Therapy as Drama - HBO's 'In Treatment' Starts its Third Season

The third season of HBO's In Treatment started this week. The first four episodes are, by all accounts, outstanding.

An unusual format
For those unfamiliar with the show, it's a half-hour drama that follows the stories of therapist Paul Weston, played by Gabriel Byrne, along with several of his patients. It's an unusual format for TV: each episode is one therapy session, and the stories are advanced through dialog between the patient and therapist. Last year, HBO aired them one-a-day. Looks like this year they will be putting a couple of episodes back-to-back, over two days rather than one episode per day. 

Therapy as dramatic device
Therapy is a brilliant dramatic device, and In Treatment uses it well. Characters get to immediately dive into intensely personal issues, to the core of their stories, with amazing brevity. It's storytelling shorthand. It's not an accurate portrayal of therapy -- it doesn't have to be. If you've done therapy, you'll, no doubt, see some of the psychoanalytic concepts and behaviors in the show as dated, or 'off'. No matter. In the same way we don't judge cop shows on the basis of verisimilitude, we need to suspend judgment in order to enjoy In Treatment.

And it is enjoyable. With A-list actors like Gabriel Byrne, Debra Winger, Amy Ryan, (along with actors who don't have household names but who can hold their own with the best of them), and great writing, the show can have moments of breathtaking beauty.

One such moment happens in the first episode of Season 3. Actor Irrfan Khan (left) plays grieving widower Sunil, who's been brought from Calcutta to America to live in the spare room of his son and daughter-in-law's home (whom he refuses to speak with). It's a memorable performance of grief and displacement and unspoken anger. More than memorable. Mesmerizing. (I did a bit of digging after watching the episode to find out that Khan is an accomplished Indian actor and has appeared in many films, including Slumdog Millionaire).

Conflict and compassion
Scenes feature someone withholding, hiding, or in denial, the therapist prying, encouraging, listening.  Through this, their stories emerge, piece by piece. Conflict arises as patients get pushed closer towards difficult truths and realizations. They often resist and lash out. Weston works at keeping his composure.

Weston's role, and duty, as therapist, is to be caring and non-judgmental - to have compassion for the people in his office. You as viewer are invited into the compassionate perspective. As the show goes deeper into characters' hearts and minds, their sometimes disdainful outward behavior takes on new meaning. There's a woman in the first episode, for example, that I can't stand. But. I'm sure, before the season is over, I'll see why she is the way she is and care for her, like I do the more obviously likable characters.

Reality and projection
Where the show does have parallels with actual therapy is the puzzling conundrum of 'reality' and projection. Each character comes to the scene with partial understanding. The patient with their history, and the therapist with their theoretical constructs, and personal issues.

Is Weston truly 'seeing' what's going on, or projecting some Freudian theory that doesn't fit? Who knows better? When a patient gets angry and yells at Weston for judging them, are they picking up on subtle cues he's giving off, or just projecting their own insecurities? The show does an excellent job playing with that ambiguity, and not providing easy answers.

A celebration of human connection
In Treatment clearly has respect for talk therapy, even as it shows the cracks in the process. It's not trying to undermine what goes on between therapist and patient - quite the opposite. Even though Paul Weston frequently wonders out loud whether or not he is actually helping anyone, it is clear to the viewer that he is. It's just a messy process - like life. Ultimately his compassion and understanding are curative, even if his psychoanalytic theories, and methods are at times suspect. 

It helps that Gabriel Byrne's character is nicely complicated. They've supersized his defense mechanisms. "For such a gifted therapist, you have so little understanding of your own inner life," says his mentor at the end of last season. His failings make him human in what would otherwise be a saint-like role.

Season 3 plot overview from the HBO website:

Paul sees three new patients in Season 3: Frances is a former stage and screen star, struggling with her lines for a major Broadway role, while coping with her sister's terminal breast cancer and the implications this might have on her own health. Sunil, a native of Calcutta, has moved in with his son in Brooklyn, but struggles with life in America. He disapproves of the way his son and daughter-in-law are raising their children and suspects his daughter-in-law may be cheating on his son. Jesse, a gay teen, wrestles with his identity and his relationship with his adoptive parents. His birth mother reintroduces herself into his life with tragic consequences. 

Paul himself seeks the guidance of a younger psychoanalyst, Adele. Recent struggles with insomnia and a recurrent dream are telling Paul he may have inherited Parkinson's disease from his father.

A Month With My Kindle 3 -- The E-Book Experience

Carry all the books you want -- easily!

When I bring up e-books in conversation, some get  uneasy, and feel compelled to praise the printed book, as if books need an advocate. They'll say there's just something about the feel or experience of the physical book - and the smell of it. They don't realize how cliche that is.

However, their insight is that technology (paper, ink)  shapes the experience, may even be the experience. So how does reading on an e-reader shape the experience of reading? Here, I reflect on the experience of reading e-books exclusively, for a month. My device, the Kindle 3.
For a rundown of Kindle 3 vs Kobo features, read my comparison piece.

New technology makes e-books a hot topic
The joy from getting comfortable and reading in big chair in the den, or in some cafe, with the din of people around you was once had only with printed books. But, largely brought about by the technology of E-Ink, that is changing.

Traditional screen technology made e-reading, for any length of time, crappy. It was not a comparable experience with a printed book. Not even close. Back-lit, low rez text strains the eyes, and computers are too big, noisy, hot, and hard to hold comfortably. Not to mention battery problems, power cords etc...  Yuck.

With e-ink, like on the Kobo, Kindle, and Sony Readers, former e-reading limitations are gone. They don't strain the eye, they are easy to hold, and the batteries last forever. They don't even get warm. What's left, really, is the emotional element. Can we get attached to them like we are to books?

Learning to trust the new experience
All it took, for me, was to get into one good book on the Kindle. It was A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway. After I fussed around a bit, finding ways to hold the Kindle comfortably and flip pages, I forgot about the technology. I got into the story. Now, every once in a while, I would stop and say, wait, I'm reading this on a screen!, which took me out of it for a few seconds. But, I got over the novelty, and got back in, and after I finished the book, I had history with the new technology. I had had a great reading experience. 

I could trust the technology to deliver the same kind of thing I had expected from print books. What I didn't foresee was that I would discover things about reading, and about myself, that I never knew.
  
More convenient choice means way more reading
I've often been very finicky about reading, chalking it up to a mild form of ADD. If I am not 'feeling it', I'll put the book down, and, often, never pick it up again. My girlfriend will shake her head in disbelief - she is a book finisher.

This month, I read, and finished, more than I have in the past. Classics (Les Miserables, Lolita, A Farewell to Arms, Stories by Chekhov), non-fiction (The Facebook Effect, The Communist Manifesto), contemporary novels, (The Gendarme), and not to mention magazines like The Atlantic and the New Yorker. Business books. Whatever. Turns out I have way more energy for reading than I thought.

I still have that experience where I can't get into a book. The difference now is that flipping books will eventually lead me to one I actually want to read in that moment. My Kindle has about 120 books on it, give or take a couple, along with periodicals. With me at all times. I used to mistake I don't feel like this book, with I don't feel like reading.

For me, it's one of the main advantages of e-books. It's funny how a little change in the technology can have a huge impact. I get, now, why Kobo chose to pre-load their product with 100 classics. To give people that experience.

"Book" lovers have loyalty to the wrong technology
The real wonder in books is not the paper and ink. It's the alphabet and grammar rules. In the case of English, there are twenty-six characters, along with some punctuation marks that can represent all that is expressible! That is elegant, powerful and efficient technology. It's magic, really.

Stripped of the nostalgic aspects of books-proper I've grown a new appreciation for the written word. There's a lot of talk about the death of books, and journalism. All because people won't need paper and ink. But, if my experience is anything to go by, I anticipate a renaissance of the written word, not its demise.

Terry Gross Interviews Keith Richards About his Autobiography, "Life"

For Stones fans (and/or guitar players) -- NPR's Fresh Air spends 45mins with Keth Richards talking about his new autobiography, Life.

Terry does a pretty good job corralling Richards through the interview. She'll bring up something that she clearly got from his 'auto' biography and he will seem to have no idea what she's talking about.

"If you say so, honey," he says to Terry a couple of times. Aside from his apparent lack of knowledge about the contents of his own autobiography, it's a good interview. Richards has been around the block a few times, to say the least, and he has an old man's wisdom about him - especially when answering questions about his 50 year relationship with Mick Jagger -- which had its ups and downs. 

One thing that stands out for me, being a guitar player, is his description of how he got the guitar sound on "Jumping Jack Flash" and "Street Fighting Man" -- by using an acoustic and having the recording distort it, rather than use an electric guitar.

It's also interesting to hear about how Keith and Mick worked together to create some of the biggest pop songs in history. Keith would come to Mick with a rough idea and hand it over to Mick -- who'd then go away and polish it up. In the meantime, Keith was on to the next thing, so he didn't get too hung up on the process of completing a song. >> Listen Now

The Power of Collaborative Journalism

ProPublica is a non-profit organization of journalists with the mandate of getting stories out that are in the public interest to know. This year, they launched a weekly podcast that features updates on what they're working on.

This week, they talk a bit about their recent expose on the the pharma biz. Instead of focusing on the content of the article (which you can read online), the podcast focuses on how journalists from a variety of news outlets collaborated on the project. Sharing information and resources - but each writing their own 'take' on the issue. The collaborative project was spearheaded by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Tom Detzel. 

Collaboration on this scale is pretty new, and makes a lot of sense, particularly on big investigative projects, where resources get stretched. It could be the start of a new way of doing journalism. Listen to the podcast.

You can read the ProPublica article online: Docs on Pharma Payroll Have Blemished Records, Limited Credentials.

Philosophy in Japanese Anime

The Philosopher's Zone (ABC) asks whether there are coherent philosophies in the pop-culture phenomenon of Japanese Anime, in,

Anime - the philosophy of Japanese animation (25mins)

The guest on the show, professor Jane Goodall, does a fine job of  navigating through the topic, and comes up with some interesting observations.

It's easy to have the imagination stifled by Western reason and classification. When everything has its place and needs to 'make sense' there's less room for the mind to be creative. Anime is not hampered by this. It flows easily between different worlds, states of being, and incarnations. It also challenges taboos, and provides an enormous amount of creative freedom for its practitioners.

Book Review: The Gendarme, by Mark T. Mustian

Empowered by my new Kindle, I'm reading way more than ever. Most recently, I finished The Gendarme, a novel by Mark T. Mustian. It's a page-turner, even though it deals with some pretty heavy subject matter.

Emmet Conn, an old man in his 90's, starts having dreams (or are they memories?) of events that he has no conscious recollection of. They are of a time during the First World War, specifically, the Armenian genocide. (The Turks marched hundreds of thousands of Armenians out of the country, most of them suffering and dying in horrible ways). Emmet Conn, who was a Turk, had suffered a head injury in the First World War that had made his time before the injury a patchwork of memory. He has embraced his new life in America for the best part of the century.

But, as his health problems worsen, the result of a brain tumor, his dreams get more and more vivid and intense. The story flips between his life now and the events that unfold in his dream. I don't really want to say much more than that because part of the fun is in the unraveling of the simultaneous stories of past and present. However, each story is gripping.

Going back and forth between dream/memory, and the present seems to be a common writing strategy these days. The last book I reviewed, Three Day Road, also used a similar technique. It may not be the most original strategy. But, I have to say, it works! Aside from a minor problem the book has with time and chronology - namely that a lot seems to happen in very short periods of time - it's a great read. Recommended.

An Epidemic - of Flawed Medical Research!

The Atlantic Monthly (now my favorite mag), ran a great profile piece on a researcher who has pointed out some serious flaws in medical science: Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science. Kinda shakes the foundation of the profession - not just the research but the practice of medicine and treatment. Here's their summary:

Much of what medical researchers conclude in their studies is misleading, exaggerated, or flat-out wrong. So why are doctors—to a striking extent—still drawing upon misinformation in their everyday practice? Dr. John Ioannidis has spent his career challenging his peers by exposing their bad science.

All in the Mind Podcast: True Stories of Brain Parasites

All in the Mind, on ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) focuses on Brain Parasites this week. I was first introduced to the fact of brain parasites on a Radiolab podcast. Unlike other parasites, brain parasites actually change the behavior of their hosts. Sometimes turning the hosts into, well, zombies.

There's a parasite that infects fish, gets into their brain, and makes them respond differently to stress (i.e. a bird swooping in to grab it). As a result, they don't get stressed and flee, they get caught. The parasite then ends up in the bird, where it wanted to be all along.

And, there are the parasites that inhabit humans - producing chemicals that affect behavior. For example, Toxiplasma, that you get from cats. A good percentage of those exposed to cats have it. It makes people more... neurotic. And, it seems to affect men and women differently. Infected women have a slight uptick in IQ, men, a slight downturn in IQ. Damn. I had cats growing up.

Women, apparently get more warm-hearted and prone to shopping when they host Toxiplasma. At the level of a nation, it can effect the cultural landscape. Researchers in mental health are looking into rates of mental illness and Toxiplasma.

There are quite a few stories like this on the All in the Mind episode. >> Listen Now

Bruce Mau on the Suburbs, the Mall, and the Automobile

The Climate Desk, is a group of journalists trying to improve the discussion about the environment and global warming. Part of their mandate is to do regular podcasts on PBS's Need to Know. Recently, they interviewed Bruce Mau, celebrated graphic/industrial designer: Designer Bruce Mau on the suburbs, the mall and the automobile

Mau has an interesting (and controversial) approach when it comes to design and environmentalism. For example, arguing that the suburbs have been a wildly successful design. Most environmentalists would dry heave hearing this, so it's fun that he is saying it. The same with the car. He steps aside of the moral issue and looks at things as a designer would.

He asks, what is the experience of driving a car, vs. riding the TTC? Well, the car has a lot going for it. Cup holders, relative quiet to make phone calls and listen to music. A warm place to wait in winter. Public transit around the world, he argues, is designed to fail.

Which is not to say that we should destroy the world so we can have cup holders when we travel, but rather that, if we want public transit to succeed, we need to make the experience better than the car. I am with him on that. I really do hate the TTC. Every time I ride it I feel like someone is taking an ice pick to my eardrums. People are not going to switch for Global Warming. The stats show he's right: People don't act on information that connects their car use with the environment. I've always liked the idea of making public transit a truly better way.

Some aspects of his thinking do seem a bit unformulated. He doesn't answer the obvious objection to his praise of the car and the 'burbs: that they succeeded, not because they were better designs, but because of money and politics behind them. Anyway, that aside, his approach is refreshing. >> Listen Now

Power and Influence in Canada - Where is it and Who Has it?

Politics does not make good dinner conversation, especially when at your girlfriend's parents' place. But somehow the local municipal elections came up, and I found myself defending a position that I don't actually hold: that it doesn't matter who I vote for. It doesn't matter, because voting doesn't really do anything -- the system doesn't really work.

In Canada, who does have the power?, and how does someone like me go about trying to get something changed? I actually don't really know. But as I suspected by my impromptu (and poorly received) position at the dinner table, power and influence in Canada has changed. In order to be a good citizen, you need to know how it has changed, or you'll remain on the sidelines. Or, so says, Donald Savoie on The Agenda [video].

It's a fascinating discussion about how power has shifted in Canada over the last thirty years. Savoie talks about specifically Canadian things and even gets right down to key decisions made by the Federal government that have led to the decrease in the power of the MPs. His understanding of the historical context in Canada, along with wider forces, make his views refreshing.

Steve Paitkin, in his consummately professional manner, guides the interview from notes taken on Savoie's new book, Power, Where Is It? Worth checking out. Watch Now >>

A Wall Street Banker's Worldview

Those who make themselves rich on the backs of others have always felt the need for elaborate justifications. It's easy to see when it's a hundred years ago and we're looking back. Whether it is 'God-given right',  'birthright', or more recently, 'talent'. It's a natural human tendency. Of course, there are always new forms and new justifications. 

There's a segment in the recent This American Life episode, "Crybabies", where one of these grand justifications comes out, spontaneously, and, is recorded for posterity. It's in Act I of the podcast. It's a recorded conversation/confrontation between a Wall Street banker and a member of the public. They're talking about the bailout.

The Banker explains why bankers should get rich and be bailed out by the public and not feel any duty to anyone. It is a Darwinian evolution thing: They're smarter and can game the system, so they deserve to get rich. It's an instructive moment, but not in the way he intends. >> Listen Now