Today, over 10% of the global population suffers from mental health problems. Three decades of collaboration between scientists and Buddhist scholars have revealed techniques that allow us to develop our mental well-being and improve the impact we have on our planet.
Outline
In today’s world over 10% of the global population suffers from mental health disorders. The long-term collaboration between HH the XIV Dalai Lama and the most brilliant neuroscientists has lead to the discovery of the incredible potential of the human mind and how it can be trained to improve our mental well-being. The eternal conflict between science and religion has finally found common ground.
Production & Filming Details
Director(s): Alessandra Pedrotti Catoni.
Producer(s):
Alessandra Pedrotti Catoni … producer.
Paola Devalle … producer.
Thun Thien … producer.
Writer(s): Alessandra Pedrotti Catoni.
Music: Luca Morelli.
Cinematography: Alan Jacobsen and Jerry Risius.
Editor(s): Angelo Guarracino.
Production: Makarampa.
Distributor(s):
Release Date: 01 July 2020 (New York Lift-Off Film Festival).
Sex Differences in Comorbidity Between Substance Use and Mental Health in Adolescents: Two Sides of the Same Coin.
Background
This study aims to evaluate sex differences in alcohol and cannabis use and mental health disorders (MHD) in adolescents, and to evaluate the predictive role of mental health disorders for alcohol and cannabis use disorders (AUD and CUD respectively).
Method
A sample of 863 adolescents from the general population (53.7% girls, Mage = 16.62, SD = 0.85) completed a computerised battery including questions on substance use frequency, the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Cannabis Problems Questionnaire for Adolescents – Short version, the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index and the DSM-IV-TR criteria for AUD and CUD. Bivariate analyses and binary logistic regressions were performed.
Results
Girls presented significantly more mental health problems and a higher prevalence of comorbidity between SUD and MHD. Obsessive-compulsive symptoms and phobic anxiety indicated a higher risk of AUD, whereas depression and interaction between hostility and obsessive-compulsive disorder indicated a higher risk of CUD.
Conclusions
Comorbidity between SUD and MHD is high among adolescents, and significantly higher among girls.
Reference
Fernandez-Artamendi, S. Martinez-Loredo, V. & Lopez-Nunez, C. (2021) Sex Differences in Comorbidity Between Substance Use and Mental Health in Adolescents: Two Sides of the Same Coin. Psicotherma. 33(1), pp.36-43. doi: 10.7334/psicothema2020.297.
The National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (NCCMH) developed the Competence Framework for Mental Health Peer Support Workers (MH PSWs) with UCLPartners and a specially convened expert reference group including peer support workers. It was commissioned by Health Education England as part of their ‘New Roles’ programme, ahead of a large expansion of PSW roles in statutory services around England.
The Competence Framework for MH PSWs outlines the knowledge, skills and attitudes required of the role. It aims to be flexible and adaptable, steering away from over-professionalising a role which, at its heart, is about human connection and relationships.
It outlines core skills for people starting out as MH PSWs, and includes optional skills for people who wish to develop further within the role, and competences for organisations to support PSWs. It is relevant to mental health care services, team members working with MH PSWs, their managers and commissioners, as well as voluntary community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations that want to offer peer support.
The Competence Framework for MH PSWs comprises three parts:
Part 1: Supporting document – containing important background information and discussion that is intended to be read before the competence framework (PDF).
In Sickness is a 2015 drama, thriller film by director Julius B. Kelly.
Outline
After you take your vows, what happens when the future is nothing like what you envisioned? As a man spirals deeper and deeper into his mental illness, his young wife is forced to question whether love really is enough.
Cast
Lukas Hassel … Andrew Madera.
Nicole Vogt-Lowell … Kendall Madera.
Sal Rendino … Dr. Poslow.
Vincent Ticali … Father / Angel Madera.
Jim Thalman … Rob.
Joy Shatz … Michelle.
Judy San Roman … Hailey Denton.
John J Thomassen … Anthony Denton.
Christopher Gucciardo … Jack Milbourne.
Brian Alevis … Waiter.
Jeanie Starr … Babs / Bartender.
Joseph Cipollino … young Andrew.
Donna Taliaferro … Masi.
Fred Wallenmaier … Dr. Wallenmaier.
Production & Filming Details
Director(s): Julius B. Kelly.
Producer(s):
Brian Alevis … associate producer.
Christopher Gucciardo … producer.
Lukas Hassel … producer.
Ken Kushner … producer.
Judy San Roman … executive producer / producer.
Joy Shatz … producer.
Rob Simmons … producer.
Jim Thalman … associate producer.
Writer(s): Adam Johnson and Judy San Roman.
Music: Eros Cartechini.
Cinematography: Jordan C. Riggs.
Editor(s): Andrew Damon Henriques and Jordan C. Riggs.
Production: Reelhouse Productions.
Distributor(s):
Release Date: 20 October 2015 (NoHu International Short Film Festival, US) and 29 December 2020 (Internet, UK and US).
A veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq, Korey Rowe is on the road of recovery from PTSD along with his former Rakkasan Brothers. “Mile Marker” investigates new techniques used to treat PTSD and takes a look into veterans’ lives today.
Outline
“Mile Marker”, focuses on a two-tour veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq, Korey Rowe, along with his former Rakkasan Brothers on their long road to recovery from PTSD. The Rakkasans were the invading force for both Middle Eastern Theatre Wars where Korey and his unit were the tip of the spear, twice. This film investigates new and controversial techniques and methods for treating PTSD but more than that, it is a look into the lives of veterans in America today. Travelling 8,000 miles across the United States and back, Korey departs from his home in California, to check in with his former battle buddies across America, who served with him 15 years ago in the 187th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Air Assault Division. Along the way, he interviews psychologists and specialists from the National Center for PTSD in White River Junction, Vermont for a balanced understanding of the underlying symptoms and associated triggers for those with PTSD. This is an authentic portrayal of veterans…
Beware of Dog is a 2020 dram film by director Nadia Bedzhanova.
Outline
Alienated in politically-ambiguous Moscow, a young woman deals with severe OCD, while her cousin in Berlin tries to build a romantic relationship ignoring her own condition. In a parallel New York City realm, a heartbroken boxer struggles with addiction, self worth and online anxiety, which connects all the characters on a universal level.
Cast
Buddy Duress … Mike.
Kevin Iso.
Paula Knüpling … Paula.
Gladston Makhib … Stranger.
Yelena Nesterova … Doctor.
Dan Perlman … Dan.
Marina Prados.
Emily Bahr-de Stefano … Emily.
Pavel Tabakov … Sacha.
Marina Vasileva … Marina.
Eagle Witt … Passerby.
Production & Filming Details
Director(s): Nadia Bedzhanova.
Producer(s):
Lilit Abgarian … executive producer / producer.
Nadia Bedzhanova … executive producer.
Olya Korovkina … co-producer.
Writer(s): Nadia Bedzhanova.
Music: Julian Stetter.
Cinematography: Nadia Bedzhanova.
Editor(s): Tom Knight.
Production: Freestyle Digital Media.
Distributor(s): Millennial PR.
Release Date: 25 January 2020 (Slamdance Film Festival, US).
Wishful Drinking is an autobiographical humour book by American actress and author Carrie Fisher, published by Simon & Schuster in 2008. Fisher’s book was based on her one-woman stage show, which she developed with writer/director Joshua Ravetch.
The show debuted at The Geffen Playhouse. Fisher performed with Ravetch co-creating and directing. It enjoyed a successful Broadway run and then toured in other cities. In 2010, HBO filmed a feature-length documentary of the stage play.
Also known as Carrie Fisher: Wishful Drinking.
Outline
Book Reception
Wishful Drinking received generally positive reviews from critics. The January 2009 New York Times review described it as a “funny, sardonic little memoir”, but “pretty slight, padded out with big type, extra space between the lines and some family photographs, and it displays at times an almost antic need to entertain. The paragraphs are short, and the jokes – the puns, the wisecracks, the deadpan one-liners – come rattling along at the rate of one every other sentence or so.” Salon reviewer Rebecca Traister found the book quite funny in large part, but was disappointed that “instead of pushing aside the twinkling craziness of her outside life to meaningfully reveal the crazy on the inside, as she has always done so well, Fisher is now gathering all the starry stuff around her for comfort and reassurance about who she is and what she means.”
The author, who died on 27 December 2016, had written the following comment in the book, and it was widely published by the news media after her death:
Now I think that this would make for a fantastic obit—so I tell my younger friends that no matter how I go, I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra.
Stage Adaptation
The book followed Fisher’s one-woman play in which Fisher had been performing. Developed originally at The Geffen Playhouse with Josh Ravetch co-creating and directing the world premiere, it moved to Berkeley Repertory Theatre near San Francisco at the beginning of 2008, the production opened in a limited run on Broadway at Studio 54 on 22 September 2009 (previews) and 04 October 2009, and closed on 17 January 2010. After its successful San Francisco Bay Area run and before moving to Broadway, Wishful Drinking played at, among other venues, the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. in September 2008, and Seattle Repertory Theatre April to May 2009.
Production Rights Dispute
While the show met with critical and popular success on Broadway in New York, Fisher was soon embroiled in a battle with producer Jonathan Reinis over its production rights. Each claimed lost revenue at the hands of the other.
Film Documentary
HBO cable television released a filmed documentary of the stage show, directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, and first broadcast in December 2010. The 76-minute film was released on DVD on 13 September 2011.
The film production and DVD received a mixture of reviews.
Cast
Carrie Fisher … Self.
Eddie Fisher … Self.
Harry Karl … Self (archive footage).
Debbie Reynolds … Self (archive footage).
Maxine Reynolds … Self (archive footage).
Diane Sawyer … Self (archive footage).
Elizabeth Taylor … Self (archive footage).
Richard Dreyfuss … Doctor Frankenthal (archive footage) (uncredited).
Harrison Ford … Self (archive footage) (uncredited).
Mark Hamill … Self (archive footage) (uncredited).
The Substance: Albert Hofmann’s LSD is a 2011 documentary film directed by Martin Witz.
The film documents the coincidental discovery of the drug LSD by the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann in 1943.
Outline
In 1943, the year in which the first A-bomb was built, Albert Hofmann discovered LSD, a substance that was to become an A-bomb of the mind. Fractions of a milligram are enough to turn our framework of time and space upside down. The story of a drug – its discovery in the Basel chemistry lab, the first experiments by Albert Hofmann on himself, the 1950s experiments of the psychiatrists, the consciousness researchers, the artists. Could it actually be possible to find a path to the core of our human existence by means of a chemical? Spirituality at the flick of a switch? Do the enigmatic effects of this drug really help us to better understand the human soul? Could LSD be an instrument of contemporary psychiatry? Of modern brain research?
Production & Filming Details
Narrator(s): Trevor J. Roling (English), Hanspeter Muller (German), and Mario Scarabelli (Italian).
Director(s): Martin Witz.
Producer(s):
Elda Guidinetti … producer.
Peter Luisi … co-producer.
Andres Pfäffli … producer.
Carl-Ludwig Rettinger … co-producer.
Writer(s): Martin Witz.
Music: Marcel Vaid.
Cinematography: Pio Corradi and Patrick Lindenmaier.
Editor(s): Stefan Kalin.
Production:
Ventura Film (presents).
RSI-Radiotelevisione Svizzera (in co-production with).
Teleclub AG (in co-production with) (as Teleclub).
Lichtblick Film- und Fernsehproduktion (I) (in co-production with) (as Lichtblick Filmproduktion).
Spotlight Media Production AG (in co-production with) (as Spotlight Media Productions).
Mad World (Cantonese: 一念無明) is a 2016 Hong Kong drama film directed by Wong Chun and starring Shawn Yue, Eric Tsang, Elaine Jin and Charmaine Fong.
Outline
Tung, a former financial analyst who is struggling with bipolar disorder, is placed in the custody of his truck-driver father after being dismissed from a mental health institution.
Cast
Shawn Yue as Tung.
Eric Tsang as Tung’s father.
Elaine Jin as Tung’s mother.
Charmaine Fong as Jenny.
Trivia
It is Wong’s directorial debut after winning the First Feature Film Initiative.
It was selected as the Hong Kong entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.
Production & Filming Details
Director(s): Wong Chun.
Producer(s): Derek Chiu and Heiward Mak.
Writer(s): Florence Chan.
Music: Yusuke Hatano.
Cinematography: Zhang Ying.
Editor(s): Wong Chun.
Production: Mad World Limited.
Distributor(s): Golden Scene.
Release Date: 08 September 2016 (Toronto International Film Festival) and 30 March 2017 (Hong Kong).
Huey is a 2020 drama, thriller by director Brenden Singh.
Outline
A failing writer struggles to deal with his rocky mental health and the cold stares of a random woman in a coffee shop, fighting a losing battle to maintain self control.
