Summary: October 05, 2007: Guest Mark Komrad, MD Last week, we had our guest, Dr. Mark Komrad, join us and begin to discuss the portrayal of psychiatrists in the movies. Mark used to have a live, two-hour, coast-to-coast, nationally syndicated talk radio show, and is a regular guest on NPR. He is also the Ask-a-Doctor on the NAMI site, and also has a book coming out. Mark was a guest blogger back in July, when he posted on Ethics and Continuing Education for the Psychiatrist.This week Mark continues to discuss how Hollywood likes to portray psychiatrists in film. You can find him at www.komrad.yourmd.com. (Unfortunately, Monkey the parakeet gets sidelined in this podcast.) Topics include: # Leona Helmsley's dog, Testamentary capacity, and Psychological Autopsies. ClinkShrink discusses how one starts to address the question of competency to being able to make the decsion to leave $12 million to one's dog. Bounty and one's natural heirs. # Irv Schneider's 3 Psychiatric Archetypes: Doctors Dippy, Darling & Dangerous. These are the three categories of psychiatrists most frequently played in the movies and television. -DR. DIPPY: Bob Newhart Show; What About Bob? (Richard Dreyfuss); High Anxiety (Mel Brooks); Analyze This (Billy Crystal) -DR. DARLING: Equus (Richard Burton); The Sopranos (Dr. Melfi); Sixth Sense (Bruce Willis); Good Will Hunting (Robin Williams); Prince of Tides (Barbra Streisand); Ordinary People (Judd Hirsch); K-PAX (Jeff Bridges) -DR. DANGEROUS: Silence of the Lambs (Anthony Hopkins); Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Dr. Silberman); Dressed to Kill (Michael Caine); Beauty and the Beast (Belle's father)See My Patient, Myself. How we must "neutralize" the negative images of psychiatrists in the media, "like your podcast." How the movie, Lovesick, affected the idea of psychiatrists falling in love with their patients.# Psychiatric Services: Religion and Psychiatry. We have an interesting talk about the role that a physician's religious background may play in the likelihood of referring a patient with complicated grief to clergy versus a psychiatrist. See Roy's upcoming post on Religion and Psychiatry for more info. Briefly:-Psychiatric physicians were more likely to be Jewish or non-religious than nonpsychiatric physicians.-Protestant physicians were twice as likely as other physicians to refer the example patient to clergy rather than a psychiatrist.# Washington Post: Roy briefly mentions his recent post on the final report on the Virginia Tech tragedy and the potential impacts on privacy of health care information, willingness of college students to get help, and liability. Dinah suggests readers go back to look at our prior posts about college mental health, Suicidal Students and Let's Talk About Suicide. This also led to a discussion about outpatient commitment.# Correction: Dinah corrects her reference in Podcast 34 to Reign Over Me. The movie she was actually discussing was The Departed.# Check out NAMI's Ask-the-Doctor column that Mark writes, also his website at www.komrad.yourmd.com.Send us your general questions at mythreeshrinksATgmailDOTcom.Go to http://mythreeshrinks.com for show notes with links.
