Frustration is a great inspirational force. When I was chair of the Outreach Committee of my local psychoanalytic center, I found it difficult to engage the non-psychoanalytic community. I'm sure I'm not alone in this. With disbelief, people would say, “Do people even still use the couch?” “Is that the same as cognitive behavioral therapy?”
We as psychoanalysts need to evolve novel ways to develop our community presence. In particular, how do we present the particular strengths of our training? Our personal analysis and the related use of the self as analyzing instrument sets us apart from other schools of therapy; both are very personal, intimate aspects of our work. The public does not seem informed about these aspects of our expertise. Without this public knowledge, I worry, we seem aloof, cold and outdated. And the solution is not as simple as just telling them; we have to engage in creative ways.
The video idea came to me in a roundabout way. I was pursuing education in economics in hopes of developing outreach projects through the intersections of the two fields. I had to take a refresher course in calculus, and made a delightful discovery: Online classes have evolved. I was surprised to actually, for the first time, understand calculus after I took an online MOOC class by Jim Fowler at Ohio State University. I had taken (and passed) calculus twice before, but this class presented it in a refreshingly personal way, with examples acted out. If Fowler can help me understand calculus, maybe I can present psychoanalysis in a similar way.
Online video has become a popular medium, especially among youth. YouTube is watched more than any cable network by 18-49 year-olds, according to Forbes, and the YouTube search engine is the second most used Internet search engine. In particular, a new category of celebrity, the YouTuber, has emerged. Many of the videos these artists produce are simply the artist speaking directly to the camera, as if the viewer is a friend. The manifest content is often mundane; it may be a simple recipe or even a “haul” where the YouTuber shows us what they bought at the store today. The popularity of these videos appears to reflect a hunger, it seems to me, for personal connection.
Chris Heath, M.D., is a psychoanalyst in Dallas. He is a past chair of the Outreach Committee of the Dallas Psychoanalytic Center and has been an associate member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis.
As I was conceiving my videos, the Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing (PEP) Web announced a round of grants for creation of psychoanalytic videos. I applied and received a generous grant in 2013, which went mostly towards equipment, such as lighting and cameras. My six-episode series, “Mind Your Mind,” is being published on the PEP-WEB Internet platform, available without a subscription and text-transcribed. The latest episode, “Road Rage,” is about defense mechanisms. (See the links below.) Please watch them, and share with anyone you can.
PEP-Web is working towards generating internally developed video content. I am excited to see what will come of this new direction. I will also be publishing links to all my videos through my Facebook page, Vinculo Productions. See the link below, and “like” the page to receive posts.
The direct purpose of my videos is twofold. First is to help the viewer become friendlier to having an unconscious. As I say in Episode 1 about the unconscious, “We've all got one. No need to be embarrassed about it.” Second, I want to promote awareness of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic concepts are ingrained in our culture but are preconscious to most people. I believe it will be helpful to link these concepts back to psychoanalysis.
I knew nothing about making videos before 2013, so I have attended many classes, workshops and mentorships in cinematography, acting and editing. Likewise, I have trained in social media and video marketing, and am a member of the Task Force on Social Media of the International Psychoanalytical Association.
The style of my videos is inspired by popular “edutainment” videos on YouTube, including V-Sauce and Laci Green, as well as older works by Bill Nye. This style in its modern form involves fast scene changes, short total length, minimal opening credits and a personal, intimate emotional expression. The latter has been most challenging for me, since I am aware that a public presence may have an effect on the transference of my analysands. (Leon Hoffman's paper on “Psychoanalysis in the Public Eye: Internal Resistances” is pertinent to this concern.)
I also use vignettes with volunteer actors to portray these concepts which otherwise might be dry descriptions. Although I have written scripts, my actors are very good at improvisation, which creates a fresh feel to the vignettes. My wife, Dawn, has helped in many ways, from creation to co-direction on sets; the videos have been a lot of fun for us.
My hoped-for audience is broad and diverse. I would like these videos to be discovered by viewers searching for how the mind works, and how to deal with feelings. My long-term hope is that these, or future videos, will become popular with an Internet audience. Also, I believe concepts like transference and dynamic unconscious are fathomable to laypeople. In that way, they may be useful as starting points for discussion in classes from high school level up to beginning psychoanalytic candidates.
I am eager to hear anyone's experience and feedback if they use them for education. I have been overjoyed at the positive feedback I have received, partly because it is reassuring. My videos seem different from most psychoanalytic outreach efforts, and feel a little silly most of the time, but silliness and humor are part of our shared human experience. In fact, people need to know that psychoanalysis, while dealing with the deepest human pain and tragedy, is also interested in a person's whole experience, including humor and joy.
In addition to the “Mind Your Mind” series in fulfillment of the PEP-Web grant, I am producing other videos, all with the same outreach mission. I recently viewed a pertinent movie with a group of children and videotaped a discussion group afterwards. This made for an entertaining video; a link is listed below. I am hopeful my continued publication of these videos will help set the pendulum swinging towards a cultural friendliness to psychoanalysis.