Of schizophrenics, shrinks & celluloid!

More and more people I know refer to Hallucinations, Schizophrenia and Multiple Personality Disorder(MPD) to some phenomena as trivial as common cold. I also get a feeling that many of my near & dear ones suffer from it( I have to talk to my therapist on that one!). Off late, all the filmwoods -(B)(K)(H)ollywood have been churning out movies with the same protagonist potraying both Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde ( I wonder if he ever gets double the pay package?)

Some MPD Hollywood movies I watched include, Hide & Seek(2005), Me Myself & Irene and Batman forever while in Hindi I am told Aparichit(2006), Dewangee(2004) head the list. Now when I come to think of it, Mr AB might have pioneered pseudo-MPD roles in Shahenshah!

The point is, potrayal of mental disorders is now the newest, experimental , bold and one of the *different* roles that every actor wants to attempt or every director wants to depict. Diseases hitherto unheard of by the common movie watching rif-raff are being brought into celluloid and the common vocabulary..MPD, Alzheimer's disease, Short term memory loss, spastics, etc.

Critics are ever tired of pointing out the cavalier manner in which medical ailments are dealt with in Mainstream Hindi cinema. Suddenly, Hindi film directors are dealing with serious ailments and dealing with them seriously!. Gone, are those days when a heroine lost and regained her sight within 13 reels, or a disease as serious as cancer was detected by looking at an X-Ray. In an industry where heroes are mostly immortal and are occasionally even known to return from the dead films are now dealing with delicate medical issues with much more maturity and seriouosness.

In a lighter vein:

1) A guy walks into the psychiatrist's and says "Doctor, doctor, you've got tohelp me! I keep thinking that I'm a deck of cards!" The shrink says "Sit over there and I'll deal with you later."

2)"I'm treating a patient with a split personality," boasted a psychiatrist, "and Medicare pays for both of them!"

3)Patient: Doctor, I keep thinking I'm a dustbin.Psychiatrist: Don't talk such rubbish.

4)Patient: Doctor, I keep thinking I'm a curtain.Psychiatrist: Pull yourself together!

5)Two psychiatrists meet on the street. One says to the other,"You know, I thought I'd been completely analyzed, but yesterdayI experienced the most remarkable Freudian Slip."The friend nods and waits to hear more...The first psychiatrist continues, "I was having dinner with mymother, and I meant to say, 'Please pass the butter', but insteadI said, 'You miserable bitch, you've ruined my life!!!".

6)Patient: Doctor, I can't stop stealing things.Psychiatrist: Take these pills. They should help you.Patient: But what if they don't?Psychiatrist: Pick up a Rolls for me.

7)A man who thought he was John the Baptist was disturbing the neighborhood, sofor public safety, he was committed. He was put in a room with another crazyand immediately began his routine, "I am John The Baptist! Jesus Christ hassent me!" The other guy looks at him and declares, "I did *not*!"

8)What is the best thing about schizophrenia?You're never alone.

9)A man calls the psychiatrist at a mental hospital and asks who's in room 24."Nobody" comes the reply."Good" says the man, "I must have escaped."

10)What is the difference between a psychiatrist and a psychologist?If you say to a psychiatrist "I hate my mother", the shrink will ask "Why doyou say that?" while a psychologist will say "Thank you for sharing that with us."

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Ok, gotta go!!

Me too!