Unknown White Male
The documentary then tells the story of how he discovers his name - Doug Bruce - where he lives, what he does and his friends and his family. Has Doug suffered severe retrograde amnesia? None of the experts seem quite sure as there are no obvious physiological causes. Is Doug faking it for a laugh? It doesn't seem likely. Finally, and most disturbingly, does Doug actually want to be 'cured'? Perhaps not.
This understated documentary develops into a philosophical meditation on the meaning of personality, friendship and family, as both Doug and those closest to him struggle to understand what has happened, and what it means to them.
Watch the trailer Read about memory, amnesia and identity (the film mostly avoids medical aspects to concentrate on the personal impact).Is Doug faking it as a conceptual art stunt?Links to further analysis on Mind HacksUnknown White Male receives a limited release in London on the 7th April 2006 and around the rest of the UK from 21st April.Labels: Memory
Imprisonment and Unequal Societies
What startled me was the comparison to the US which has almost 800 people in prison per 100,000. Not only is this rate astonishing but so was the automatic connection Christie made between the high prison population and the drive for economic success in the US.
It reminded me of the idea, put forward by Richard Wilkinson in his book 'Unhealthy Societies', that mental illness is related to the gap between the rich and the poor. Those countries which have the largest gaps tend to have the highest rates of mental illness. In Wilkinson's new book (reviewed in The Guardian) this thesis is extended to include the same connection between unequal societies and higher crime rates.
Not only is the American Dream more likely to put you in jail, it is more likely to drive you crazy.
Thinking Allowed from 8th March 2006
Existential Angst
Escape Attempts was inspired by sociological research into how long-term prisoners cope with being inside. Specifically, how do they maintain their sense of identity?
While most of our lives are not as monotonous as those 'inside', this led to parallel questions about how we all cope with our everyday lives. After all, given that most of us go through many of the same motions day after day, how do we stay sane?
The answer is through escape attempts: we have holidays, hobbies, extra-marital affairs, we day-dream, we maintain an ironic, post-modern distance between ourselves and our work: my work is not me it's just something I do.
One of my favourite fictional descriptions of an escape attempt, of which I was reminded by Laurie Taylor, is in 'The Dice Man' by Luke Rhinehart. The protagonist, a psychiatrist, gets bored of his life and decides to allow chance to rule it for a period. He writes down various options, with fairly normal ones at high probability and more outrageous ones at low probability. Then he rolls a dice and forces himself to obey. Guaranteed to spice up your life as long as you put some interesting options in there.
Culture is, of course, a favourite escape attempt for many. I realised as I scanned the pages of Time Out (a cultural listings magazine in London) at the weekend that the magazine itself is a kind of escape attempt. I read about Reza Aramesh's investigation of 'migration and power centres' through re-enacting the Changing of the Guard in Trafalgar Square. I read about a leading contender for the Deutsche Borse Photography prize, Alec Soth, and his 'Mississippi Sleeping' project. I discovered I could use culture as an escape but, knowing full well I wouldn't be going to see them, I didn't have to leave the house. If anyone wants to buy me a subscription...
I really want to work in this lecture (scroll down a bit) by Slavoj Zizek but, sadly, this little blogging escape attempt is over.
Explore The Brain Sciences
Dr Ashok Jansari, a leading researcher in neuropsychology, will be giving a free public lecture at the University of East London on Wednesday 15th March at 6pm. This will be followed by a chance to meet some of the patients Dr Jansari has been researching, as well as organisations that help people with brain damage.
Full details of the event are available from the UEL website.
Depressive Thinking
The causes of depression are many and varied. Occasionally the reasons are there for all to see: a loved one has died, for example, or a job has been lost or an important relationship has broken up. More often the cause is mysterious to the casual observer because it is not events that necessarily cause depression, it is the way in which we interpret events.
Psychologists have found that, despite the variability in the causes of depression, there are some fascinating ways in which the thinking of depressed people often follows particular patterns. These patterns can be seen in people's 'attributions'.
An attribution is when a person attaches a particular cause to a particular effect, for example: "I didn't get the job because I am worthless." It might be clear to other people around me that I am not a worthless person but, in my mind, that is the connection, or attribution, I have made. There are three important components to the type of attribution that are implicated in depressive illness. To continue with this example, they are:
- It is my fault that I didn't get the job. Here I have made an internal attribution.
- I think I am worthless: a thought that is likely to affect all areas of my life. Now I am making this attribution global.
- I see no reason for the fact that I am worthless to ever change. Now the attribution is stable.
This particular type of attribution has been shown to be unusual because people who are not depressed generally do the exact opposite. Most people have what is described as a 'self-serving bias'. Anything good that happens to you is because of your skills, is likely to repeated in the future and will remain the same for you.
So, the theory sounds reasonable, what about the practice? I will take a closer look at some of the research soon.
Labels: Depression