The Simpsons Can Boost Your Mental Health?
I like the Simpsons as much as the next person, but an article I came by today seems to be a little far-fetched. This is also the second article I’ve found of late that ties The Simpsons the study of the mental health or the human mind. Very strange.
The main point of the article that I found was that by watching The Simpsons we are exposed to a non-chalant attitude toward mental health and that this is actually helpful for people that might suffer common mental health problems like anxiety, depression, or phobias.
Simply acknowledging mental health on such a popular television show might help ‘normalise’ the illnesses, say Australian trainee psychiatrist Dr Hannah Mendelson and director/cinematographer Gil Poznanski from Melbourne.
And it means viewers, especially children, who may later have a mental health crisis, might not feel so isolated as they relate back to a Simpsons character or experience.
So what I’m getting here is that if I, later in my life, experience perhaps some depression or anxiety, I might be able to find comfort knowing that a Simpsons character went through it as well and that it was no big deal. Did I get that right?
The article also proposes that mental health issues addressed on The Simpsons might help other people find help for their own problems.
In one episode, for example, Homer attempts to cure his depression with his ‘homemade Prozac’ mixture of chocolate and ice-cream after he is unable to get help. “Homer says ‘My last chance is homemade Prozac’. Even though he’s an idiot, he acknowledges an antidepressant could help,” Poznanski says.
Poznanski is a director/cinematographer from Melbourne, Austrailia.
I don’t know if I buy it, but who knows how TV affects us these days.
Interestingly enough, a related article link at the bottom of the page was “Chocolate May Deepen Depression.” I guess Homer’s homemade Prozac would have just made things worse.
To view the entire article, go to ABC.net.
If you have a favorite episode that you think deals with mental health, pass it along to me and I’ll see if I can find it on youtube.
The Simpsons, Mental Health, FOX
-Anna
April 28th, 2007 at 1:44 am
I think they are *sort of* right. I mean, the Simpsons makes fun of so many things. If there’s something Simpsons won’t touch… Understand what I’m saying?
They’re probably just trying to focus on Simpsons making things easier to talk abd laugh about. This could all backfire, mind you, but it’s putting things out in the open.
April 30th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Hey there Anna,
As one of the authors to the presentation reported on your site, let me point out that the final published report, looked very little to the interview or presentation that was give. Media is a two edged sword, and a statement like “The Simpsons Can Boost Your Mental Health?” makes good copy, than sense.
The idea was to point out to health professionals the idea that a program that is so well loved and accepted into popular culture, such as “The Simpsons”, could be used as a tool to deal with mental health issues. The fact that the show deals with these issues is a testament to its strengths, and has already begun the discussion process, by having characters around Springfield deal with issues like depression, alcoholism, and Homer being tagged as being “Insane”.
My college on this presentation, deals with young children in crisis, and has often uses the program to create a repour with children, and discuss, if appropriate, that maybe some crisis the characters on the show have gone through, may be in some way similar to what is going on in their own situation.
By no means is watching “The Simpsons” a vaccin solution to mental health. But the foundation that it lays down, can be used in communicating to people in the middle of a crisis, who might not have had any other exposure to it.
August 22nd, 2008 at 6:42 am
No, Simpsons do not boost you mental health, they help you!
When you are on depression, you take a sit, turn on your TV, you start looking at the Simpsons, you start laughing because that is Homer’s and Bart’s Job, make us laugh as much as possible, that way we can released our stress.
Yendis
Colorado Drug Addiction
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