Only when psychology is on television. Okay, that may be a bit unfair, but not by much. One of the most frustrating things about watching television is when they butcher psychological topics (e.g. medications don't match the diagnosis, calling a character with Dissociative Identity Disorder - formerly Multiple Personality Disorder - "schizophrenic, etc.), or invariably show the mental health professional as incompetent/unethical/perverted/bizarre. I wouldn't mind if it was occasional, but it seems like most of the time, if there's a "shrink" involved, I can predict who the bad guy or gal is gonna be.
So, here is an article that I find interesting. Apparently the American Academy of Pediatrics is calling on ABC to cancel the first episode of a new show because of shoddy science. Specifically, a lawyer argues that a vaccine is responsible for a child's autism, and at the end of the episode, the jury awards the family millions of dollars. This despite no evidence of a link (and yes, I specifically linked to ABC News for this info, since ABC is also the network planning on televising the show). It's bad enough when television gets diagnoses, treatment, and medication wrong (how much would it cost these guys to hire a consultant?), but in this case, the airing of this show may have serious ramifications, if people watch this episode and then avoid vaccines for their kids. I'm not about government intervention at all in cases like this, but I seriously hope ABC reconsiders, and good for the AAP for calling attention to this. I hope ABC listens, or they may have some lawsuits of their own down the line...
Only when psychology is on television. Okay, that may be a bit unfair, but not by much. One of the most frustrating things about watching television is when they butcher psychological topics (e.g. medications don't match the diagnosis, calling a character with Dissociative Identity Disorder - formerly Multiple Personality Disorder - "schizophrenic, etc.), or invariably show the mental health professional as incompetent/unethical/perverted/bizarre. I wouldn't mind if it was occasional, but it seems like most of the time, if there's a "shrink" involved, I can predict who the bad guy or gal is gonna be.
So, here is an article that I find interesting. Apparently the American Academy of Pediatrics is calling on ABC to cancel the first episode of a new show because of shoddy science. Specifically, a lawyer argues that a vaccine is responsible for a child's autism, and at the end of the episode, the jury awards the family millions of dollars. This despite no evidence of a link (and yes, I specifically linked to ABC News for this info, since ABC is also the network planning on televising the show). It's bad enough when television gets diagnoses, treatment, and medication wrong (how much would it cost these guys to hire a consultant?), but in this case, the airing of this show may have serious ramifications, if people watch this episode and then avoid vaccines for their kids. I'm not about government intervention at all in cases like this, but I seriously hope ABC reconsiders, and good for the AAP for calling attention to this. I hope ABC listens, or they may have some lawsuits of their own down the line...