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The Riggs Blog
The Riggs Blog is a mix of news about clinical work, research and educational activities from the Austen Riggs Center, as well as a source for information beyond our walls that we find interesting and thought-provoking. Senior clinical experts, researchers, and editors review all clinical content on this blog before it is published.
13 Reasons Why, a Netflix drama series based on the book of the same name by Jay Asher, continues to rise in popularity since its release at the end of March, particularly with teenage audiences. With a compelling storyline and a talented cast, it’s easy to see the attractions of the show. It’s also a controversial show, in that its focus is the gradual progression toward suicide of its main character, Hannah Baker.
While the show demonstrates the danger of contagion, the creators appear not to have considered how their particular approach to presenting the series may create similar vulnerabilities and danger in young viewers. Suicide is fundamentally an irrational act that occurs in a state of tremendous distress. When a suicide occurs, this increases feelings of pain and guilt, as well as making suicide feel more accessible. For this reason, showing Hannah’s suicide in such detail seems likely to be counterproductive.
Although 13 Reasons Why is rated TV-MA in the US, the amount of publicity the show has received has served to draw in increasingly larger youthful audiences. For many adults, trying to stop younger children from watching 13 Reasons Why is like stopping a train after it’s left the station – the show is available on electronic devices, and parents who use parental controls at home can’t necessarily stop what happens with their children’s friends. Nonetheless, it’s important for youth and adults to note the MA-17 rating and treat it with respect. Most children under 17 should not watch this show, or should only watch it in the company of a trusted adult. Reading online reviews, it’s clear very young adolescents are watching 13 Reasons Why, and parents and educators should be aware of this.
The Coalition for Psychotherapy Parity, formed at the request of Harriet Wolfe, MD, president of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA), and comprised of leading researchers, clinicians, and advocates for psychotherapy, recently released “Clinical Necessity Guidelines for Psychotherapy, Insurance Medical Necessity and Utilization Review Protocols, and Mental Health Parity.”
Austen Riggs held a blog competition among staff members where we asked them to write about what nursing means at Riggs. Over the next couple of weeks you will read the two winning blogs. The first blog is written by Louise Posnick, Staff Nurse.
Each spring, a group of Austen Riggs Center patients and actors from the local community stage a Shakespearian production in the intimate Riggs Theatre located at 37 Main Street in Stockbridge on the second floor. This year’s production, The Hamlet Project, will be performed nightly at 7:30 p.m. from Tuesday, May 8 through Sunday, May 13.
Next week, several Austen Riggs Center clinicians will be presenting in New York City, at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Riggs clinicians will also be involved in presentations at the Psychiatry Student Interest Group Network (PsychSIGN) and American Academy of Psychodynamic Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis (AAPDPP) annual meetings.
Samar Habl, MD, director of admissions at the Austen Riggs Center, talks about who should consider treatment at Riggs, what the admissions process entails, and the importance of negotiating a partnership during the admissions consultation.
In November of 2016, Dr. Eric M. Plakun’s first piece as psychotherapy columnist for the Journal of Psychiatric Practice was published. You can read this piece and his more recent columns here.
An interview with Dr. Elise Miller about her work while in residence as an Erikson Scholar at the Austen Riggs Center.
Allan Abbass, MD, professor of psychiatry and psychology and founding director of the Centre for Emotions and Health at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, talks about the bias against psychodynamic psychotherapy, how he became interested in resistance in psychotherapy and what he has learned, and his book Reaching Through Resistance: Advanced Psychotherapy Techniques, during a recent visit to Riggs to deliver a Grand Rounds presentation.
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