doesn't get back his medical license until the chief psychiatrist at the hospital writes him a note.

He's then put on a random ward with a collection of random crazies. And I use this term deliberately. Because they are all Hollywood!Crazy, diagnosable by a single glance, an uttered phrase, or, in some cases, what they don't say. But there's the paranoid guy who's twitchy, the manic guy who raps, the depressed girl who tugs at her long sleeves to cover up her slit wrists, the anorexic guy who won't eat, the silent girl who stares creepily straight ahead. The doctors act like camp counsellors, cheerfully announcing, "group time!" Regardless of the specific mental illness, the treatment is the same: talking about your feelings AA-style, and pills.

House, being still in-character for the beginning of the episode, predictably tries to raise hell, and that's where we get our Cuckoo's Nest parody. It ought to be funny, but it's just painful. The other patients have no character beyond the clichés of their various illnesses, and they are as easily led around as children, be it in open revolt or covert schemes. The "twist," such that it is, is that instead of Nurse Ratched, House's antagonist is an intelligent and well-meaning doctor who outsmarts him and only wants the best for his patients, even though at least one has seen no improvement for a decade.

The moral of the episode is ghastly: Be good, follow the rules, and everything will be okay. House's "cure" is that he needs to cooperate with the nice doctor and learn to connect with people again (which he does by having an affair with the married friend of one of his patients). And take pills. Which makes no sense, as I don't think SSRIs do anything to prevent hallucinations. But then, another patient is cured after she opens a music box, so who knows. Didn't this show do its research at some point?

It's brutal to watch fictional portrayals of mental illness, particularly when one has struggled with mental illness for a decade. I suppose I'm lucky in that I'm pretty functional. On most days, I win and depression loses. It used to be the other way around. And having lived with depression still defines me to some degree. But you can't tell from looking at me. I don't have the sort of shorthand one sees every time a mentally ill character appears on TV or in a movie. Part of the cruelty of mental illness is its invisibility.

It's brutal to watch fictional portrayals of mentally ill people because these portrayals tend to re-enforce one of a few narratives. Mentally ill people are beautiful sacred oracles into a greater truth who need to be freeeeeee (the anti-psychiatry narrative favoured by the left and most sci-fi/fantasy; see also why I have problems with Cuckoo's Nest). Mentally ill people are mental children who need to be cared for and protected from themselves (the liberal narrative; my problem with this episode, mainly). Mentally ill people are faking it or weak and just need to get their shit together (the conservative narrative; why James Frey deserves to be beaten with a trout). Nowhere does the person living with mental illness get their own story, their own interests or personality or beliefs. The person is the sum of their (visible, highly stylized) illness. And the story is praised for its depth and daring.

Shorter sabotabby: I might be paranoid, but you never see me twitching at invisible UFOs.

Comments

[thebigbadbutch.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you were a crazy pants. You don't seem that crazy on the internets. I guess that should have been my first clue :|

The only thing right with the season premier of House was that Booger was in it *residual squees*

[sabotabby]

I don't know if I get the right to identify as a crazy pants anymore, given that I haven't done anything crazy for a number of years. But I'm still in therapy and stuff, so.

Also, Franka Potente has a great smile. And Silent Girl reminded me of someone I used to know, and so I found myself liking her regardless of how stupid her plot was.

P.S. I probably come off as even less crazy IRL than on the internets. I am much more honest when I'm pseudononymous; in person, I come off as ridiculously cheerful and together.

[r1vethead.livejournal.com]

As someone with Asperger's Syndrome I strongly identify with "House" and think it's a brilliant portrayal of an Aspie.

I also loved "Broken" - the mental patient characters were not meant to be taken literally, they were metaphorical counter-balances and logical-extensions to House's own psychological faculties. I think you missed the intention of the episode - to portray the psyche of House in a dramatic setting.

[sabotabby]

As someone with depression I thought that the movie version of "Twilight" was a brilliant portrayal of teenage depression. But I don't think that was the intent.

the mental patient characters were not meant to be taken literally, they were metaphorical counter-balances and logical-extensions to House's own psychological faculties.

I don't know; I can usually tell when characters aren't meant to be taking literally. Amber, for example. This just struck me as lazy writing.

[smhwpf.livejournal.com]

...they were metaphorical counter-balances and logical-extensions to House's own psychological faculties.

I so, so, want to believe this.

[shelestel.livejournal.com]

One historian who wrote a book that summarized the views of different groups on a certain topic was telling how he had been approached by representatives of each one of those groups and told the exact same thing: that he did a great job describing all the other groups, but that his description of the views of the group to which the particular speaker belonged had a number of weak points.

What I'm saying is that cultural texts possessing any coherence are probably unavoidably generalized, incomplete and simplified. And that's precisely why we like them.

No lock, eh?

[sabotabby]

What I'm saying is that cultural texts possessing any coherence are probably unavoidably generalized, incomplete and simplified. And that's precisely why we like them.

To some degree it's unavoidable or desirable. (House himself being a highly stylized character, but in a way that is fun to watch. The episodic nature of the show doesn't allow for a ton of character development.) But there's a difference between a trope and a cliché.

No lock. If people were more open about the subject of mental illness, perhaps we would get some better media portrayals.

[kynn.livejournal.com]

Great post; I <3 you, sabotabby!

[sabotabby]

:D

[smhwpf.livejournal.com]

It was dire indeed. But as I said to whatifoundthere, not nearly as bad as Isaac and Ishmael, and West Wing recovered from that. (Though I gave up on it when they had the Palestinians blow up Donna, on top of all the other Arab caricaturing they had going on).

Not that it justifies the specific badnesses, but in some sense this was always going to be a bad episode. They'd dug themselves into a hole - they'd put House in rehab so they had to get him out and back to doctoring, which meant they had to make him 'well', which put them into 'happy ending' territory, which is not where the show lives. (OK, the patients live nine times out of ten, but House himself is never happy). Hopefully it'll get better now they've got past that speed-bump...

[sabotabby]

I'll give it a few episodes to see if it goes back to bleak pessimism. Ha ha.

I've never seen West Wing. Is it any good?

LOLOLOL I just clicked on whatifoundthere's review and like it better than mine because it said what I wanted to say except in CAPLOCKS.

[threeliesforone.livejournal.com]

What you said. I stopped watching the episode about halfway through & finished watching Conviction Kitchen from Sunday instead (not like that show makes me feel any better).

What also bugged me about the episode was that someone who's being diagnosed & hospitalized for the first time doesn't end up on the floor with people who have been hospitalized multiple times. That's not how CAMH does it, at least.

[sabotabby]

The inaccuracies in how the mental hospital was portrayed bothered me too. But then, I haven't been hospitalized and the show's set in the States, so I can't really comment. I'm pretty sure they don't do that in the US either, though, just as I'm almost positive that they don't have one of each kind of mental illnesses that people have heard about on the same ward.

[effexorrx.livejournal.com]

As someone with a variety of diagnosed mental illnesses (shall I call them illni? I like the sound of that: mental illni), not a single one of them of the Hollywood variety, thank you. I also deplored the House season opener, which I had been looking forward to, but ended up feeling more offended by than anything else. On top of its portray of The Many Archetypes of Mental Illness and The Very Few Archetypes of Treatment and Treatment Facilities, I was offended by how bloody boring and predictable the damned thing was.

Generally speaking, though, I haven't seen such a craptastic portray of mental illni since. . .well, they're all pretty bad, generally speaking, but Sally Field as Bipolar-Mad-Crazy-Mad! on ER a few seasons back remains a pretty sharp thorn in my side.

[sabotabby]

...I still can't believe the music box. The fucking music box.

I'm trying to think of a portrayal that I liked, and I'm falling short. Buffy had a realistic one but it made for such bad drama that I'm hesitant to go there.

[terry-terrible.livejournal.com]

I usually like house, but I think I'll skip this one. Good writeup on this.

[sabotabby]

I'm still bitter that they killed off Kutner in such a stupid way. But I'm willing to give it a go. If it doesn't improve, well, there are three other shows on right now that I'm addicted to, and another starting up soon.

[marrythebed.livejournal.com]

I had the exact same political criticisms of the episode, but saw it in a really different context - I'd been thinking of House as having jumped the shark at least a couple seasons ago, because I think it's ridiculously formulaic and I despise the static nature of House's character. I think it's both really unrealistic, because nothing is static - you either get worse or better or both - and because it's mind-numbingly boring.

So even though the other characters were gross charicatures and the mental hospital staff actually had good intentions and were all-knowingly correct in their actions, House himself was ACTUALLY CHANGING! For the first time ever! And he wasn't compulsively acting out of fear, and he was opening up about shit, etc. His acting was great enough, as usual, to carry it for me.

So, basically, you're totally right about every last thing in your post, and I still adored this premiere and hope that it will bring the show back to the other side of the shark.

[marrythebed.livejournal.com]

Oh, also, Andre Braugher is incredible.

[lienne.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

Another reason to leave "catch up on House" at the bottom of my to-do list.

I actually liked Kutner's death because I was already connecting really well with his character and learning that he was suicidal just made the comparison even more apt. So I was sad because he lost the battle/died pointlessly, but also happy.

^^I was going to transfer this paragraph into a reply to the comment where you actually mentioned Kutner, but then I realized I can make it relevant to the post at large after all: I think another thing I liked about Kutner's death was that it was so completely out of the blue. It really drove home the point that anyone can be suicidal, and sometimes there are no answers. Unless one of the episodes I haven't seen since then has provided a magic fix, but I doubt it.

[sabotabby]

I'm still hoping that everything post-Amber's death is a dream. I loved those two episodes and everything since then has felt like a let-down.

[mistersmearcase.livejournal.com]

Last paragraph there = the smushing of many true things into one small space. Win and stuff.

[sabotabby]

Why thank you! (I assume you mean the penultimate paragraph rather than the UFO thing. Though that is also true.)

[ironed_orchid]

I think Franka Potente made the whole thing bearable. It also made me glad that the House writers had always come up with some other explanation for the seemingly crazy patients they had in the past.

[sabotabby]

I did love Franka Potente.

In the past, even when someone's been crazy, there's usually something else going on. It's not like all of the character's life can be summarized by "crazy." They just threw that out the door on this one.

[krinndnz.livejournal.com]

Oh what the fuck.

I feel better about watching no TV. This is very crankymaking. Making light of mental illness, very not cool. Argh.

[incoherent]

[sabotabby]

You need to watch Mad Men, though. It is my current addiction, it's made out of pure unadulterated win, and I think you'd love it.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

Wow, and people wonder why I hate this fucking show (altho that's more for how it FAILS wrt addiction, but it has FAILED pretty hard wrt mental illness before too, IIRC).

[sabotabby]

This probably makes me a bad person, but I don't mind as much when it fails with addiction. Having seen too much addiction close-hand, I don't really like seeing shows portray it accurately. (This is why I can't watch "The Wire" even though I acknowledge that it's probably as brilliant as people say.)

[fengi.livejournal.com]

Here's what really bugged me: it was a bloated, implausible mess which didn't need to be two hours and they still didn't show House dropping his guard and confronting the deaths which pushed him over the edge. Instead they cheated those parts in a musical montage.

After most of a season building up to this point they forced House into a contrived maudlin buildingsroman while simultaneously trying to show as little of it as possible.

Which is bullshit as it would have made more sense - for the character and the show dynamic - to have him detox, confront the deaths and establish competence yet drop therapy the moment he got his license.

In fact it seemed they were setting up the catatonic character so House would diagnose her with some rare disorder or bad medication, thus making the head shrink to admit he was functional and trying to blackmail him into opting for full therapy was wrong.

This would have made more sense than having him be a dime store McMurphy and also would have fit the format of the show, which is supposed to be medical mysteries.

[sabotabby]

WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHY HE WAS HALLUCINATING.

It bugged me so much. What you said would have worked so much better.

[pofflewomp.livejournal.com]

With a trout? Why not a really big fish, or a bat, or a baseball bat?
Who is he, or is he so annoying that I'd rather not know?

I find many people with mental illnesses DO conform to stereotype, but usually in very funny ways, such as stripping naked in public and thinking they're Jesuses or psychics or being hypnotised. I haven't met a manic rapper yet, but many manic people in the mental hospital here seem to be into rapping and DJing, so the OT has set up a DJing class. That might be because a lot of people diagnosed with schizophrenia happen to be young black men - sorry for the stereotype, but they do seem to be into DJing. And from what I've seen patients do get the same treatment irrespective of personal circumstances or illness! All the doctors have are pills that are meant to cover lots of symptoms in one. Sigh.
Not disagreeing with you at all - just sighing at how hopeless much of the system seems to be!

I like your summary of mental illness narratives. I am not intelligent to think of such things from such a perspective. Too wrapped up inside it all. I used to believe in the first one a lot from reading R.D. Laing and listening to my brother, who studied it a lot, but now I am a mixture between the second and just general irritation with mad people and finding they really take the biscuit. Mad cognitive blip sufferers.

I have never been a mental patient myself, just on the outskirts. I have nursed a dying alcoholic for many years, so have seen lots of withdrawal, though with alcohol withdrawal the sufferer usually dies in a fit unless the doctors can be persuaded with lots of shouting to give them an substitute injection in time.

Well, I'm glad I didn't see that House episode!!!

[sabotabby]

James Frey wrote A Million Little Pieces, or, rather, he pulled it out of his arse and his publisher sold it as non-fiction. (It isn't.) In it, the addicted guy basically pulls himself up by his bootstraps and gets clean through the force of his own manliness.

I'm sure you can see why this is a dangerous and irresponsible narrative.

As to which narrative I believe, I don't think any are complete. I have had it with people telling me that I was a traitor to the revolution for taking SSRIs and believing they worked, that I was "faking it" and just needed to get my shit together, or being condescended to when I say that some of my limitations are things that I can live with and I want to direct my own life. Particularly the far-left and far-right narratives seem to be quite similar to me, in that the way one approaches mental illness in an individual is almost exactly the same if you believe either that mental illness is entirely the product of a society gone mad or that it's entirely the product of a society gone soft.

[jenlight.livejournal.com]

Regardless of the specific mental illness, the treatment is the same: talking about your feelings AA-style, and pills.

Anecdata based on lots of experience, this is how they do shit in RL.

I got over House a long time ago.

Even Monk a show starring a man with OCD is a minstrel show. I can't even think about it.

[sabotabby]

Anecdata based on lots of experience, this is how they do shit in RL.

This has been my experience in at least one case (pre-finding someone who could actually help me); nevertheless, on the show, they portray it to be ultimately effective.

Even Monk a show starring a man with OCD is a minstrel show. I can't even think about it.

I haven't seen "Monk." Sounds like something that should be good but isn't.

[troubleinchina.livejournal.com]

I don't watch House. But I have talked to people who do watch House, and wow do they get pissed off with its portrayal of "person with a chronic pain condition is addicted to their pain meds!" Because there's nothing wrong with that at all. Dependency does not equal addiction, and equating the two makes it easier for people who take pain meds like Vicodin or Gabapentin or Morphine just to get out of bed every morning to be dismissed as "drug addicts" when they talk about their concerns about their meds.

So, really - colour me surprised that they did mental health condition FAIL as well.

(And yet, I was assured just last week that only the Victorians treated people who were mentally ill poorly and had a stigma against it. We're all so modern and accepting now.)

[sabotabby]

He started out being dependent and then they decided that addiction = more drama, I think. Which wasn't a good decision. Some of the nuances fell out of the show when all of a sudden everyone in House's life decided that he should be "normal."

(And yet, I was assured just last week that only the Victorians treated people who were mentally ill poorly and had a stigma against it. We're all so modern and accepting now.)

Wait, what?

[montreality.livejournal.com]

What did you think of the movie The Soloist?

[sabotabby]

Didn't see it. I don't usually see movies unless they have spaceships or stuff blowing up in them.

[princessrugger.livejournal.com]

i heart you. lots and lots.

[sabotabby]

AWW I HEART YOU TOO.

[symbioid.livejournal.com]

obviously, there's other issues regarding this, but some of that episode appears to have been written to "deal with" House's chronic pain at the behest of the DEA (can't have a hard working, if cranky, doctor be in chronic pain and using opiates without "consequence")

http://www.dosenation.com/listing.php?id=6678

DEA vs House

[thetroubleisme.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

And this is why I don't watch TV that deals with mental illness. I only have bipolar disorder and anxiety as my personal crazies, but damn, there is so much fail