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Steven Ozanich TMS and Pop Culture

RE: AMBIVALENCE From the 1999 movie "GIRL INTERUTPED"

Susanna: I'm ambivalent. In fact that's my new favorite word.
Dr. Wick: Do you know what that means, ambivalence?
Susanna: I don't care.
Dr. Wick: If it's your favorite word, I would've thought you would...
Susanna: It *means* I don't care. That's what it means.
Dr. Wick: On the contrary, Susanna. Ambivalence suggests strong feelings... in opposition. The prefix, as in "ambidextrous," means "both." The rest of it, in Latin, means "vigor." The word suggests that you are torn... between two opposing courses of action.
Susanna: Will I stay or will I go?
Dr. Wick: Am I sane... or, am I crazy?
Susanna: Those aren't courses of action.
Dr. Wick: They can be, dear - for some.
Susanna: Well, then - it's the wrong word.
Dr. Wick: No. I think it's perfect.
 
I think ambivalence can cause anxiety and stress if one sits on the fence and
is not able to make up their mind about something.

It may even be better to make a mistake than to stay undecided about something or someone.
The mistake may soon become evident and maybe corrected.

A friend long ago asked me to go with him to downtown Chicago men's shoe stores so
he could buy a new pair of penny loafers. He looked at them in half a dozen stores but
didn't buy a pair. The thing is, all penny loafers look and are alike.

He's the same young man who was from an upscale family in Detroit and after
we watched the old movie, "The Grapes of Wrath" about poor people during the
1930s Depression, I asked him what he thought about it. He replied,
"Why didn't they just go out and get a job?"

You know, of course, there were no jobs for millions of people.
He was from a family that was not touched by poverty so he didn't have a clue.

He was a school teacher when I new him and he later became a lawyer.
He wasn't prepared for either occupation.
 
Tennis Tom said:
Here's a thread from the Help forum about Carey Grant playing a TMS'y doctor Noah Praetorious, in the movie "PEOPLE WILL TALK", made in 1951.

TMSHelp Forum - Who Should Play Dr Sarno in a Movie?
www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7198‎
Click to expand...

Here's a link to Hulu where it seems through the magic of the inter-webs, you can watch the whole movie, (there is commercial at the start). There's some great writing and the dialogue is very TMS'y. http://www.hulu.com/watch/226340
 

Contact the Filmmakers on IMDbPro »
MOVIEmeter
SEE RANK
Up 12,748 this week
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People Will Talk (1951)
110 min - Comedy | Drama | Romance - 29 August 1951 (USA)
7.5
Your rating:
3,247 users
Reviews: 73 user | 17 critic
Dr. Noah Praetorius falls in love with Debra, a student who finds out that she is pregnant by her old boyfriend.
Director:
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Writers:
Joseph L. Mankiewicz (written for the screen by), Curt Goetz (play)
Stars:
Cary Grant, Jeanne Crain, Finlay Currie | See full cast and crew »
Watch Trailer
here .
 
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There's more to this scene from the show Louie but I could only find this promo clip. A classic doctor office visit:

 
I just saw SAVING MR. BANKS, the new Walt Disney movie about how the children's classic novel
MARY POPPINS became the movie of that name. Emma Thompson plays P.L. Travers, author of the book,
who strongly resists the efforts of Disney (played by Tom Hanks) to make it into a movie musical.

Travers is a complex character and we gradually learn through flashbacks to her girlhood why she is a strong candidate
for TMS. She loved her father but he was a drunkard and undependable breadwinner, and her mother was suicidal. We learn
near the end of the film how Travers suffered lifelong anger and repressed emotions regarding parental stresses, feelings of low self-esteem,
and financial insecurity. Disney talks to her about it all suggests she can feel happier if she forgives, her parents and herself.

YouTube has many videos about the film and scenes from the film, but not the scene between her and Disney that to me is
the most important and explains her TMS.

Emma Thompson is wonderful as Travers, and tells about her role in this video clip:
 
Great post, Walt, thanks for sharing. The more we can add to our TMS in Pop Culture database, the better.
 
From this week's episode of House of Lies on Showtime, entitled "The Next Olive Branch Goes Straight Up Your Ass"

Clyde: Yeah, well, you know that I'm allergic.

Father: No, as a matter of fact, I didn't know that. Because you haven't let me see you over the past two years.

Clyde: Well, I was also allergic two years ago, dad. How about that?

Father: Look, she's a service cat, all right. She gives me a lot of comfort service...

Clyde: (Sneezes) (Meowing) (Groans)

Father: You know, that stuff is all in the mind. Have you read Sarno?

Clyde: That's about back pain, dad.

Father: Also...all in the mind.
 
I've updated the wiki page with all of the examples in this list. If anyone else has any more, please share them!

Also, if people want to see the video that Steve mentioned two posts back, here's the clip.

As this is nonprofit and educational and shouldn't negatively affect sales of the show, I consider this tiny clip to covered under the fair use doctrine.
 
I'm watching the HBO series In Treatment (now available on Amazon Prime), and in Episode 38: Sophie-Week Eight, the therapist is talking to his 16 year old client about her recent symptoms of muscle spasms and skin rash. He explains to her that due to stress her mind has created these symptoms, and assures her there is no disease. He advises that when the spasms occur she should say to herself "I'm doing this to myself and I can make it stop."
 
Any fans of The Sopranos? The character "Big Pussy" suffered from constant back pain and spasms during his time on the show. Eventually he had surgery, only to proclaim angrily a few weeks later that his back "don't feel one iota different". Eventually we learn that he was arrested for drugs and had to wear a wiretap and turn informant against his former crew in order to avoid a life sentence, which we can assume was a major factor in his TMS.
 
BruceMC said:
Got a YouTube video of that particular episode to post here, phizzy?
Click to expand...

Not that direct scene I mentioned earlier but here is another...Big Pussy is laid out in spasm as he talks to his boss, Tony Soprano, about some of the stresses in his life. He is of course unable to talk about the biggest stressor in his life, which is the fact that he has become an informant for the FBI and is "ratting out" all of his friends.


 
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I watched The Big Bang Theory last night, here in England. The episode is called The Anxiety Optimisation: When Sheldon gets stuck in a rut with his research, he asks his friends to cure his mental block by raising his stress levels.
Sheldon is working on proton decay and he says, "Amy, I have got more done in the last few days than I have since I made the switch to dark matter. What if I stop doing this and it all goes away"?
Amy replies, " Your thoughts and ideas come from you, not from your anxiety".

A good reminder that we are not our symptoms.
 
Zumbafan said:
..." Your thoughts and ideas come from you, not from your anxiety".

A good reminder that we are not our symptoms.
Click to expand...

Thank you, this was a contentious point at the other TMS site, that anxiety was the issue. No, anxiety is a TMS affective (emotional) symptom, like depression and OCD are for example. Whoever wrote the TV show stated it beautifully.

Cheers,
tt
 
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