Psychiatry and the imperialist-patriarchy:

"The Sixth Sense"

"The Sixth Sense" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167404/)
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Hollywood Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment
PG-13 / Peru:14
1999

Reviewed by a contributor October 27, 2004

Tim Dirks estimates "The Sixth Sense" to be the seventh most popular u.$. movie of the 1990s in terms of u.$. box office receipts(1), and the 58th most popular u.$. movie ever in terms of adjusted u.$. box office receipts(2). Bruce Nash(3) considers the "The Sixth Sense" to be the twentieth most popular movie ever in terms of world-wide box office receipts.

For a 1999 movie that has grossed more than a half a billion dollars world-wide, it comes as somewhat of a surprise that "The Sixth Sense's" relationship to gender and psychiatry in the real world has largely passed without comment in movie reviews available on the World Wide Web and even in academia. One exception is an obscure journal article(4) that diagnoses the movie's main character, Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), with dissociative identity disorder (DID), or multiple personality disorder.

Psychiatry, children, and families

Whether or not Cole could really be said to have DID is beside the point here. But saying that Cole has DID is just completely ironic. The fact that psychiatry is a huge theme in "The Sixth Sense" (Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a celebrated child psychologist who shows up to assess Cole's perceived adjustment problems; more than once, he is shown reading a page from a mental health text or manual; and Malcolm's wife (Olivia Williams) secretly takes the antidepressant medication Zoloft) isn't seriously disputed by anyone, but now, we have people deliberately using "The Sixth Sense" to facilitate the diagnosis of mental illness in children in the real world. If the point of "The Sixth Sense" is to make the handling of children's adjustment problems more child- centered (and less gender oppressor- or "adult"- centered), or to encourage sympathy and support for mentally ill children's real interests, the movie fails to do any such thing.

Euro- Amerikan, bourgeois Cole has trouble making friends at his expensive private school, doesn't talk in class, has a hard time talking with his mother (Toni Collette), has mood swings, draws unchildlike pictures, writes unchildlike words in red, seems to open kitchen cabinet doors for no reason, annoys his mother and cramps her style—behaviors which, we just know, are a sign of mental illness. "The Sixth Sense" does not contest the widespread assumption that such abnormal and potentially "defiant" behavior is indicative of mental illness, which a "myths and facts" sheet(5) for the June, 1999, televised White House Conference on Mental Health equates with "diagnosable disorders of the brain."(6) It just turns out that Cole's behavior is a consequence of his ability to see and talk with ghosts. Instead of dealing with whether child psychiatry is a good thing in the first place, "The Sixth Sense" cops out by showing that Cole isn't really a mental illness sufferer after all. As a result, the movie doesn't have to deal with the complicated matter of child psychiatry.

To the movie's credit, Malcolm, before he is convinced that Cole is really being visited by ghosts, wonders whether "medication and hospitalization" would really help Cole. "I'm not helping him." He would just be suppressing Cole's symptoms. Yet, the movie undercuts this line of thinking by suggesting to the viewer that no treatment would help Cole with his ghost problem.

Ultimately, the issue for MIM is not whether the DSM and ICD-10 have a biological basis that warrants medication prescriptions. Malcolm wonders whether Cole has "some kinda school-age schizophrenia." Well, to this reviewer's knowledge, MIM does not presuppose that schizophrenia-defining symptoms do not have any biological basis, though there is certainly evidence that "schizophrenia"(7) does not, and even proponents of the biological view of schizophrenia don't even agree on its etiology. If it turned out that schizophrenia did have a biological basis, that would have no bearing on MIM's line.

Rather, the issue for MIM is the culture of psychiatry, the discriminatory use of psychiatry for social control (for example, focusing disproportionately on "at-risk," "problem" or simply poor children and their parents, but failing to scrutinize other men and wimmin), the use of psychiatry to induce complacency among different classes and nationalities, the tendency to deal with mental illness exclusively at the lifestyle level, and the tendency to deal with mental illness exclusively at the individual level. Even if it somehow turned out that wimmin have not been "over-diagnosed" with borderline personality disorder (BPD), for example, MIM might still be concerned that BPD incidence rates are partly caused by practices that are possible only under capitalism or patriarchy. MIM would also question the use of psychiatry to regulate wimmin's behavior under patriarchy.

The relationship between BPD and gender raises the issue of the relationship between the family and psychiatry more generally. In "The Sixth Sense," families are taken for granted, and the family and psychiatry are used to reinforce each other. "The Sixth Sense" clearly glorifies psychiatry's contribution to bettering the conditions and stability of individual families whose power structures are dominated by men and wimmin.

As a celebrated child psychologist, Malcolm "has put everything second, including [his wife], for those families that they're talking about" (my emphasis). "The Sixth Sense" makes a point of equating the interests of mentally ill children with the interests of their families. Anna proudly reads Malcolm's plaque:

In recognition for his outstanding achievement in the field of child psychology, his dedication to his work, and his continuing efforts to improve the quality of life for countless children and their families, the City of Philadelphia proudly bestows upon its son Dr. Malcolm Crowe . . .

"The Sixth Sense" does not confine itself to supporting patriarchy in its totality. "The Sixth Sense" also supports particular types of families under patriarchy. It does this in an underhanded way. For example, Malcolm's notes on Cole's background include: "parental status--divorced." Malcolm's former client Vincent Gray (Donnie Wahlberg) rattles off his own record, which includes: "single parent family." Once again, the viewer comes to know what is really disturbing these clients (ghosts), so this association of mental illness with having less than two heterosexual parents comes off as being a matter of fact. The viewer is left to wonder what children's adjustment problems are associated with lesbian single-parent families and other nontraditional types of families.

Malcolm's Euro-Amerikan, bourgeois, gender-oppressor wife, Anna (Olivia Williams), falls asleep watching a home video of her marriage to Malcolm. Earlier, she seems to be angry with Malcolm at the Italian restaurant. It turns out that she just misses the good times.

To the extent that "The Sixth Sense" encourages sympathy for mental health patients and mental illness sufferers, it just discourages people from harassing abnormal children. The movie doesn't question these children's psychiatric diagnoses or perceived abnormality. After Cole tells Malcolm why he doesn't talk with his mom about his bullying problems with his schoolmate Tommy (Trevor Morgan), Cole says that he doesn't want her to know "that I'm a freak." Malcolm quickly replies, as if by rote:

Hey, you are not a freak. Okay? Don't you believe anybody that tries to convince you of that. It's bullshit. You don't have to go through your life believing that.

Later, Cole's teacher (Bruce Norris) calls him a "freak" after mistakenly dismissing what Cole teaches his classmates about the school building (lawyers "used to hang people here").

"The Sixth Sense" suggests that hurt feelings, poor self-esteem, and poor self- image, are caused by name-calling, but realistically, these may also be caused by the allegedly neutral language of psychiatry, iatrogenic effects of psychiatry, and a society that devalues, undervalues and discriminates against behaviors that are out of step with the current prevailing forms and practices of patriarchy. "The Sixth Sense's" theme of mitigating the stigmatization of potentially mentally ill children, without questioning psychiatry or attitudes toward mental illness, has a bearing on the real world.

Five months after "The Sixth Sense" premiered in Hollywood, Tipper Gore(8) was telling people that it was their "responsibility as individuals . . . to erase the stigma that prevents our kids from getting the help they need for their mental health."

If we knew a child had a broken arm, we would take that child to an emergency room. And if we know a child is depressed or alienated, we need to take emergency action and stay involved with the problem. (8)

Discouraging the neglect, and perhaps also the harassment and abuse, of mentally ill children is one thing, but anyone with a sense of reality would object to the characterization of every alleged mental illness as "a broken arm." Certainly, there is a difference between a broken arm or a gunshot wound, on the one hand, and gender identity disorder, or conduct disorder or oppositional defiant disorder, the diagnostic criteria for which Peter Breggin and Ross Breggin(9) have compared to a laundry list of complaints by adult men and wimmin. Fred Baughman(10) states that "representing such things as depression, anxiety, conduct disorder, ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder, and learning disabilities as diseases, absent any scientific proof, is to deceive the public."(11) In "The Sixth Sense," Cole often defies his mother and even ridicules his "stuttering" teacher, Stanley. Cole is at risk for being diagnosed with a child- specific conduct disorder.

One of "The Sixth Sense's" possible take-home messages is that seemingly distraught children need to be understood or "listened to." In the wake of the shootings, by Euro-Amerikan, bourgeois children, at Columbine and Thurston High Schools, writers such as William Pollack (http://www.williampollack.com/) have been telling people to listen to "our boys" and look for signs of maladjustment. Dan Kindlon and Michael Thompson(12) similarly exhort parents to "listen to boys' feelings without judging." In 2003 July, President Bu$h's New Freedom Commission went whole-hog and recommended mental health screening for students nation-wide.(13) About a week ago, a reader of the Illinois Leader(14) completely missed the point by framing the debate in terms of parents' rights, which almost makes the compulsory mental health screening of school children look progressive.

Children's oppression

The majority of existing psychiatric clinics, practices and programs do not represent the institutions of and for the oppressed. Among the gender oppressed, MIM includes socially constructed children. Some child psychiatry clinics are institutions of oppressor nationalities, but that does not necessarily mean that these institutions are of and for their gender-oppressed children.(15)

Whether it is the government who forces children to undergo mental health screening, or parents/guardians who do so, men and wimmin's consideration for children's wishes are token at best (and even if children wanted to have mental health screening, gender oppressor-dominated power relations would still be suspect). When Lynn Sear advertises that Chuck E. Cheese "is a kids' place," she is alluding to a reality. Children do have a place, and that place is to either have fun, or shut up and take it.

When Cole asks Malcolm why Malcolm looks sad, Malcolm tries to change the subject. Cole can't do the same thing without risking stigmatization or even abandonment. At one point, Malcolm does almost separate from Cole, and Cole's previous difficultness must play a part in this. In another scene, Malcolm even seems to be angry at Cole. Cole had been giving monosyllabic answers to Malcolm's questions. Seemingly frustrated, Malcolm asks, "Can you do something for me? I want you to think about what you want to get out of our time together, what our goals should be." Cleverly, Malcolm convinces Cole to identify his interests with Malcolm's.

Cole is frequently manipulated. While they are having a roast beef dinner, Lynn accuses Cole of taking his grandmother's bumblebee pendant. Lynn gives Cole several opportunities to confess to taking the pendant. "I won't get mad, honey." To Lynn's credit, she at least attempts to explain why Cole should confess. But after Cole refuses to give in, Lynn punishes him by telling him to leave the dinner table and screaming at him. Of course, Lynn is wrong, but, according to the movie, only because it was her mother's ghost who took the pendant.

Real-world children in the united $tates are treated like Cole. They are ultimately expected to comply with their guardians', and eventually other men and wimmin's, wishes regardless of the kinds of things that they are taught, or told to do, at home or in the classroom. Children who deviate are vulnerable to being considered "challenging children" who are "oppositional and resistant to parenting."(16)

When parents believe that they have to help their children "survive their childhood"(16), the "Jungle Book" school play scene in "The Sixth Sense" takes on a new meaning. The aspiring actor and bully Tommy confidently speaks his line:

Once there was a boy, very different from all the other boys. He lived in the jungle, and he could speak to the animals.

Then, the other children come onto the stage for a curtain call. Several of them are dressed as animals, and they enthusiastically make animal sounds. One child, dressed in a monkey costume, moves sideways across the stage. Cole peaks out from behind a cardboard drawing-figure of what looks like Baloo or a monkey.

It is funny to see all of the parents in the audience robotically, ritualistically take out their camcorders to film their own children—as if they were filming zoo animals or pets. But there is something big going on when children are collectively represented as animals while men and wimmin are not, or when children stand in for animals while men and wimmin do not. The exception from the viewpoint of the movie viewer is Cole, who carries the cardboard prop, but the implication is that he isn't like the rest of the children, who are presumably normal.

There is a subtle difference here between the representation of children as animals by characters in the movie, and the representation of children as animals by the movie itself. For several different reasons, children often dress up as, or pretend to be, animals in the real world, so "The Sixth Sense" is not misrepresenting children in that sense. However, the camera viewpoints in the "Jungle Book" scene are located in the audience. An effect of this is that movie viewers participate in seeing and enjoying the play as if they were in the audience.

Representations to the effect that children, of any age, naturally act like animals, or look "cute" as animals, may result in children being treated as if they needed to be tamed or even tranquilized. It is typical for men and wimmin in the united $tates to go from gazing voyeuristically at children (that "cute" kid in the stroller or in the photo album, who doesn't know that s/he's being ogled by another persyn), to treating them as pests that must be controlled or subdued. Consider the following from a parents' magazine:

Imagine this scenario: During a multi-day car trip, two preschoolers get so agitated they scratch each other until they bleed. Their ensuing howls cause the panic- stricken family cat to plunge its claws into mom's legs, triggering tears from her, too. Dad is so distracted he barely averts a crash. . . . For some families, the antidote to overactivity on long trips is a dose of antihistamine in the hope of drugging the kids to sleep. But, in this case-a real example of a pediatrician dad (who wants to remain anonymous) who gave his otherwise healthy kids Benadryl to sedate them for the long trip--the drugs backfired. (17)

It might seem that the two play scenes in "The Sixth Sense" are evidence that the movie depicts the gender oppression of children (as a group). However, the movie repeatedly shows Cole as having conflicts and dissimilarities with other children. Of course, representations of conflicts among children have some basis in reality, but "The Sixth Sense" fails to show how children are subjugated under patriarchy. Instead, it only depicts aspects of children's oppression in a one- sided way that distorts reality. For example, the movie singles out individual parents for accusations of child abuse (the scene with the doctor, played by M. Night Shyamalan, and the funeral reception scene), which has the consequence of obscuring the subordination of children-as-a-group to men and wimmin, and obscuring the gender-oppressor status of the majority of men and wimmin in imperialist countries.

"The Sixth Sense" leads the viewer to think that Tommy is a gender oppressor. But when Tommy bullies Cole, that is not necessarily an indication that Tommy is a gender oppressor. Tommy may still be gender-oppressed, disadvantaged by patriarchy overall while he is a child in the united $tates.

Gender hierarchies can appear among gender-oppressed children who are differently gendered, even among children with male biology. For example, Cole is smaller, weak-nerved and weak-willed, and he has some white pigmentation on the back of his hair: his body is potentially perceived differently. Cole may be deviating from certain, more powerful types of masculinities. Such deviations are identified in language and speech under patriarchy. Consider the words "dork," "fag," "geek," "herb," "loser," "nerd," "punk," "retard," "sissy," and "wimp." We can think of the effects of patriarchy as penetrating into gender- oppressed groups and gender oppressor groups in something of a fractal pattern.

In the context of bullying, children-as-animals has reached ridiculous, deeply reactionary proportions of child-hating and taking the permanence of different gender hierarchies for granted. Self- styled bullying expert Israel Kalman(18) suggests—contrary to easily available data—that children are twenty times the abusers that their parents are. Kalman tells parents to treat their children in the same way that non-humyn animals treat their own children and show them who's boss. Parents are to disregard their children's protests as so many natural, animallike attempts to have fun at their parents' expense.

Children and religion

"The Sixth Sense" shows Cole taking refuge in a church and in statues of Jesus and Mary—without any apparent encouragement from his mom. Interestingly, neither the church building nor the statues are any defense against ghost visitations.

Materialists do not believe in supernatural explanations for ghost sightings, so the issue of what Cole should do instead of going to the church and surrounding himself with Christian figurines is beside the point. More interesting is what "The Sixth Sense" is suggesting about the supposed intrinsic usefulness of religion for children. See the recent review of "Edges of the Lord" (2001) on MIM's Web site.

Supernatural horror movies that inculcuate fear in children and teach them to be dependent on adults and clergy for emotional support, information, and decision- making, will not be remade in a socialist people's republic. "The Sixth Sense" depicts Cole "talking back" to his mom, teacher, and Malcolm, but in the end, he is reconciled with all of them. The prevailing educational, family and psychiatric practices depicted in the movie are never questioned.

Psychiatry and children in the Third World

Eighteen years ago, MIM Notes(19) reported on psychiatry in China. According to the China Daily, experts said that schizophrenia and depression incidence rates had risen "because of new pressures to do well in exams and business." Two weeks ago, Xinhua(20) reported the Chinese Ministry of Health as saying that the incidence of mental illness in the Chinese population was 1.34%. Chinese health officials relate the increasing incidence of mental illness to social changes and conflicts, and pressure, and are concerned with the social economic costs of mental illness.

1.34% is actually very low compared with reported incidences of mental illness for the u.$. population, but in China, "nearly 10 per cent of children and adolescents in China are inflicted with depression"(21). Canadian Michael Philips, the executive director of the Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center, is concerned with alleged mental illness sufferers feeling too ashamed to seek psychiatric treatment(21).

Check out MIM Theory, no. 9: "Psychology and Imperialism."

Also see:

"Revolutionary feminism," on MIM's Web site

MCB52, 1995 June, "The oppression of children under patriarchy," on MIM's Web site

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Notes

1. Tim Dirks, 2004, "The decade's all-time box office leaders," on The greatest films, http://www.filmsite.org/boxoffice2.html

2. Tim Dirks, 2004, "Landmarks in classic Hollywood/American films," on The greatest films, http://www.filmsite.org/boxoffice.html

3. Bruce Nash, 2004 October 27, "Movie Records," on The numbers, http://www.the- numbers.com/movies/records/

4. Linda B. Sherby, 2002, "What if there were no ghosts: a dissociative perspective on The Sixth Sense," Psychoanalytic Review, 88(5), 725-743

5. "Myths and facts about mental illness," 1999 June 7, http://www.nimh.nih.gov/whitehouse/myths.asp

6. This reviewer is aware that there is no consensus of mental health professionals on whether all mental disorders have a neurobiological basis. The point is that such a view has been popularized.

7. "Defining schizophrenia," 2003, Pfizer Journal, 7(2), http://www.thepfizerjournal.com/default.asp?a=arti cle&j=tpj31&t=Defining%20Schizophrenia

8. Tipper Gore, 1999 May 10, "Drop the stigma : To keep kids from lashing out, parents must urge them to accept help," Time Magazine, vol. 15, no. 18, http://www.nimh.nih.gov/whitehouse/media1.asp

9. Peter Roger Breggin and Ginger Ross Breggin, 1998, The war against children of color: psychiatry targets inner-city youth, Monroe, ME, Common Courage Press

10. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder : Exposing the fraud of ADD and ADHD, http://www.adhdfraud.com/

11. "Interview Fred Baughman," 2004 May 4, on PBS's Web site, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/medi cating/interviews/baughman.html

12. Dan Kindlon and Michael Thompson, 1999, Raising Cain : Protecting the emotional life of boys, New York, Ballantine Books, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/- /0345424573?v=glance&vi=reviews

13. Jeanne Lenzer, 2004 June 21, "Bush plans to screen whole U.S. population for mental illness," on WorldNetDaily, http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTI CLE_ID=39078

14. Trena Blankenship, 2004 October 18, "Perpetrators of mental health screening bill need to have their heads examined," Illinois Leader, http://www.illinoisleader.com/letters/lettersview. asp?c=20348

Also see:

Rhonda Robinson, 2004 September 29, "Mental health screening plan due on Gov's desk Thursday," Illinois Leader, http://www.illinoisleader.com/news/newsview.asp?c= 19894

15. For example, compared with oppressed nationalities, Euro-Amerikan abuse survivors and juvenile offenders tend to have easier access to private treatment and rehabilitation facilities of their choice, but that does not mean that these facilities are institutions of and for gender-oppressed Euro- Amerikan children.

16. ConductDisorders.com, http://www.conductdisorders.com/

Also see:

Clinical Digital Libraries Project, "Oppositional defiant disorder patient/family resources," http://cchs- dl.slis.ua.edu/patientinfo/psychiatry/childhood/di sruptive/oppositional-defiant-disorder.htm

Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, 2004 September 20, "Conduct disorder," http://www.hmc.psu.edu/childrens/healthinfo/c/cond uctdisorder.htm

"Marxism-Leninism-Maoism online: 'Don't cut funding for special needs children'," 1996 September 1, MIM Notes, no. 121, http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/mn/mn.php?issue= 121

17. Darcy Lewis, 2003 August, "Healthy child : Pack well and don't medicate for convenience," Chicago Parent, http://www.chicagoparent.com/2003folders/0803/colu mns1.htm

18. Israel C. Kalman, "Mother nature's advice for abused parents," on From Bullies to Buddies, http://www.bullies2buddies.com/articles/mother_nat ure.html

Israel C. Kalman, "Mother nature's advice for abused parents : Why children drive their parents crazy," on From Bullies to Buddies, http://www.bullies2buddies.com/articles/mother_nat ure2.html

19. "China Daily: 'Mental ills on the rise in Shanghai'," 1986 September 2, MIM Notes, no. 26, http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/mn/mn.php?issue= 026

20. Xinhua News Agency, 2004 October 12, "Mental illness on the rise in China," on Xinhuanet.com, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004- 10/12/content_2082224.htm

21. Chen Zhiyong, 2004 October 9, "Healing mental illness of the young," China Daily, on Chinadaily.com.cn, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004- 10/09/content_380743.htm