The Truth About OCD

ICA London 18 February 2008

OCD and the idea of being "obsessive-compulsive" touches a raw cultural nerve. It has worked its way into our culture, and is often used to describe anyone who is either meticulous or overly absorbed. But where does the disorder of OCD come from, what triggers it, and why is it so widespread in contemporary society? What is really like to suffer from OCD, and why are many of us so keen to identify with it?

Speakers: Paul Salkovskis, professor of clinical psychology and applied science, King's College London; Diana Wilson, representative of the national charity OCD-UK. Joanne Limburg, poet, writer, OCD sufferer and author of Paraphernalia; Lara Menzies, researcher, Brain Mapping Unit, University of Cambridge.


£10 / £9 Concessions / £8 ICA Members.


Again, sadly this is already sold out but please call the Box Office to enquire about returns on 020 7930 3647. It's good to see such talks being scheduled, even if I wasn't quick enough to get tickets this time.

Is it always good to talk?

ICA London 14 February 2008

Many modern therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, offer quick-fix results and predictable outcomes, but beyond the promise of short and localised treatments, what are they really offering - a serious analysis of human suffering or conditioning techniques designed to stifle what society refuses to recognise? To what extent can the mind be the object of external intervention? The history of mind-doctoring suggests that we preserve a certain scepticism here.

Darian Leader, psychoanalyst and author of The New Black: Mourning, Melancholia and Depression is in conversation with Lisa Appignanesi, writer, broadcaster and author of Mad, Bad and Sad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors from 1800.


£10 / £9 Concessions / £8 ICA Members.


Sadly this is already sold out but please call the ICA Box Office on 020 7930 3647 to enquire about returns.

sBMJ publications

Congratulations to two former Medical Humanities students from Imperial who have recently had articles published in the studentBMJ. Wais Ahmed published 'Doctors and the Brain Drain' on the controversial and topical issue: doctors from developing countries who then work in the western healthcare. Laura Cherrington has written a provocative piece on the image of the surgeon. Both articles are distinguished by their integration of personal experience with appropriate research. Well done!

Street dance version of 'Cuckoo's Nest'

There was an interesting programme on Radio 4 this week on the film 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'. It's part of a series presented by Paul Gambaccini called 'And the Academy Award Goes To...', looking at the history of the Oscars. You can listen again here until 14 Feb. 'Cuckoo's Nest' swept the board in 1976.

Admirers of the book and film might be interested in a street-dance adaptation called 'Insane in the Brain' by Bounce. It's on at the Peacock Theatre, Holborn, London, running from 27 February till 16 March. According to the publicity: 'In the confines of a psychiatric hospital, breakdance becomes a way of expressing freedom and rebelling against the iron rule of Nurse Ratched – who happens to be a ballet fan… The show features a fantastic soundtrack including hits from stars like Missy Elliot, Dizzee Rascal, Gotan Project, David Holmes and Cypress Hill. Inventive set design and choreography are mixed with film and multimedia sequences to produce a fast-paced show that is at times funny, at times moving, and always packed to the rafters with high-octane dance moves.'

The theatre warns that the show 'contains adult themes'. Do you think they get to keep their underwear on under those hospital gowns?

Loving 'Love' at the Bristol City Museum

I spent the day in Bristol yesterday meeting up with our new external examiner for the Imperial Medical Humanities course, Dr Trevor Thompson. The University of Bristol offers an intercalated BA in Medical Humanities which runs for a whole year and presents a glorious mix of literature, poetry, philosophy and history. (If anyone is interested, apply by the end of the month.)

I tagged along to a meeting of the vocational studies group, informally linked to course. We visited the Bristol's City Museum and Art Gallery. The Museum currently has a touring exhibition called 'Love' on loan from the National Gallery. Louise Ormesher from the Museum gave a wonderful tour of a selection of artworks from 'Love' and the Museum's permanent collection which includes works from some of Britain's best known artists. Louise gave a real insight into the symbolism in paintings and encouraged us to think about the social, political and personal contexts of the artworks.

In relation to the post below on Mark Quinn's exhibition, 'Love' features his piece, 'The Kiss', a sculpture of Mat Fraser (who has thalidomide-induced phocomelia) and Catherine Long (an amputee). The work starts off as a cast of the subject's bodies but it is then sculpted in Cararra marble by Italian craftsmen. Quinn's choice of classical poses and pristine, unpolished marble raises question about notions of classical beauty.

I unreservedly recommend a visit to the Bristol City Museum. It also features works by Frank Dicksee (particularly his 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci') and one of my favourite artists, David Inshaw.

Marc Quinn's Evolution

At White Cube Mason's Yard Marc Quinn presents 'Evolution' a show that should be of interest to those reading this blog. The blurb from White Cube puts it like this: "a major new installation featuring a series of nine monumental sculptures, in fleshy pink marble, that represent the growth of the human embryo and foetus during its gestation. Quinn was prompted to make these works after witnessing the way many viewers reacted with repulsion to his series of figurative sculptures depicting people who are missing arms and legs. He felt the need to confront people with a direct portrayal of their own strange beginnings, the unsettling and barely recognisable shape taken by human life before birth. Developed from scans and factual photographs, these sculptures are biologically accurate but also bring to mind topical issues such as genetics and the manipulation of DNA. Each embryo or foetus appears as if it is emerging out of its raw material before our eyes, struggling in the manner of Michelangelo's Dying Slaves, sculpted in the 1520s for Pope Julius II's tomb in the Vatican. (A point Quinn emphasises by including a huge lump of untouched marble at one end of the gallery.) 'Evolution' illuminates the magical nature of human development and celebrates the emergence of life from matter, making visible what is hidden." Sounds amazing. If you manage to see it do post your thoughts here for everyone else.


Evolution runs at White Cube Mason's Yard from 25 January - 23 February 2008. It's open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm.

Purple Coat Club schedule

This is the provisional schedule for Purple Coat Club meetings for the next few months. We meet at Imperial College's South Kensington campus, in the evenings (usually 8 pm). Meetings are free and open to anyone (not just students from Imperial). To be put on the mailing list to receive a reminder e-mail shortly before each event with further details of time and place, please e-mail me.

7 February Sicko
The inimitable Michael Moore takes on the American health system in this acclaimed documentary. Apparently this film will make you feel much better about the NHS – and let’s face it, we could all do with a bit of that!

6 March The Barbarian Invasions
This Quebecan film won the audience’s favourite award at Cannes, along with a host of other gongs. It is billed as a quirky comedy/drama about a father and son who re-explore their relationships, and society, in the face of a crisis.

3 April Away from her
Based on Alice Munro’s short story, ‘The bear that came over the mountain’, this film about Alzheimer’s stars Julie Christie. It’s received amazing reviews.

8 May Donnie Darko
This genre-defying, highly acclaimed, cult movie stars Jake Gyllenhall as a disturbed teenager. According to the comments on Amazon, it has multiple layers of meaning, so it’s an ideal movie for Purple Coat Club – we can all contribute our interpretations and hopefully collaboratively make some sense of it.

5 June Black
Described as an Indian version of the Helen Keller story, this is one of the reviews on Internet Movie Database: ‘Few are the number of viewers who could experience this film and not leave better people, if only because it succeeds in allowing us to recognize the value of caring for one another as the greatest triumph, if not the most important ingredient in all of our other successes as a species.’ Expect great cinematography and wonderful performances.

3 July Rainman
‘Rainman’ has got to be one of the most influential movies ever – it brought autism to public attention, and also delivered career highlights for both Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. Twenty years after it was made, how does it shape up against what we now know of autism?

7 August Body Art by AS Byatt
This is a fabulously provocative short story which explores the boundaries of medical professionalism, patienthood and art.

4 September Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Can the movie ever live up to the brilliance of the book? Only one way to find out…

2 October The Painted Veil
It’s not often that a starring role is taken by a bacteriologist. Based on a story by Somerset Maugham, this is a hauntingly beautiful movie about love in the time of cholera.