Monk and the Portrayal of Mental Disorders in Television and Film

Monk and the Portrayal of Mental Disorders in Television and Film

The USA Network aired Monk, the television detective series based in San Francisco for eight seasons. Created by David Hoberman, Adrian Monk is a detective who suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorders (OCD) and is loosely based on Hoberman’s own battle with OCD (Behavioral Health). The goal of this work is to synthesize the context of the many social dimensions, concerning mental illness and psychological disorders that are representative in today’s television and film industry.

Adrian Monk is a fictional character since most patients who suffer from psychological disorders can’t function in society as well as he. Monk lives in an upper middle class Victorian flat in San Francisco. He has a private secretary who dotes over him and a therapist, who seems remarkably available considering Monk’s unreliable payment history. He is appreciated by the San Francisco Police Department for his Sherlock Holmes ability to solve murder cases.

In keeping with his OCD, his dress is always the same: sports coat, shirt starched and the top shirt button fastened. Monk is not like the men and women with physiological disorders who are untreated by today’s health system and who wonder the streets of San Francisco, looking like zombies from a George A. Romero film; dirty, smelly, unshaven, disoriented and uninsured (Romero).

Monk was very popular when it premiered on the USA Network on July 12, 2002. The series currently holds the record for the most-watched scripted drama episode in cable television history. It also set the record with Mr. Monk and the End – Part II, its series finale, with 9.4 million viewers; 3.2 million of them in the 18–49 demographic (Kung).

Mental Illness and Psychological Disorders have become an integral part of the media mainstream, including popular films as Rain Man (1988), The Fisher King (1991) and Forrest Gump (1994) (Smith).

There is also a precedent for films about mental illness and genius. Ron Howard’s film, A Beautiful Mind chronicles the life of John Forbes Nash Jr., a brilliant mathematician from Princeton who suffered from delusions, hallucinations and paranoid schizophrenia. Nash was saved from homelessness by his ex-wife and a small number of mathematical associates. At age 66 Nash had a remission from his mental illness and was nominated for a Noble prize in economics (Levinson). Similarly, Monk’s psychological issues do not hinder his crime solving abilities. His OCD flares up when he is shopping, dining and house cleaning. Clearly, this is not an honest view of mental illness, turning off and on your psychosis at will as is portrayed in Monk.

In Steve Lopez’s novel and major motion picture The Soloist: A Lost Dream, and Unlikely Friendship, Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless but once gifted Julliard cellist finds his home in a shopping cart, fighting off demons in downtown Los Angeles tunnels. Ayers lives in Skid Row and travels to Persian Square to pay homage to a statue of Ludwig van Beethoven. Ayer’s does not have a personal secretary and is a real life victim of schizophrenia (Lopez). But he does have a champion in Steve Lopez, a newspaper columnist who chronicles Ayer’s life in the Los Angeles Times.

According to Alicia Marie Oostdyk of Kent State University, mental illness is represented in today’s media as negative and violent (Oostdyk). This fits with Lopez’s portrayal of Ayers who does suffer from a severe case of mental illness. But Monk departs from the stereotype again since he’s clean, brilliant and dysfunctional in a non- threatening productive manner.

Current and past television programs have sent mixed messages concerning mental illness issues. Jamie Farr’s character in MASH, Max Klinger is a cross dresses with a fake case of mental illness. Klinger goes about his business in a number of stylish dresses so he can be discharged from the military on a Section 8. Section 8 referrers to a category of discharge from the United States military for reason of being mentally unfit for service. But the ongoing joke is that because he is able to fake his mental illness, than clearly he is not.

Law & Order, the NBC legal drama produced by Dick Wolf has produced a of number mental illness episodes in its 20 seasons. The story lines are “ripped from the headlines” and represent cases that may seem believable (Sassone). Kimberly Tyler of AnxietyConnection.com applauds Law & Order frankness in addressing the national debate on the treatment of mentally ill criminals in today’s criminal justice system. Should mentally ill patients be responsible for their actions and be sentenced to prisons to serve hard time or be rehabilitated in mental institutions (Tyler)? Tyler also suffers from depression and lists the medication she is prescribed on her website. Monk’s treatment for his mental afflictions does not include medication. If Monk was treated with Lorazepam or Prozac, his personality maybe more believable, but his character development may suffer under medication.

As an educational tool, episodic television maybe very helpful in explaining mental illness treatment. Glenn Gabbard, MD of Baylor College of Medicine and author of The Sopranos, believe Tony Soprano treatment for panic attacks in the Sopranos provided one of the best depictions of psychotherapy to ever appear on television (Kaplan). In someone ways Tony Soprano’s psychotherapy educated the public and desensitized the stereotypes of mental illness treatment. Dr. Charles Kroger, Monk’s psychiatrist for six season treats Monk in a causal style, talking, listening, offering advice and engaging in Adrian’s’ frustrating banter concerning the progress his is making in his therapy session. Monk’s sessions can be tiresome and rarely fit the realism that you find in Law & Order or the Sopranos.

The popularity of Monk maybe warranted by the acceptance of psychological disorders in today’s society. According to the Institute of Health a whopping 19 percent of the adult U.S. population has a mental disorder (NIH). This may have given Monk a bump in ratings, as the affected relate to the OCD detective. As David Hoberman the executive show producer explains it, “The idea was that a brilliant detective has severe OCD and phobias. That was the pitch. Without Monk’s OCD, there would be no show (Brink).

Citing

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