Channel 4's documentry series 'Bedlam'

South London and Maudsley NHS trust recently allowed Channel 4 to film the happenings in their services. According to an article in The Guardian by Martin Baggaley, the purpose for the documentary was to 'show people what really happens here, as preconceptions about mental health care are often based on myth and misunderstanding.' (Baggaley 2013)

My initial reaction to the four part series was that of delight. How fantastic to get an insight into these otherwise secretive psychiatric wards! The general public need to know the affects of mental health, however, the more I began to reflect upon the series I feel Channel 4 have an agenda here.

What is their agenda? What is Channel 4 trying to convey to the audience?

It is after all a television series, which is there to provide entertainment and to bring in viewers. Questions of ethics soon entered my mind. Is it ethical to film people who are extremely vulnerable? I’m not sure if I have an answer to this question. I feel hypocritical thinking this as I personally enjoyed the series very much and felt this peek into the NHS is great for me as a trainee therapist. Although, confidentiality and ethics plays a huge part in my life as a trainee so I cannot help but question the ethics of the filmmakers.

These vulnerable people are clearly not in their healthy, right frame of mind otherwise they wouldn’t be there in the first place. So how can these patients possibly give consent to the production of filming? This makes me think about this idea in relation to consent in art therapy. More specifically relating this to working with children as this is my current client group. How can children really know what they are letting themselves in for when their parents allow the therapeutic process? Do the parents ever truly know?

I wonder about this because I’m about to meet my first client next week who doesn’t necessarily know he is going to be in art therapy. This raises many considerations on how I’m going to explain the therapeutic process to him, as he is very young. I hope proper explanation has been provided to the parents/guardians. These are all very real issues that lie within art therapy at school.

Bibliography

Baggaley, M (2013) 'Why we let Channel 4 film the series Bedlam in our mental health wards'. The Guardian [Online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/31/channel-4-film-bedlam-mental-health-wards [Accessed 11 December 2013]

Bedlam (2013) Channel 4, 31 October. 9pm

Channel 4 (2013) I didn't mean it Bedlam (Ep2) Channel 4 [video online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_jOgSRaUsc [Accessed 11 December 2013]