Combining Aesthetic and Psychological Approaches to TV Series Addiction


Book Description

This book establishes, and then analyses, the interrelation between series and dependence by focusing on two aspects of their connection: the overconsumption of TV series, and the production devices that lead to it. Due to its two-sided nature, the volume brings together specialists from different backgrounds. On the one hand, it involves people working with addiction, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, whose analytical tools and statistics are extremely useful in assessing the prevalence of TV series addiction, as well as its consequences, in order to make sense of its mechanics. For similar reasons, the authors also include professionals working with children and teenagers, since youths under 18 are largely affected by addictive tendencies. On the other hand, other contributions here are authored by TV series specialists, producers and scriptwriters, as well as academics in the fields of film and TV series studies, cultural studies, and narratology. Their specific perspectives on the topic help better understand what it is about the construction or reception of TV series that aims to create, maintain, amplify, or, on the contrary, curb their ingrained addictive effects.




Latinx TV in the Twenty-First Century


Book Description

Latinx TV in the Twenty-First Century offers an expansive and critical look at contemporary television by and about U.S. Latinx communities. This volume is comprehensive in its coverage while diving into detailed and specific examples as it navigates the complex and ever-changing world of Latinx representation and creation in television. In this volume, editor Frederick Luis Aldama brings together leading experts who show how Latinx TV is shaped by historical, social, cultural, regional, and global contexts. Contributors address head on harmful stereotypes in Latinx representation while giving key insights to a positive path forward. TV narratives by and about Latinx people exist across all genres. In this century, we see Latinx people in sitcoms, sci-fi, noir, soap operas, rom-coms, food shows, dramas, action-adventure, and more. Latinx people appear in television across all formats, from quick webisodes, to serialized big-arc narratives, to animation and everything in between. The diverse array of contributors to this volume delve into this rich landscape of Latinx TV from 2000 to today, spanning the ever-widening range of genres and platforms. Latinx TV in the Twenty-First Century argues that Latinx TV is not just television—it’s an entire movement. Digital spaces and streaming platforms today have allowed for Latinx representation on TV that speaks to Latinx people and non-Latinx people alike, bringing rich and varied Latinx cultures into mainstream television and addressing urbanization, immigration, family life, language, politics, gender, sexuality, class, race, and ethnicity. Once heavily underrepresented and harmfully stereotypical, Latinx representation on TV is beginning to give careful nuance to regional, communal, and familial experiences among U.S. Latinx people. This volume unpacks the negative implications of older representation and celebrates the progress of new representation, recognizing that television has come a long way, but there is still a lot of important work to do for truly diverse and inclusive representation.




Adapting Margaret Atwood


Book Description

This book engages with Margaret Atwood’s work and its adaptations. Atwood has long been appreciated for her ardent defence of Canadian authors and her genre-bending fiction, essays, and poetry. However, a lesser-studied aspect of her work is Atwood’s role both as adaptor and as source for adaptation in media as varied as opera, television, film, or comic books. Recent critically acclaimed television adaptations of the novels The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu) and Alias Grace (Amazon) have rightfully focused attention on these works, but Atwood’s fiction has long been a source of inspiration for artists of various media, a seeming corollary to Atwood’s own tendency to explore the possibilities of previously undervalued media (graphic novels), genres (science-fiction), and narratives (testimonial and historical modes). This collection hopes to expand on other studies of Atwood’s work or on their adaptations to focus on the interplay between the two, providing an interdisciplinary approach that highlights the protean nature of the author and of adaptation.




A Critical Companion to Stanley Kubrick


Book Description

A Critical Companion to Stanley Kubrick offers a thorough and detailed study of the films of the legendary director. Labeled a recluse, a provocateur, and a perfectionist, Kubrick revolutionized filmmaking, from the use of music in film, narrative pacing and structure, to depictions of war and violence. An unparalleled visionary, his work continues to influence contemporary cinema and visual culture. This book delves into the complexities of his work and examines the wide range of topics and the multiple interpretations that his films inspire. The eighteen chapters in this book use a wide range of methodologies and explore new trends of research in film studies, providing a series of unique and novel perspectives on all of Kubrick’s thirteen feature films, from Fear and Desire (1953) to Eyes Wide Shut (1999), as well as his work on A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001).




The Psychology of Binge Watching TV


Book Description

This fascinating work provides an up-to-date examination of shifts in the nature and impact of TV and video watching that have largely been driven by non-linear TV and video services online. The book reviews research evidence from around the world about the physical and behavioural shift of viewing away from linear and towards non-linear TV and video services. It studies the psychological factors that underpin and drive this shift and the impact of binge-watching behaviour on people’s physical and psychological health and social relationships. Along the way, it differentiates between "binge-watching" and "heavy-viewing" and considers binge-watching as a distinctive form of TV/video use that has its own reasons of occurrence and impacts. The Psychology of Binge Watching TV is aimed principally at students and academics interested in psychology, media, mental health and other related disciplines. It will also interest any readers looking to understand more about the psychology behind binge-watching and the potentially positive and negative effects on audiences.




Internet and Mobile Phone Addiction


Book Description

Internet use-related addiction problems (e.g., Internet addiction, problem mobile phone use, problem gaming, and social networking) have been defined according to the same core element: the addictive symptomatology presented by individuals who excessively and problematically behave using the technology. Online activity is the most important factor in their lives, causing them the loss of control by stress and difficulties in managing at least one aspect of their daily life, affecting users’ wellbeing and health. In 2018, Gaming Disorder was included as a mental disease in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases by the World Health Organization. In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association requested additional research on Internet Gaming Disorder. The papers contained in this e-Book provide unique and original perspectives on the concept, development, and early detection of the prevention of these health problems. They are diverse in the nature of the problems they deal with, methodologies, populations, cultures, and contain insights and a clear indication of the impact of individual, social, and environmental factors on Internet use-related addiction problems. The e-Book illustrates recent progress in the evolution of research, with great emphasis on gaming and smartphone problems, signaling areas in which research would be useful, even cross-culturally.




In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts


Book Description

A “thought-provoking and powerful” study that reframes everything you’ve been taught about addiction and recovery—from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Myth of Normal (Bruce Perry, author of The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog). A world-renowned trauma expert combines real-life stories with cutting-edge research to offer a holistic approach to understanding addiction—its origins, its place in society, and the importance of self-compassion in recovery. Based on Gabor Maté’s two decades of experience as a medical doctor and his groundbreaking work with people with addiction on Vancouver’s skid row, this #1 international bestseller radically re-envisions a much misunderstood condition by taking a compassionate approach to substance abuse and addiction recovery. In the same vein as Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts traces the root causes of addiction to childhood trauma and examines the pervasiveness of addiction in society. Dr. Maté presents addiction not as a discrete phenomenon confined to an unfortunate or weak-willed few, but as a continuum that runs throughout—and perhaps underpins—our society. It is not a medical “condition” distinct from the lives it affects but rather the result of a complex interplay among personal history, emotional and neurological development, brain chemistry, and the drugs and behaviors of addiction. Simplifying a wide array of brain and addiction research findings from around the globe, the book avoids glib self-help remedies, instead promoting a thorough and compassionate self-understanding as the first key to healing and wellness. Dr. Maté argues persuasively against contemporary health, social, and criminal justice policies toward addiction and how they perpetuate the War on Drugs. The mix of personal stories—including the author’s candid discussion of his own “high-status” addictive tendencies—and science with positive solutions makes the book equally useful for lay readers and professionals.




The Silent Patient


Book Description

**THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** "An unforgettable—and Hollywood-bound—new thriller... A mix of Hitchcockian suspense, Agatha Christie plotting, and Greek tragedy." —Entertainment Weekly The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive. Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word. Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London. Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....




It's Complicated


Book Description

Surveys the online social habits of American teens and analyzes the role technology and social media plays in their lives, examining common misconceptions about such topics as identity, privacy, danger, and bullying.




Psychology of Physical Activity


Book Description

The positive benefits of physical activity for physical and mental health are now widely acknowledged, yet levels of physical inactivity continue to be a major concern throughout the world. Understanding the psychology of physical activity has therefore become an important issue for scientists, health professionals and policy-makers alike as they address the challenge of behaviour change. Psychology of Physical Activity provides comprehensive and in-depth coverage of the fundamentals of exercise psychology, from mental health, to theories of motivation and adherence, and to the design of successful interventions for increasing participation. Now publishing in a fully revised, updated and expanded fourth edition, Psychology of Physical Activity is still the only textbook to offer a full survey of the evidence base for theory and practice in exercise psychology, and the only textbook that explains how to interpret the quality of the research evidence. As the field continues to grow rapidly, the new edition expands the behavioural science content of numerous important topics, including physical activity and cognitive functioning, automatic and affective frameworks for understanding physical activity involvement, new interventions designed to increase physical activity (including use of new technologies), and sedentary behaviour. A full companion website offers useful features to help students and lecturers get the most out of the book during their course, including multiple-choice revision questions, PowerPoint slides and a test bank of additional learning activities. Psychology of Physical Activity is the most authoritative, engaging and up-to-date book on exercise psychology currently available. It is essential reading for all students working in behavioural medicine, as well as the exercise and health sciences.