The Media Shall Pave The Way

Perhaps one of the few positive results of the September 11th horrors is that the general public now has a broader view of the benefits of getting mental health help. Mental health professionals have made plans to help one and a half million New Yorkers and people throughout the country are aware that help can be only a phone call or even a radio call away.

The media, especially the big and little screens, have also featured stories about how professionals can help you. NBC's Frasier is a very human "shrink" whose antics can be watched weekly. Dr. Phil now does therapy on Oprah for all to see. A few years ago, Hollywood gave us Ordinary People. Then, we had the delightful Analyze This, and this year the intriguing love story, A Beautiful Mind, is sure to win an Oscar or two. Dr. Malfi is trying to help HBO's Tony Soprano with his anxiety attacks and two weeks ago NBC's award winning West Wing had Martin Sheen as the president of the United States in psychotherapy for a sleep disorder.

A friend of mine called with news. "Dorree, you have to turn on the TV. I just walked past my children watching TV and caught a glimpse of the show. I can smell a therapy session when I see one from a distance," she said. I took her marching orders seriously and turned on West Wing. The parts that I saw seemed quite realistic, except that the fee was a big city fee. Well, if we can have a symbolic president needing mental health help, why can't the rest of us?

I, who have always been a book lover and who have only relatively recently joined the ranks of radio and TV users and hosts, now give more credence to Marshall McLuhan's prophetic "The Medium is The Message" statement of years ago. Yes, we are in a too fast society and computers, technology, print, and the screens can be used poorly or well. While I remain concerned about pop psychology's potential damage, I have joined the ranks of those who also understand how it can be used positively. I remain a traditionalist, wary of quick fixes, but I am also a realist who will use what I can to help people understand that there is no stigma to seeking mental help. Last week on The Dr. Dorree Lynn Show, On the Couch, (www.RadioAmerica.org, 1-800-510-8255 or 1-800-510-Talk) Dr. Phil Zimbardo, president of The American Psychological Association and I discussed this very issue.

What still concerns me though, is that we will get the message that help is only for the famous or those willing to become public figures. Real help is for real people--those living life every day--those who stumble over one of life's bumps or those who have a tough issue handed to them evoking feelings and behaviors that are difficult to cope with. Divorce, death, illness, a new move, a job change, a second marriage, a child's difficulty in school—these are the problems of everyday life. All of us can use help with them.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, half of all American families have had someone in therapy, and at any given time one out of ten people in our country are in some sort of therapy. Anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive behavior, and abuse are not feelings or events that always happens to someone else. They touch all of us. There are times all of us can use a little extra education, perhaps medication, or simply someone to talk to who can help us see our world differently--someone who can restore hope.

So, thank you to those in the media who are responsibly paving the way for the rest of us. Again, even if the president on West Wing is only a screenwriter's fictional character, he's a pretty good symbol for many of us to follow. I shall tune in to see what happens next. Will you?

Life is too hard to do alone,

DR.D.

Dorree Lynn, PH.D.

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