Mental

Psychiatry and psychology is a hot topic these days. We had to wait for too long for a psych series to come out. We had a psych thread in Sopranos, it was great but it was not the core of it. We have In Treatment which I find fascinating. But this comment is not about it...

So lets have an old, inhuman psychiatric ward. Filled with doctors and patients with various kinds and sorts of problems. And lets put a messiah doctor inside who is kind with patients and will carry out a revolution. And we also need special and fascinating cases from the broad range of psychiatry.

Hm.. sounds good. Except... We have seen something like this. Ah yes it is House MD. One of the first and still best 'new line' series. Is it a good idea to copy a leading show? Hm... maybe but then you have to accentuate the differences and you have to make it a quality product. Unfortunately MENTAL failed in both of these aspects.

As a med student and aspiring psychiatrist I can say the medical cases are of varying degrees crap. But of course I am the only one who might be disturbed by this.

The characters are 2D. Simple and uninteresting. There is nothing interesting about acting or visuals. The overall plot about the evil doctor conspiring against our precious good doctor is childish and too simple. To tell the truth I lost interest before it could turn out what is up with Mr. psychiatrist and his not answering ex. sorry...

I was really enthusiastic about this show because it is about a psych ward. I tried really hard to enjoy it. But failed. I think you will also fail to do so....

I saw this for the first time end of 2011. I loved it. I just love the way this guy actually cares about his patients - which is really the only way to heal people (engage with them). I love the way he is outside of the box and isn't a tame psychiatrist who belongs to the health authority, but uses his expertise and humanity to do what needs to be done. He takes one person at a time and enters into their take on the world & holds them steady while they do what they need to do. It comes at a cost to him of course. He doubts himself & gets hurt, and can make choices that don't turn out well - welcome to the real world. But no decision is really wrong, and it's only from engaging that you learn anything at all. I loved this. All trainee psychiatrists should have to watch it.

Is someone forcing Chris Vance to over play the part of smart-Brit-in- America? One reviewer noted that he was ever smirking. I concur. Are we supposed to like his character or distrust him? It's hard to trust a character who is trying to manipulate the audience into believing he is always spot-on, with ready-made wise answers. Make the ossified American version of the BBC stereotype go away! The public watch BBC and PBS programming and expect a more complex protagonist, if only because he is not American. Give us the savvy consuming public(& Chris Vance) a break!!! Vance looks like a cross between a youthful Sting and Harvey Keitel. And sounds like Julian Sands to boot! Shine on, Chris Vance.

There seems to be two camps on here - those that, like me, think 'Mental' is good entertainment and hope it continues; and those pseudo intellectuals, who believe they can be sofa psychiatrists and ridicule what is basically TV entertainment for not being 'realistic' enough.

The second camp completely ignore the fact that this is a drama and NOT a documentary; stating that Mental' is a joke when it comes to representing mental health professionals and their patients. Well, as someone who has had mental health problems for the last five years and has had to deal with said 'professionals' I tend to disagree.

The back stabbing amongst these 'professionals' I've witnessed has been the same as the show. As for the patients that are missing from the show, those for whom there is no long lasting 'help', well this is ENTERTAINMENT; a show about the futility of a 'cure' for mental health problems wouldn't be very entertaining would it?

Far better to have the show end on a positive note, than one where the patient kills themselves or ends up in a drug induced stupor as the only way to survive. But hey, I'm just a patient and not a sofa psychiatrist, so what do I know?

Certainly as someone 'in the loop' I do actually find a certain amount of realism in this programme; except for the bone jarring feeling of talking to a wall I experience every time I have an appointment, which is missing from the show itself. After all, in the show the doctors actually LISTEN. I mean what other doctor sits with a timer on their desk, apart from a psychiatrist? This is also absent from the programme; Doctor Gallagher never says "sorry, but can we end it there?" when a patient is in floods of tears and pouring their heart out, just because the timer's gone off.

Oh and let's not forget that 'House' isn't real either....do we honestly believe that Hugh Laurie's character would really hold down a job in ANY hospital? A drug addicted, pain addled, rude and nasty man whose only enjoyment in life is to put others down and torture those he's supposed be to teaching, along with his 'ME, ME, ME!' attitude and callous disregard for his patients? I doubt it, but that hasn't stopped the show winning a myriad of awards. So to hold this show up as some kind of 'realistic' benchmark for 'Mental' is ridiculous to the extreme. It's like saying 'ER' and 'Gray's Anatomy' are real too. (inserts eye roll here).

Like I said all these shows are for entertainment ONLY - and I for one enjoy 'Mental' immensely. If all you're looking for is realistic torture of mental health patients just watch 'Big Brother'; that should give you some *real* nut jobs to sink your teeth into, and certainly some without any hope of a cure.

However for those who say they *are* some of these mental health professionals, I would need to question why they would want a TV programme to show all the suffering they work with daily for them to watch all over again -very odd.

But remember, patients like me watch this show too - and I don't think it's that unrealistic. I just like the ENTERTAINMENT, and of course Chris Vance is lovely too!! He certainly carries the show....

It just wants to impress, amaze and woo us from the start. It fails, since this approach is so last century. I want character development, colors, emotions. I don't want to rush into stereotypes: "cool boss" + "powerful female colleague"; two sexy interns, fresh from actors school in LA; hospital director that looks like a captain from some hardboiled cop show, but not someone with a medical background. Mental cases are interesting stuff to explore, but it fails here also, since it emphasizes on human relations, rather than subject of psychiatry itself.

Camera work is so bad it pains me to look at those Mexican soap opera style close-ups. Sound falls even shorter.

And yes, where are the writers of this show? My bet is, that it will end with this one pilot.