Anandita Lidhoo The controversial Netflix show, Maniac , stars Emma Stone and Jonah Hill in a retrofuturistic dystopia, where a few suffering from psychological trauma apply as test subjects for an experimental pharmaceutical trial. By the end of this experiment, they are promised “pure, unaffected joy,” as the medication (a set of three pills) is supposed to replace years of cognitive-behavioural therapy. The show imbibes a lot of the current approaches and theories in the realm of clinical psychology, with a fantastical twist to them. It keeps the viewers hooked with its quickly shifting sense of time, space, and normalcy. The potrayal of mental illnesses in the show is very accurate- be it from small behaviours like how the protagonists carry themselves in public to how they behave in the drug-fueled hallucinations they have in the pharmaceutical trials. The interviewer, Dr Mantleray, debriefs them in front of a few cameras to verify the data captured by a supercomputer he...

Anandita Lidhoo Roald Dahl’s Lamb to the Slaughter is a gripping short story set in post World War-II America, in a typical middle class home. The story begins with Mary Maloney waiting for her policeman husband, Peter Maloney, to come back home from work. She is six months pregnant with his child and described “curiously tranquil,” and deeply satisfied with the role of a mother-to-be and her husband’s subservient. She is almost fixated with Peter, who has come back home in a mood. Her attempts to serve him and cheer him up at first give no results, and later cause him to snap at her. He sits her down and delivers the news that he wishes to leave her, hoping she does not blame him too much as it would be “bad for the job.” She is so shocked with all the news that she feels far away from Peter and everything around her. On auto-pilot, Mary begins to cook them supper, going downstairs to fetch some meat from the freezer. She picks the first thing she can lay her hands on- the leg ...

Kritika Kishore Mathur “A Doll’s House” is a three act play set in Norway during the Victorian era. This was the time when men were expected to be the breadwinners of the house. Instead of being like partners or equals, women were expected to serve the family. A woman was not allowed to think for herself. A woman was not more than a daughter, a mother, and a wife. This is why people especially women were made to except their roles and pretend to be happy and normal,  like the title says "A D oll’s House”. For this blog post I would be focusing more on the main characters of the story, Nora Helmer, the protagonist, and Torvald Helmer her husband. In the beginning of the first Act, it seems like in the Helmer house lives this perfectly normal happy family, cheerful and full of joy. Once the story starts to unfold, the audience realises that the Helmer family has a lot of secrets.  Torvald treats Nora like a child by calling her names like “squirrel, my littl...

Anandita Lidhoo “Everyone has a personality,” says Allen Frances,the psychiatrist responsible for the rules for diagnosing personality disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). “It’s not wrong to have a personality; it’s not mentally ill to have a personality. It’s only a disorder when it causes extreme distress, suffering, and impairment.” He is referring to the recent buzz around Trump’s mental health- the change.org petition with over 70,000 signage's, or a professional analyses on the Atlantic magazine and even Twitter . The discussion revolving around his possible narcissistic personality disorder has become the subject of news and media. The petition, started by clinical psychologist John Gartner, stirred the most public interest. This is possibly because for the first time, a medical health professional was so vehemently and publicly against a president keeping post while suffering from an array of mental illnesses. Frances, howe...

Anandita Lidhoo Remedial for Mid Term Exam “...I’d say ayahuasca is the best and worst thing I’ve ever done. I spent a week staring down all my bullshit and all my insecurities, and it was totally liberating.” recalls Sea Illing, narrating his experiences with ayahuasca at a retreat centre in Costa Rica. The plant concoction contains a naturally-occurring hallucinogen, DMT (dimethyltryptamine), for which even celebrities like Lindsay Lohan, Sting, and Chelsea Handler come from afar. Their experiences are dictated by certain repressed memories that are activated during the high, suggesting that its users get to experience past traumas with a new perspective. They return from the experience liberated and more at peace than they have been before. Ayahuasca is just one agent of the psychedelics debate, where LSD, psilocybin (“shrooms”), and other hallucinogens are all being claimed to help with depression and anxiety. One main reason psychedelics are supposed to soothe mental ill...

Esther Larisa David CW: mentions and a short description of sexual assault Zoe Ligon is a US-based sex educator and owner of an online sex toy boutique. She extensively uses social media to talk about sex in general as well as her personal life, which includes a past of attachment issues and sexual assault. She recently teamed up with Midori, another sex educator and BDSM practitioner on her vlog 'Sex Stuff' for a conversation about BDSM and the art of Japanese rope tying. This is what Zoe tweeted after releasing that vlog: "I rope bottomed* for the very first time with @PlanetMidori — how lucky am I? Watch the latest episode of Sex Stuff and watch me cry some sweet subspace** tears ❤️" On Instagram, she elaborated further on why she cried like she did, making herself vulnerable to the world, and on exploring her trauma from sexual assault. Sex isn't something that's openly spoken about even today. Sexual assault even less. Sexual practices that deviate fr...

Mahati Garimella Remedial for Exam Good Will Hunting is a story about a 20 year old orphan named Will Hunting, who suffers from an attachment disorder (film didn’t specify the particular disorder) and a fear of abandonment. He was abandoned by his family, and had experienced severe physical abuse as a child, in the hands of his foster father. As an adult he often displays aggressive behaviour, and gets involved in several altercations and fights. His aggressive behaviours go to an extent, where the court ultimately sentences him to jail. However, when a professor at MIT (named Lambeau) discovered Will’s mathematical genius, he negotiates with the court to let Will come out of jail. The court releases Will on two conditions - (i) he will assist the MIT professor in his mathematical research, and (ii) he will go through therapy. This blog post will primarily discuss the film’s portrayal of the therapeutic intervention Will went through. Following the conditions laid down by ...

Vandita Bajaj Remedial Blog Post for Mid Term Exam The ongoing refugee crisis has been the subject of immense debate across the world. Millions of people have been displaced as a result of extreme violence. And while there are countries who have given them asylum, and organizations that have sanctioned aid, the mental health issues faced by refugees have rarely been given the attention they deserve. Especially, children, who grow up in extreme-conflict zones, which means all they have known in their formative years is violence and instability. More often than not, they have no semblance of a routine of any kind since schools aren’t operational and neither can they freely play in the streets for there is always the fear of an impending attack. If at all they make it to the safety of refugee camps in other countries, the journey which they are forced to undertake is a dangerous one. Essam Daod, the founder of Humanity Crew, in his TED Talk, highlighted the need for immediate psyc...

Devika Remedial Blog ~ Spoiler alert for the film Psycho ~ One of the 20th centuries’ most renowned psychological horror films, Psycho , depicts the image of mental illness in an equally thrilling and terrifying manner. The film opens with Marion Crane, a woman on the run with $40,000, embezzled from her employer. While driving, a torrential rain obscures the road ahead of her and forces Marion to spend the night at a desolate motel. The motel is run by Norman Bates, an over-friendly and peculiar, young man who helps her settle in. It is seen that Norman’s mother lives in a house near the motel and is constantly dominating and scrutinizing his actions. Yet when Marion asks Norman about his mother, he gets defensive and rather protective. That night, while Marion is showering, Norman enters and gorily murders her. The film then delves into the investigation of the murder, with detectives arriving at the motel. During this time, it is noticed that Norman has an unusually cl...

Vallari Saxena Movies rarely capture the stress and draining sadness that can haunt one after giving birth to a child. Postpartum depression can occur at varying levels - some feel a mild sadness and disinterest, while others can face Major Depressive Disorder which involve symptoms like a lack of energy, trouble concentrating and thoughts of harming themselves or their baby. Such feelings are incredibly difficult to feel for, in addition to the effects of the depressive disorder, they carry with them guilt of not feeling the natural and expected joy and warmth towards their new child. In rare cases, 2 women out of a 1000 births, postpartum psychosis can set in. The symptoms of this are far more blatant, including profound confusion, agitation and a clouded mind and hallucinations. Very few films navigate this space, but Tully (2018) makes an attempt and comes really close to accurately depicting issues surrounding postpartum mental health issues.   Marlo, played...