Showtime will be debuting later this month a new series called "The United States of Tara" about a woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder). The show is presented as a dramedy and has a magnificent cast. But, well. . . I am not sure how I feel about this show. It's too early to tell with one episode. All I can say is that my work with individuals with DID was quite different.
"The United States of Tara" comes from Steven Spielberg and Diablo Cody, and utilizes consultants who specialize in trauma and dissociation. It is always my hope that a show like this will handle the psychological and neurobiological issues with realism and humanity. The greatest goal would be for a piece of creative entertainment to educate and take the stigma out of mental illness.
To view the first episode free, click here and use the code word: Tara.
27 comments:
Yes, this kind of show could either be a huge problem, or hugely enlightening...
I will have to take a look.
It is important for any issue presented on TV to be overseen by someone who has official training in that field. TV is so influential these days!
This is awesome, but I could understand the unsureness as well.
Sometimes the media "Dramatizes" mental illness as to make the Show or Movie entertaining and they may tweak the truth a bit by adding a lot of drama.
I hope that the show's goal is for all the right reasons.
I can't believe you used to consult for that show! Wow :) That is so awesome to hear from someone who had the opportunity to work with her that she really is that way. I never occurred to me to write letters, I guess because I figured they'd never be read! So awesome that she takes the time for that!
I guess if the show was more "real", it might not be as entertaining.
Vesper,
I thought the acting was supreme and the storyline "intertaining" (interesting and entertaining), but worry that the DID issues were presented in a fluffy way. It may be different as the show evolves, but it's my 2 cents.
Lisa,
So many shows use tech consultants. It's true that it helps to aid realism. And yes, I worked for several years with the writers on scripts. Very meaningful work for me.
Teresa,
If you watch the free episode let me know what you think.
Lisa,
I suppose that is a true slant on how to see things.
I view the link from the uk it seems, so cant comment.
From what you describe, I have mixed feelings...
I'm looking forward to seeing it. I hope that if nothing else it starts people talking.
Thanks for doing this post, I will be checking this show out to see.
It is so frustrating to have things out there that are not accurate and make us all look like some kind of nuts.
unfortunately you have to be in the states to view the preview so I guess I will have to wait till it comes to nz (if it comes)
Hey Deb! Havent seen or heard of it. Had hard holidays, which ending in putting my beloved Bessie down, which has hurt my heart deeply. I understand your mixed feelings. Style channel has a show about Ruby. She is morbidly obese. The way some people react to her hurts me deeply because I have lived it. I want 2009 to be a year of transformation for me. Problem is I am afraid to try again. sigh. Maybe that is why I came back to my blogging support-system. We were all so reliable a few years ago. Missed you. xoxoxox Renee
Oh wow, i look forward to seeing this. How wonderful that they are addressing this issue!
I hope this year is a wonderful one for you, and full of blessings Deb!
Since just the knowledge that such a show exists puts me on edge, I'm pretty sure I won't be watching it.
It seems I go along doing just fine and then I read something or see something that triggers *crap* and I'm a mess for months. Probably better not to subject my messed up psyche to more than necessary! As usual, this post is greatly appreciated.
I saw an ad for this show when they first started promoting it, but haven't seen it yet. I don't know how this show will be, but since it's supposed to be a comedy, I have the feeling that they won't be showing DID in a realistic light. Like you, I'm hoping that they are realistic, but we'll see.
Donna
"It is always my hope that a show like this will handle the psychological and neurobiological issues with realism and humanity."
It is my hope that a show like this will tell the truth about how a person ends up with DID. I'm pretty sure I can safely say that this will not happen because it is not entertaining. I can already tell that the makers of this show are going to coward out. They will not show the real truth because society doesn't want to hear it, they only want to go, "DID? Well, that's not so bad. It's kind of funny in a touching sort of way." Those who suffer will hear, "Severe childhood trauma? Well, that's not so bad. It's sort of funny in a touching sort of way."
And that right there, is why child abuse still goes on and on and on and on... because it's not so bad, so people aren't going towork hard enough to put a stop to it. They would rather minimize eveything and make light of it. Cowards.
As often happens when a disorder is portrayed by the media, it isn't really true to life.
I haven't seen this show before but am interested to give it a go, as long as it doesn't harm or offend people living with the disorder.
I am with you Dr Deb I hope for the best from the show, but hope it doesn't make things worst.
oh great another bollywood version of the hell we live, problem is thats what it will be a bollywood versoin of splits and switches that usually make it so packaged, from someone living it i wish it was all that freaking easy
I hope they handle it well, too. So much could be done, education wise, with all the technology we have today. I know lots is already being done, but there is such a long way to go as far as our public educational system. This world contains such abundance, yet there are so many with so little.
Hi
Like some of the comments, we agree that when films or soaps are made they should always use a consultant/specialist in the field like yourself to make sure the content is spot on.
Ted
http://www.goodfoodgoodhealthforyou.com
Kahless said...
Phooey. I wanted blogpals to see it and let me know what they thought.
Carrie,
The actors are top notch, but I am a bit skeptical.
Rising Rainbow,
Realism is what helps take away ignorance and stigma. I'm all about raising awareness and kicking stigma to the curb.
S'onnie,
Try clicking on the US location and maybe it'll come through ;)
Playground In My Mind,
Nice to see you here. And yes, blogging can bring such great support. I'm gonna link you again.
Tracy,
I don't get Showtime,so I will have to find out other ways about teh show.
traci,
I'm sorry for you on edge about this. I can understand. I am hopeful that it will be offer realism and education, not exaggeration and misinformation.
Donna,
I know what you mean.
Lynn,
All I kept thinking when I was watching it was "How are they going to explain the DID and its origin...and how will it be believable?"
Sydney,
I used to do Technical Advisory work for the show LaW & ORdeR:SVU and it was wonderful helping scripts be accurate, represent mental health in a realistic way. It's important to have things be accurate. I don't care if it's TV or film or there to entertain, there is a responsibility to present issues honestly and with integrity. Some shows do. Some shows don't.
Wanda's Wings,
From one episode, I can say that it felt off. Too flip. To sensationallized and not realistic. But, who knows. Maybe furture episodes will help bring a needed understanding for the general public.
jumpinginpuddles,
I hear you. This is the very thing I am wary of. That it makes it seem that living with DID is so darned "interesting" and "exciting". If only....
ellesu,
I'm with you on that!
Ted,
Thanks for stopping by. I often think there should be a tech advisor there on set just like another crew member. But that's my 2 cents.
I think the character portrayal of the alters could be a little more subtle (which would actually make it more interesting), but the experience of living with someone with DID was very similar to the show.
Like..
Switching due to stress (although my partner is almost always co-conscious); the sometimes lighthearted interaction you have because it's just your way of life; the deeply felt frustrations when they switch at an inconvenient time, but you love and include them anyway....those are true depictions of our day-to-day life.
There are intensely traumatic emotional times, but as she heals they are beginning to lessen. She is who she is and that just gets incorporated into our life and actually becomes a very normal part of our life.
I for one, LOVE the show and am so glad it will help to normalize our experience for others!
yay!
This show shows the different alters more overtly than I have seen in real life....in real life they are more subtle and its often very hard to tell when there is a switch and who it is depending on the alter and the system. At least that is MY experience with havbing real life DID friends. Other than that I didnt find it so far off, however I would like to know what the shed is about. I imagine that any persons with DID might find that part upsetting. I did not see the alter as forced to go so maybe it is a "safe place" or something, but it doesnt make it clear and it could be construed badly as there is no explanation
Just watched the show and was very moved by it. I have a sort of dissociative problem, have read widely on it and seem to automatically understand it. I am not quite solid enough to have dilineated (2 or more)actual full-blown personalities - more fragmented. Childhood trauma and then brutally abused by a sadistic therapist - then flipped out. Have been coming back into body for years. Lots of fragments.
The acting is superb. Writing too. Characters too.
Are they going to be honest about how such a disorder can happen? About how it's a natural reaction to severe trauma (for some people) and not necessarily an "illness". Will they show the depravity of the predators, the pain of the survivors, the whys and wherefores? If they don't it is completely incomplete and possibly not worth watching. For me. And maybe for a lot of others.
Diablo Cody is a genius and I love her.
Apparently Showtime doesn't want to know the REAL facts about DID, and what a person who has DID struggles with on an hourly basis. I feel insulted to have received an obvious "form email letter" in response to my heartfelt email to Showtime. What I saw in the first episode, is that Mr. Spielberg is using "sex, sex, and more sex", to sell a series.
At least with the massive number of anti-Tara emails that Showtime obviously has received from DID sufferers, they have included an "informative" video from Dr. Kluft; however, even in his short documentary, he did not address the magnitude of the horrific childhood sexual abuse that causes Dissociative Identity Disorder. The so called "consultant" that the writer, Diablo Cody is conferring with, had DDNOS, not DID. Apples and oranges... sigh.
Imagine for a moment, if you can: A new Showtime series called, "The Deformed State of Tara" - a COMEDY about a girl who confronts comedic situations in her every day life revolving around her dealing with her inability to climb stairs, her sexual encounters, and her comedic experiences with people staring at her scarred and deformed face and arms. (As a child, her parents had physically abused her so intensely, that her repeatedly broken bones resulted in a leg amputation, and the repeated burns the parents inflicted on her arms and face resulted in grotesque scarring which made her face appear as almost inhuman.)
This scenario is NO DIFFERENT than creating a "COMEDY" about a person who suffers from a disorder caused by repeated, early childhood RAPE AND INCEST. One might say that the results of childhood physical abuse are apparent to outsiders, but the results of childhood sexual abuse resulting in Dissociative Identity Disorder are also readily apparent to others in public. Raping young children is NOT comedic.
Does this life seem like a comedy?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JZcEsOQFXc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5DEV6OqPJk
Excellent points, Susa.
I meant to get back here and comment after I saw the first episode but time just seems to fly. Since then I also saw the writen and the actress playing Tara on the View, can't say I was impressed. They were certainly more into promoting themselves and the show than any discussion what so ever about MPD/DID. Their attitudes clearly struck me as exploitive so what ever hope I had the show might be helpful was dashed.
I've only had the opportunity to see the one episode because I do not get those pay channels on my cable. I wasn't totally turned off but wasn't impressed either by the one episode.
As Raine mentioned, I think that changes for many of us are much more subtle. My system wouldn't have survived being that obvious to the outside world.
I think most of us are not willing to speak for ALL multiples. I think most of us feel like all we know about or understand is what it is like for us individually and we don't presume to know what it's like for others. That means we're more likely to sit back and watch instead of comment....thinking it might be true for someone if it isn't for us. Hoping, against hope, maybe that there will be some good in this.
However, having seen the actress so gigglingly excited to be "challenged" by such a diverse role in one character still turns my stomach. There's no way I would pay to see this show and my guess is it will do more harm than good because all they appeared to be interested in was ratings.......not people's lives.
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