How can we all live happier, more fulfilling lives? THIS EMOTIONAL LIFE explores ways we can improve our social relationships, learn to cope with problems like depression and anxiety, and become more positive and resilient individuals. Host Daniel Gilbert, Harvard psychologist and best-selling author of Stumbling on Happiness, talks with experts about the latest scientific understanding of our emotions and how we can find support for the issues we all face. Each episode weaves together scientific perspectives with the compelling personal stories of ordinary people, complemented by insight from celebrities like Chevy Chase, Larry David, Alanis Morissette, John Leguizamo, Katie Couric, and Richard Gere, among many others.
Buy “This Emotional Life” For Only $21.04
March 6, 2006
#1
I just watched Episode 2 of this program and was troubled by what I felt was a major bias toward medication, cognitive behavioural therapy, and the desire to believe that depression and other problems are “nothing more than physical problems with the brain,” as the host gleefully proclaims when he is shown “evidence” that anti-depressants actually grow cells in the brain! Are experiments on rats really indicative of how the human brain and mind will respond to these things?
For a show entitled “This Emotional Life,” there wasn’t much in-depth discussion about the nature of these emotions, where they stem from, and the forces that shape emotions and people. There was zero discussion about the unconscious, and our emotional life in *that* realm of our selves. No talk of dreams, of unspoken desires or socially unacceptable feelings and ideas; the stuff that gets repressed by our social and cultural expectations and end up coming out as crippling neurotic symptoms.
The young woman who ended up receiving ECT…did anyone delve into who she was as a person? Talk to her about how she REALLY feels? What kind of real emotions lay under her depression, like anger and rage? If so, it wasn’t presented in the program. Basically, she saw a psychiatrist, tried meds, and ended up with ECT, which didn’t seem to help her much. There was no discussion about her relationship with her family, and what feelings might be simmering there.
Once again, we have a program about mental illness that looks for (and promotes) the quick fix through CBT, psychiatry and – of course – medication, while glossing over or totally ignoring the inner life of the person. In our culture, we so badly want to attribute things like depression and anxiety exclusively to some purely physical “defect” in the brain that it’s absurd. Being depressed is NOT like having diabetes. If it was, then medication would work for everyone.
Mr. Gilbert, how about some consideration of the human psyche? The soul? The dark side of our experience? What about dreams? Repressed emotions? Maybe these ideas are too arcane for Harvard these days.
We ignore our deep inner life at our own peril. This program seemed like an ad for CBT, medication, and the ‘physical illness’ approach to treating mental illness, not a program about the human soul or a real emotional life.
March 6, 2006
#2
i loved this series….such interesting facts… but i think its only an introduction for all of the themes & cases presented…. i wish it was at least 12 hours of content , but that it explained in a more detailed way every case, theory, study etc…!….i still wanted more ansewers….more insight on the cases…more more more….
March 6, 2006
#3
Although I almost never watch tv… I turned this on while I was nursing. I had so much to do and was just mesmerized by it… I couldn’t turn it off and I didn’t have a way to tape it. I think the part about bullying should be part of “required seeing” for elementary, junior high, and high schoolers. The young black couple with four children was a poignant story of working through marital problems that I think many people with young children or communication issues could relate to. It was just a terrific documentary. I have seen less than half of the entire 360 minutes, and it was well worth the time spent.
March 6, 2006
#4
I cannot express how insightful watching this was for me, very thought provoking. If I could afford it I would buy this DVD for every person I know. This DVD makes me happy because I know the knowledge it shares will change my life for the better from here on out, it gives you such an amazing new way to look at everything. Totally Amazing!
March 6, 2006
#5
This 3-part program that aired on PBS is simply stunning. It is something that everyone should watch to see how our emotions (good or bad) impact our life and to see how they impact not only us, but those around us. My husband (35) and I (31) were captivated by the TV during those nights this show was on. I will not hesitate to purchase this on DVD!
Amazing program.