SIBLINGS AT THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
(To be published in the East Bay Psychiatric Association Newsletter, August 2007)
One of the least well-studied subjects in human psychology is the relationship between siblings. There are plenty of twin studies related to genetic factors of inherited illnesses, but ordinary sibling relationships take up very little space in the catalog of human inquiry. Sibling relationships are the longest ones that occur during one’s lifetime—longer than for spouses, parent and child, or for friends. We psychiatrists tend to minimize the importance of sibling relationships--I know that when I take a psychiatric history, I make relatively short shrift of this subject including the order of birth of my patients in their family, even though I recognize these issues as crucial aspects of anyone’s development.
One critical time in the history of sibling relations is when the last parent dies. It is at this juncture that I have witnessed major problems in a number of my patients’ relationships with their siblings. In fact, I have seen several patients through the years who sought my psychiatric assistance solely because of problems they encountered with their siblings during the time their parents’ estate was being settled. The problems encountered are often very ugly, with siblings battling each other for advantages in inheritance matters. Often the problems can be traced to parents not making the hard decisions before they die as to whom will receive what. Leaving too many decisions to the surviving children to sort out can lead to trouble more often than not.
Most parents have the fantasy that all of their children are level headed, fair-minded, and free of excessively competitive impulses. The parents want to believe that their children will matter-of-factly execute their will and never encounter a bit of conflict. But attorneys who specialize in estate matters will tell you that siblings only agree about 30% of the time on how to execute a will equitably. The larger the inheritance and the more illiquid the assets, the more opportunity there is for trouble to arise. The Clark brothers, heirs to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune, are but one example of siblings who never spoke to each other again after their wealthy parents’ estate was divided because of the resentment they experienced due to their perceived inequities in the division of the assets they inherited.
Siblings in this modern age of mobility often spend their adult lives in communities far apart, may have spouses with very different needs and personalities, and may often have very different financial circumstances. Mix these factors with some unresolved sibling rivalry, and you have the ingredients for a toxic brew. It is unrealistic to expect that several siblings with differing life-styles and ethical standards will agree on all significant matters. Parents may leave their children better off financially after they die, but worse off in more important matters if they do not address these matters preemptively. Some siblings, of course, have never been close or care much for each other, and in those cases, regardless of advanced planning, things may fall apart after the last parent dies.
Proper legal advice is essential in estate related matters, but sometimes attorneys are not so astute about psychological issues. Whether your patient is an aging parent or an adult child with aging parents, common-sense advice would be to encourage an open family discussion of estate matters, assuming they are deemed appropriate issues in the context of your patient’s therapy. It may prove helpful to have the family decide together which child should be trusted to be the sole executor, as having multiple siblings appointed as co-executors often leads to unnecessary complexities. Parents may also be wise to decide on the disposition of most of their assets during their lifetime, so as to minimize the possibility of excessive avarice, competition, and jealously arising in the surviving children. Failure on the part of your patients to address such estate matters within the family when it is still possible to do so may cause you to witness some of the more difficult and unpleasant family dynamics that one can encounter.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
(Published in the East Bay Psychiatric Association Newsletter, January 2002)
Hollywood had not been too kind to the mentally ill or to psychiatrists in the past. Portrayals of emotionally disturbed individuals has often been stereotypical and demeaning, and psychiatrists have often been portrayed as eccentric, emotionally detached, or sadistic. All this has changed with the recent movie, "A Beautiful Mind" , where paranoid schizophrenia is presented in a most dramatic and sympathetic fashion.
This is not a movie that psychiatrists should try to see. This is a movie that psychiatrists must see! As more and more people see this film, more and more are asking me, “Is this what schizophrenia is really like?” This provides an opportunity to discuss the nature of severe mental illness. More importantly, the population at large should come to be far more empathic with the plight of the mentally ill. This movie could do more to advance the cause of psychiatric treatment than any educational program the American Psychiatric Association could dream up to create support for our work.
The movie has certain flaws. It is about a real individual, John Nash, who is still living today, who was such a brilliant mathematician as a graduate student that he eventually won the Nobel Prize for his work. But subsequent to his graduate school years, he became schizophrenic. The movie leaves out certain less than pleasant details of Nash's life to create a more sympathetic character. And there is a note of unreality in the depiction of a remission of the illness that might give families false hope for an ill loved one. The implicit message is that sufficient community support, an enormously loving relationship, and proper medication can cure the illness.
Nonetheless, the overall dramatic impact of the film is enormous. It was so great on me that I left the theater shaken. It took me a long time to feel composed enough to express my thoughts, as the reality of the portrayal overwhelmed me as it reminded me of all those broken minds in patients of mine through the years that I have toiled to mend.
"A Beautiful Mind" is a beautiful movie, with stellar acting on the part of Russell Crowe who plays John Nash, and Jennifer Connelly who plays his wife, and whose talent appears equal to her substantial beauty. The movie is based on the book by the same name written by Sylvia Nasar, and while I have not read the book, others who have, rate the book as superior to the movie, which is indeed a great compliment.
(Published in the East Bay Psychiatric Association Newsletter, January 2002)
Hollywood had not been too kind to the mentally ill or to psychiatrists in the past. Portrayals of emotionally disturbed individuals has often been stereotypical and demeaning, and psychiatrists have often been portrayed as eccentric, emotionally detached, or sadistic. All this has changed with the recent movie, "A Beautiful Mind" , where paranoid schizophrenia is presented in a most dramatic and sympathetic fashion.
This is not a movie that psychiatrists should try to see. This is a movie that psychiatrists must see! As more and more people see this film, more and more are asking me, “Is this what schizophrenia is really like?” This provides an opportunity to discuss the nature of severe mental illness. More importantly, the population at large should come to be far more empathic with the plight of the mentally ill. This movie could do more to advance the cause of psychiatric treatment than any educational program the American Psychiatric Association could dream up to create support for our work.
The movie has certain flaws. It is about a real individual, John Nash, who is still living today, who was such a brilliant mathematician as a graduate student that he eventually won the Nobel Prize for his work. But subsequent to his graduate school years, he became schizophrenic. The movie leaves out certain less than pleasant details of Nash's life to create a more sympathetic character. And there is a note of unreality in the depiction of a remission of the illness that might give families false hope for an ill loved one. The implicit message is that sufficient community support, an enormously loving relationship, and proper medication can cure the illness.
Nonetheless, the overall dramatic impact of the film is enormous. It was so great on me that I left the theater shaken. It took me a long time to feel composed enough to express my thoughts, as the reality of the portrayal overwhelmed me as it reminded me of all those broken minds in patients of mine through the years that I have toiled to mend.
"A Beautiful Mind" is a beautiful movie, with stellar acting on the part of Russell Crowe who plays John Nash, and Jennifer Connelly who plays his wife, and whose talent appears equal to her substantial beauty. The movie is based on the book by the same name written by Sylvia Nasar, and while I have not read the book, others who have, rate the book as superior to the movie, which is indeed a great compliment.
Monday, July 09, 2007
ONLY IN AMERICA
(Published in the East Bay Psychiatric Association Newsletter, April 2002)
This past weekend, my wife and I, along with three other couples, went out to dinner. This was not your ordinary evening out, as you will see. We four couples were joined by our adult sons, now about age 28. Our boys have remained close since childhood, despite having scattered far and wide during their college and graduate school experiences.
For many years, we four families would see each other at our children’s events like soccer games, scout troop meetings, and other school activities. We adults were never really close friends, just very good acquaintances, and we had never before gone out to dinner together as a group.
The idea for this dinner, sadly, was borne out of a tragic situation. Two months earlier, our sons’ other closest friend--my own son’s best friend since fourth grade--committed suicide. The loss was sudden and catastrophic--and nearly unbearable for our boys. As parents, we were also devastated.
What seemed to arise out of our mutual shock and grief, was a greater appreciation for our ongoing relationship with each other, and we felt a need to form closer ties. We wanted to strengthen our previously casual relationship, and somehow consolidate our closeness with each other and with our sons in the face of this tragedy. There were hugs and kisses all around that night in the restaurant--and enough warmth to keep you cozy all next winter. We four families, who previously had been living out our joys as parents together, now had to confront our sorrow together, too.
The diversity of the families who found themselves sharing this moment in their lives was also unusual: one family is Muslim originally from Pakistan, one Armenian Christian, one Catholic, and one Jewish. And we spent the evening sitting around a table in a CHINESE restaurant.
That such a meaningful experience could be shared by such a diverse group of individuals is a strong affirmation of our American democracy and our way of life. In this difficult time in world history, it is good to keep such stories in mind, because only in America is an event like this likely to have occurred.
(Published in the East Bay Psychiatric Association Newsletter, April 2002)
This past weekend, my wife and I, along with three other couples, went out to dinner. This was not your ordinary evening out, as you will see. We four couples were joined by our adult sons, now about age 28. Our boys have remained close since childhood, despite having scattered far and wide during their college and graduate school experiences.
For many years, we four families would see each other at our children’s events like soccer games, scout troop meetings, and other school activities. We adults were never really close friends, just very good acquaintances, and we had never before gone out to dinner together as a group.
The idea for this dinner, sadly, was borne out of a tragic situation. Two months earlier, our sons’ other closest friend--my own son’s best friend since fourth grade--committed suicide. The loss was sudden and catastrophic--and nearly unbearable for our boys. As parents, we were also devastated.
What seemed to arise out of our mutual shock and grief, was a greater appreciation for our ongoing relationship with each other, and we felt a need to form closer ties. We wanted to strengthen our previously casual relationship, and somehow consolidate our closeness with each other and with our sons in the face of this tragedy. There were hugs and kisses all around that night in the restaurant--and enough warmth to keep you cozy all next winter. We four families, who previously had been living out our joys as parents together, now had to confront our sorrow together, too.
The diversity of the families who found themselves sharing this moment in their lives was also unusual: one family is Muslim originally from Pakistan, one Armenian Christian, one Catholic, and one Jewish. And we spent the evening sitting around a table in a CHINESE restaurant.
That such a meaningful experience could be shared by such a diverse group of individuals is a strong affirmation of our American democracy and our way of life. In this difficult time in world history, it is good to keep such stories in mind, because only in America is an event like this likely to have occurred.
WHEN LESS IS MORE
(Published in the East Bay Psychiatric Association Newsletter, January 2000)
We psychiatrists like to use words. We believe that by using language we can explain, clarify, and help resolve emotional problems. Without the use of language, we are helpless. Would you consider me crazy if I told you that absolute silence can also be highly therapeutic?
I saw a documentary movie recently about the use of the Buddhist meditation technique "vipassana." Inmates in prisons in India can elect to participate in a 10 day meditation treatment program which requires absolute silence. After these 10 days, we were shown prisoners who had been transformed from violent, aggressive inmates, to calm, controlled individuals; their behavior and motivation had altered drastically.
The dynamics of what happened to these inmates is complex, as in India one may have to wait for years in prison just to get a trial. Thus, there is a lot of motivation to look inward and use this open-ended amount of time to gain control over one’s frustration and rage. Regardless, what was once a hell-hole of a prison filled with violence and chaos, has been turned into one of relative calm and serenity.
I have two acquaintances who periodically go to “silent retreats.” They spend a number of days in complete silence, and leave the retreat feeling emotionally cleansed and renewed. And it is well known that monks throughout the ages have taken vows of silence to enhance their own state of piety.
There are many studies that show that people do better health-wise when they have outlets to verbally express their feelings to others. Paradoxically, the opposite may also be true--that periods of absolute silence may also be emotionally beneficial. It is thought provoking to realize that saying nothing has more therapeutic impact on some individuals than vast amounts of verbal expression has on others.
(Published in the East Bay Psychiatric Association Newsletter, January 2000)
We psychiatrists like to use words. We believe that by using language we can explain, clarify, and help resolve emotional problems. Without the use of language, we are helpless. Would you consider me crazy if I told you that absolute silence can also be highly therapeutic?
I saw a documentary movie recently about the use of the Buddhist meditation technique "vipassana." Inmates in prisons in India can elect to participate in a 10 day meditation treatment program which requires absolute silence. After these 10 days, we were shown prisoners who had been transformed from violent, aggressive inmates, to calm, controlled individuals; their behavior and motivation had altered drastically.
The dynamics of what happened to these inmates is complex, as in India one may have to wait for years in prison just to get a trial. Thus, there is a lot of motivation to look inward and use this open-ended amount of time to gain control over one’s frustration and rage. Regardless, what was once a hell-hole of a prison filled with violence and chaos, has been turned into one of relative calm and serenity.
I have two acquaintances who periodically go to “silent retreats.” They spend a number of days in complete silence, and leave the retreat feeling emotionally cleansed and renewed. And it is well known that monks throughout the ages have taken vows of silence to enhance their own state of piety.
There are many studies that show that people do better health-wise when they have outlets to verbally express their feelings to others. Paradoxically, the opposite may also be true--that periods of absolute silence may also be emotionally beneficial. It is thought provoking to realize that saying nothing has more therapeutic impact on some individuals than vast amounts of verbal expression has on others.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
WORK
(Published in the East Bay Psychiatric Association Newsletter, September 2006)
I recently heard about a study that found that people who take vacations function better in the work place. The study’s findings revealed what most of us probably already know. But unfortunately, the work force in our country is actually becoming more and more “work addicted,” either out of fear of losing one’s job because one might be seen as a slacker, or because social and economic pressures increasingly communicate to people that their worth as a person is measured in the dollars they earn--and staying on the job longer means more dollars. On average, Europeans get three times more vacation time than Americans. During the 1990’s, The Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark matched our productivity rate without our over-zealous work ethic. The explanation may well be that working extra hours does not make you more productive, because after a certain point, you are exhausted and burnt out.
How did we get to this place in our society where people have come to believe that they should not take time away from work? Where did our society lose its sense that a balanced life requires intellectual, cultural, spiritual, and recreational activities in addition to one’s job? Is our country’s raison d’etre simply a matter of getting more economic productivity out of its citizenry, rather than also promoting individual well-being and social progress?
Today, parents of newborns compete to gain enrollment in more and more competitive pre-schools for their little scholars-to-be. First graders get homework. Taking the SAT’s in high school is a nightmare for the competitive college-bound senior. And many high school students and their parents believe that not getting into a prestigious college dooms their chances for a successful life. Getting ahead means just that, and if you are not always working, perhaps you will not get ahead. In other words, children don’t get to have a childhood, and adolescents don’t get to have an adolescence. Everyone gets to be a “work addicted” adult right from the start.
I see adults in my practice who are the result of these overly driven and competitive childhoods. They are anxious, fearful, and lacking in the capacity to experience their lives as joyful. They may have panic attacks, high blood pressure, high blood sugars, as well as dysfunctional relationships with their spouse and children. In fact, they unknowingly have become unhappy as a result of following this prescribed course toward happiness, which apparently now includes the belief that taking a vacation might interfere with success.
The ability to step back from our work--whether it is by traveling to some distant shore, or simply by going to the shore--provides us a chance to relax and reflect on the meaning of our existence and to find new meaning in our lives. We become re-awakened by vacations and ready to return to a job with a new sense of vitality. Vacations allow quality time for a family or for an individual. It exposes us to places and activities that we cannot access in our ordinary work world.
Driving to and from work or the grocery store in vehicles with names like Yukon, Serengeti, Outback, or Tahoe, is not anything like being in those actual places. But if a person does take a vacation, he might actually come to understand first hand what all the fuss is about in places with those names, and he might even like his job more, knowing that it’s not an activity that will consume every one of the 52 weeks of a year.
(Published in the East Bay Psychiatric Association Newsletter, September 2006)
I recently heard about a study that found that people who take vacations function better in the work place. The study’s findings revealed what most of us probably already know. But unfortunately, the work force in our country is actually becoming more and more “work addicted,” either out of fear of losing one’s job because one might be seen as a slacker, or because social and economic pressures increasingly communicate to people that their worth as a person is measured in the dollars they earn--and staying on the job longer means more dollars. On average, Europeans get three times more vacation time than Americans. During the 1990’s, The Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark matched our productivity rate without our over-zealous work ethic. The explanation may well be that working extra hours does not make you more productive, because after a certain point, you are exhausted and burnt out.
How did we get to this place in our society where people have come to believe that they should not take time away from work? Where did our society lose its sense that a balanced life requires intellectual, cultural, spiritual, and recreational activities in addition to one’s job? Is our country’s raison d’etre simply a matter of getting more economic productivity out of its citizenry, rather than also promoting individual well-being and social progress?
Today, parents of newborns compete to gain enrollment in more and more competitive pre-schools for their little scholars-to-be. First graders get homework. Taking the SAT’s in high school is a nightmare for the competitive college-bound senior. And many high school students and their parents believe that not getting into a prestigious college dooms their chances for a successful life. Getting ahead means just that, and if you are not always working, perhaps you will not get ahead. In other words, children don’t get to have a childhood, and adolescents don’t get to have an adolescence. Everyone gets to be a “work addicted” adult right from the start.
I see adults in my practice who are the result of these overly driven and competitive childhoods. They are anxious, fearful, and lacking in the capacity to experience their lives as joyful. They may have panic attacks, high blood pressure, high blood sugars, as well as dysfunctional relationships with their spouse and children. In fact, they unknowingly have become unhappy as a result of following this prescribed course toward happiness, which apparently now includes the belief that taking a vacation might interfere with success.
The ability to step back from our work--whether it is by traveling to some distant shore, or simply by going to the shore--provides us a chance to relax and reflect on the meaning of our existence and to find new meaning in our lives. We become re-awakened by vacations and ready to return to a job with a new sense of vitality. Vacations allow quality time for a family or for an individual. It exposes us to places and activities that we cannot access in our ordinary work world.
Driving to and from work or the grocery store in vehicles with names like Yukon, Serengeti, Outback, or Tahoe, is not anything like being in those actual places. But if a person does take a vacation, he might actually come to understand first hand what all the fuss is about in places with those names, and he might even like his job more, knowing that it’s not an activity that will consume every one of the 52 weeks of a year.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Suicide of a Patient--The Psychiatrist and Grief
(Published in the Northern California Psychiatric Society Newsletter, December 1998)
This week was a difficult one for me. My normal schedule was interrupted by attendance at the memorial service for a patient of mine who leapt from the Golden Gate Bridge the day I returned from a week-long vacation.
I don't remember being so saddened by the loss of a patient. Throughout the course of most of her treatment, she remained suicidal, despite extensive medication, ECT trials, and intensive psychotherapy. But I had come to believe that the power of our close therapeutic relationship would overcome her pain. When I was told of her death, I was not wholly surprised, and actually felt some relief for her. But when I went to her memorial service, I could hardly believe she was gone, and I felt an enormous sense of loss. My disbelief was so great that I had numerous fantasies of her showing up at my office during the following days because she had not really killed herself.
What surprised me most, was how attached I apparently was to my patient, despite the presumed mastery of "detached concern" I thought was so much part of my professional makeup. After the cermony, the patient's sister and I, not ever having met, mutually embraced, instinctively knowing each other's need for comfort. The sister, who looked and sounded so much like my patient, held on to me, and I to her, and for a moment I thought I was embracing my patient, now in death, the way I knew I never could in life. It was a profoundly emotional moment, a "cleansing" moment, and one which I will not soon forget.
I have re-learned many lessons from this tragedy: the limits of my powers as a physician, the extent of some of my patients' dependency on me, and not the least, the magnitude of my own attachment to some of the people who make their weekly trip to my office. I hope that the peace that so eluded this person in life is with her now, as no amount of my understanding or attention to her psychiatric condition was sufficient to bring her that relief in life.
(Published in the Northern California Psychiatric Society Newsletter, December 1998)
This week was a difficult one for me. My normal schedule was interrupted by attendance at the memorial service for a patient of mine who leapt from the Golden Gate Bridge the day I returned from a week-long vacation.
I don't remember being so saddened by the loss of a patient. Throughout the course of most of her treatment, she remained suicidal, despite extensive medication, ECT trials, and intensive psychotherapy. But I had come to believe that the power of our close therapeutic relationship would overcome her pain. When I was told of her death, I was not wholly surprised, and actually felt some relief for her. But when I went to her memorial service, I could hardly believe she was gone, and I felt an enormous sense of loss. My disbelief was so great that I had numerous fantasies of her showing up at my office during the following days because she had not really killed herself.
What surprised me most, was how attached I apparently was to my patient, despite the presumed mastery of "detached concern" I thought was so much part of my professional makeup. After the cermony, the patient's sister and I, not ever having met, mutually embraced, instinctively knowing each other's need for comfort. The sister, who looked and sounded so much like my patient, held on to me, and I to her, and for a moment I thought I was embracing my patient, now in death, the way I knew I never could in life. It was a profoundly emotional moment, a "cleansing" moment, and one which I will not soon forget.
I have re-learned many lessons from this tragedy: the limits of my powers as a physician, the extent of some of my patients' dependency on me, and not the least, the magnitude of my own attachment to some of the people who make their weekly trip to my office. I hope that the peace that so eluded this person in life is with her now, as no amount of my understanding or attention to her psychiatric condition was sufficient to bring her that relief in life.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
THE FUTURE
(Published in the East Bay Psychiatric Association Newsletter, January 2005)
One thing is certain: no one can predict the future! While this sounds obvious, people behave as if they can foretell what lies ahead. In reality, the world moves forward in accidental, serendipitous, and random ways. If one looks at the contents of “time-capsules” that people left behind with instructions to be opened 100 years in the future, what one finds are predictions that are wildly off base. And many major scientific breakthroughs often occur serendipitously during a search for unrelated scientific truths.
Fifty years ago no one had any notion of the home computer, a technological advancement which influences things we do almost every minute of every day. One small aspect of the computer revolution is how the lives of seniors have been enhanced. The elderly, who often live alone and have limited ability to move around, have enormously enriched lives now because of their in-home access to e-mail and the Internet. Do you think that Dell or Apple had any inkling years ago that the market for personal computers would be so huge for the senior population?
Back in the 1800’s, before recording devices existed, if people went to a concert, they would hear a performance of a piece of music that they would likely never hear again, regardless of how much they enjoyed listening to that piece of music. This week my son bought an I-Pod, which has the capability of holding 5000 songs of his choosing in its memory. In a little mechanism smaller than his wallet where he can listen to music over and over again wherever and whenever he chooses. Find me an article from a couple of decades ago that foretold of such an innovation.
We are even less capable of controlling our future than we are of predicting it. Did you really control how you met the person who is your life partner? Did you really have control over the specific job offer that has led to so much of what you do everyday? Of course the most accidental and unpredictable of all things is whether or not you were even born in the first place. Think about all the couplings of people that had to occur in your ancestors exactly at the right moment, leading up to the existence of your parents, and then the precise egg and sperm that had to unite to form you. Talk about overcoming extreme odds.
Perhaps life is best lived without excessive regard to trying to control what is going to happen in the future. In other words, try to live in the present. Some future planning obviously makes sense, but what you are going to be doing five years from now, let alone what happens to you tomorrow, may be a lot less predictable and a lot less in your control than you think.
(Published in the East Bay Psychiatric Association Newsletter, January 2005)
One thing is certain: no one can predict the future! While this sounds obvious, people behave as if they can foretell what lies ahead. In reality, the world moves forward in accidental, serendipitous, and random ways. If one looks at the contents of “time-capsules” that people left behind with instructions to be opened 100 years in the future, what one finds are predictions that are wildly off base. And many major scientific breakthroughs often occur serendipitously during a search for unrelated scientific truths.
Fifty years ago no one had any notion of the home computer, a technological advancement which influences things we do almost every minute of every day. One small aspect of the computer revolution is how the lives of seniors have been enhanced. The elderly, who often live alone and have limited ability to move around, have enormously enriched lives now because of their in-home access to e-mail and the Internet. Do you think that Dell or Apple had any inkling years ago that the market for personal computers would be so huge for the senior population?
Back in the 1800’s, before recording devices existed, if people went to a concert, they would hear a performance of a piece of music that they would likely never hear again, regardless of how much they enjoyed listening to that piece of music. This week my son bought an I-Pod, which has the capability of holding 5000 songs of his choosing in its memory. In a little mechanism smaller than his wallet where he can listen to music over and over again wherever and whenever he chooses. Find me an article from a couple of decades ago that foretold of such an innovation.
We are even less capable of controlling our future than we are of predicting it. Did you really control how you met the person who is your life partner? Did you really have control over the specific job offer that has led to so much of what you do everyday? Of course the most accidental and unpredictable of all things is whether or not you were even born in the first place. Think about all the couplings of people that had to occur in your ancestors exactly at the right moment, leading up to the existence of your parents, and then the precise egg and sperm that had to unite to form you. Talk about overcoming extreme odds.
Perhaps life is best lived without excessive regard to trying to control what is going to happen in the future. In other words, try to live in the present. Some future planning obviously makes sense, but what you are going to be doing five years from now, let alone what happens to you tomorrow, may be a lot less predictable and a lot less in your control than you think.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
"Brokeback Mountain" and The Art of the Screenplay
(Published in the East Bay Psychiatric Association Newsletter, January 2006)
It is not often when a book and a movie are equally masterful. But within the recent Academy Award nominated best film category is "Brokeback Mountain", adapted from the short story by the same name in Annie Proulx’ book of short stories of the American West entitled "Close Range". The movie and the book are both exceptional artistic achievements, neither to be missed.
According to Ms. Proulx, when asked to discuss “that gay cowboy movie”, she said, “Excuse me, but the story is about two inarticulate Wyoming ranch hands who experience something they don’t understand and can’t put words to.” So much for the romantic fantasy of the hard drinking, gun toting frontier cowboys as heroes who won the West—this story completely explodes that mythology.
The story/movie deals with homosexuality in the pre-AIDS and pre “out of the closet” era of 1963, but it is not so much about sexuality as it is a love story between two people who are lonely and isolated. The full-length movie is amazingly true to the relatively brief, 35 page long short story, as it is virtually identical in dialogue and content. It is a creative tour de force for the screenwriter to be able to flesh in the details of the characters in the movie so well, based on such a brief tale. Yet this is also to the credit of the story’s author, who has been able to create such full and colorful characters in such a brief story.
As much as I liked the movie "Brokeback Mountain", I enjoyed reading that story and the others in "Close Range" even more. The loneliness and emotional impoverishment of Ms. Proux’ characters are so penetrating that one feels transported into the lives of these people in the rural ranch-land of Wyoming.
As a psychiatrist, it was notable to me that this story so effectively conveyed the difficulty that emotionally deprived people have in “making love” as opposed to “having sex”—or in some of the stories “taking sex.” This seems to be an underlying dynamic in the lives of many of the Proulx' characters, as it is in some of my patients as well.
Whether you see the movie, read the story, or do both, I think you will agree, "Brokeback Mountain" represents a breakthrough in cinema and story telling. And it is the screenwriter who can take credit for transforming one media form into the other so masterfully.
(Published in the East Bay Psychiatric Association Newsletter, January 2006)
It is not often when a book and a movie are equally masterful. But within the recent Academy Award nominated best film category is "Brokeback Mountain", adapted from the short story by the same name in Annie Proulx’ book of short stories of the American West entitled "Close Range". The movie and the book are both exceptional artistic achievements, neither to be missed.
According to Ms. Proulx, when asked to discuss “that gay cowboy movie”, she said, “Excuse me, but the story is about two inarticulate Wyoming ranch hands who experience something they don’t understand and can’t put words to.” So much for the romantic fantasy of the hard drinking, gun toting frontier cowboys as heroes who won the West—this story completely explodes that mythology.
The story/movie deals with homosexuality in the pre-AIDS and pre “out of the closet” era of 1963, but it is not so much about sexuality as it is a love story between two people who are lonely and isolated. The full-length movie is amazingly true to the relatively brief, 35 page long short story, as it is virtually identical in dialogue and content. It is a creative tour de force for the screenwriter to be able to flesh in the details of the characters in the movie so well, based on such a brief tale. Yet this is also to the credit of the story’s author, who has been able to create such full and colorful characters in such a brief story.
As much as I liked the movie "Brokeback Mountain", I enjoyed reading that story and the others in "Close Range" even more. The loneliness and emotional impoverishment of Ms. Proux’ characters are so penetrating that one feels transported into the lives of these people in the rural ranch-land of Wyoming.
As a psychiatrist, it was notable to me that this story so effectively conveyed the difficulty that emotionally deprived people have in “making love” as opposed to “having sex”—or in some of the stories “taking sex.” This seems to be an underlying dynamic in the lives of many of the Proulx' characters, as it is in some of my patients as well.
Whether you see the movie, read the story, or do both, I think you will agree, "Brokeback Mountain" represents a breakthrough in cinema and story telling. And it is the screenwriter who can take credit for transforming one media form into the other so masterfully.
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