Maury on Phobias

[Babydoll]

Okay, I know I shouldn't be watching this crap, but its actually entertaining and I realize most, if not all, of it is not real. I like these shows cause they are kind of cheesy and funny. I always like the "whose the daddy" ones.


the other night maury did a show on phobias. I was absolutlely disgusted in the way he portrayed these people. For starters, most of the people he picked were afraid of really ODD things. Mustard, pickles, balloons, and so on. The only really "normal" one was of a woman who was afraid of dogs.


He brought them out one by one and asked them many questions about why they were afraid, which sturred (sp?) up their anxiety. Then, BAM , out of nowhere, he would bring out the thing they were afraid of, with no warning, like it was supposed to "help" them. The people with phobias reacted by running around, screaming, crying, it was horrible. This was obviously done to get a rise out of the audience, because the audience thought it was halarious.This is NOT how you make someone face a fear. Its cruel and not funny in the least.


After this was done to each guest, he brought out a "success coach" ( no PhD tohis name, either) who claimed he could cure them in an hour. while this guy did know a tiny bit of pyschology, it was no more than I could have learned in my very first year of intro pysch.


So, aparently it worked. all the guests at the end actually held the things they were afraid of, and displayed no fear.


----------------------------------------


I have no doubt this was entirely put on, but it made me very very angry. It was like they were downplaying a fear, and putting on a freak show. I felt sorry for these people, if they actually had fears.


anyways I just felt like posting all this. I'm SO mad!





Edited by: Babydoll

[purpleteacher]

I have seen an episode of his show like this before many years ago (I used to watch talk-shows all the time, but rarely anymore). I thought it was funny, but I also have to remember that the people on the show are usually wanting attention of some-sort --- so I don't feel sorry for what happens to them. They are perfectly aware they are going to be on national television and should be prepared for whatever comes their way. The incentives people receive for being willing to "share their story" and for them to get their "15 minutes of fame" is kind of ridiculous.


In terms of them being *cured* in one hour, it could have been staged or the participants could simply be responding to the placebo effect. The credibility of some talk-shows is very "ify", especially with shows whose theme for the day is something so common that most people can relate to some degree (almost everyone has a phobia of some sort).

[hippychick]

I've seen it before and I also thought it was cruel, I mean if they are for real and someone could cure your emet in an hour you'd go on right? I know I would. But the odds on it being for real are kinda slim. I thought it was sick tht the audience found it as funny as they did.

[jennyleigh1975]

You mean Maury actually had something on besides ................ "Whose my babies Daddy?" LOL!!!!

Seriously though, making fun of these peoples phobias was just plain cruel. If someone brought out, or showed me my biggest fear without some kind of a warning, on national tv no less, I would run around and scream too!!!!

[purpleteacher]

You mean Maury actually had something on besides ................ "Whose my babies Daddy?" LOL!!!!

Seriously though, making fun of these peoples phobias was just plain cruel. If someone brought out, or showed me my biggest fear without some kind of a warning, on national tv no less, I would run around and scream too!!!!

The guests on the show came on their willingly and they deserve what they get for publically putting themselves out there. A show like Maury isn't exactly like going on Dr. Phil or Oprah! Seriously... I have no pity for people who go on talk-shows because they are literally asking for embarrassment to some degree. I understand for some it is a last resort, but pick and chose wisely who you want to have your name attached to. Maury, probably not - Oprah, greater possiblity.

[crimgoddess]

Other than the going to Oprah thing (I think Oprah is one of the greatest evils of our time), I completely agree with Teacher. They must have seen the show and known what was going to happen. Besides "who my baby's daddy?", "my teen is a skank-ho", and "from geeky to strippah!", those phobia shows pop up every few months. That, and if you weren't the first guest, would you not realize what they were going to do after seeing it happen to the others?


I guess the free trip to new york really entices people to agree to some crazy stuff


*amber*

[junglemonkey]

This always happens.


I watched a show on phobias on the Tyra Banks show (terrible show that is! LOL) and this woman had a fear of pennies... And OH they got a tank and filled it up with pennies, putting an expensive watch in the middle. The woman then (after a couple of tears and a few shakes of the hand) managed to overcome this "crippling" phobia. Clearly, we would all quickly overcome emet if we were offered material things/money.


Everyone has fears, not phobias. I don't like spiders, I jump when I see one and I might leave the room, but I'm definitely not phobic - it doesn't alter my life. Does that make sense?


However, I saw bits of a show on phobias/panic attacks Oprah did yeaaaars ago... Still haven't seen the actual thing (it was with Jonathon Knight for New Kids on the Block) and it looked very reasonable compared to most. The people on the show (I think one woman was agoraphobic)were led through graded exposure for a week with someone who was qualified and they didn't make it out to be weird but recognised it for the illness it is!


I'm generally very interested in watching the perception of anxiety/panic/phobia in the media. Normally it's completely wrong lol - did anyone see the storyline with Cameron having OCD in Hollyoaks in the Uk? Evidence enough!

[purpleteacher]

Other than the going to Oprah thing (I think Oprah is one of the greatest evils of our time), I completely agree with Teacher. They must have seen the show and known what was going to happen. Besides "who my baby's daddy?", "my teen is a skank-ho", and "from geeky to strippah!", those phobia shows pop up every few months. That, and if you weren't the first guest, would you not realize what they were going to do after seeing it happen to the others?


I guess the free trip to new york really entices people to agree to some crazy stuff


*amber*

Don't worry... I still love you, even if you hate Oprah [img]smileys/smilies_02.gif[/img]

[crimgoddess]

[/QUOTE]


Don't worry... I still love you, even if you hate Oprah [img]smileys/smilies_02.gif[/img]


[/QUOTE]





Hehehehe- Thanks dah-ling [img]smileys/smilies_02.gif[/img]


*amber*

[laneyb]

Hi jungle monkey!!


YesI saw the portrayal of Cameron having OCD, he seemed to overcome certain things very quick!!! I think TV thinks they should include things like OCD but then have absolutely no idea of how to show it or what to do.


God now Im sad, I have outed myself as a watcher of Hollyoaks..........


Laney

[chicajojobe]

Well of all the people to go to for help with your phobia that crackpot is probably one of the last ones you should.



He brings out cats or dogs or whatever the person is afraid of, not to
help them get over it, but to make them freakout because then it's more
of a spectacle. The people who actually helps the phobics get over are
experts who do it off camera with the normal step by step process. Pay
no attention to him, he's daytime talkshow scum.

[samara's on tv]

Yeah I remember this one time I was watching Maury and this girl was afraid of daisies or something. So he brought one out and held it to her and she completely freaked out. Then she went off with some person and came back later in the show and she was able to hold the daisy. I was like, what kind of BS is this? There's NO WAY you can overcome a phobia THAT severe in an hour...I don't know it's just too weird for me. But just think, if one of us EMETS come on, do you really think they would bring someone on stage to V*? Or force us to drink ipecac? I mean really what could they do? LoL


~Monica

[sage]

wow - I've never seen the word Oprah and the word evil in the same sentence! lol


I got her 20th anniversary DVD collection for Christmas - 6 DVDs and sat here for like 20 hours watching the whole thing. I thought it was the most wonderful human tribute I'd ever seen. What a life full of meaning! I wanna BE her!


I can see people who don't really like her or whatever but...evil? What's that about?

[gubba]

I must agree with Sage....Oprah helps so many people and is such a selfless giver that it seems odd to use the word "EVIL" in the same paragraph with Oprah let alone in the same sentence. Dislike and calling someone Evil are 2 very different things and I would be surprised to find many people who could catagorize Oprah as "EVIL"

[Babydoll]

I love oprah. I think she is trying to use her power, to influence people, the best way she can.


I would never in a million years put her in the same category as Maury.


I think its just sad how some talk shows use people to get ratings.. and don't care about them afterwards. I really belive oprah would never ever do this.

[japa]

Well, hmmmm, I could easily take offense to the comments in this thread about appearing on television talk shows, since as I have mentioned before, I went on the Dr. Phil show in August of 2005, and the show aired in October and December of 2005.


I knew what I was doing. I am quite the skeptic and cynic in many ways. But I do believe that many people who go on Dr. Phil do actually want to receive help from him. He bugs me in a way, so help wasn't what I was seeking. Really, I have no idea what I was seeking, but when the Dr. Phil staff started calling me, asking me questions all day long, and then invited me to appear on the show, I thought to myself, "what a bore it would be to say 'no.'"


Anyway, I'm not offended by what anyone says about the types of people who appear on talk shows. I just said that I could be if I was sensitive like that.


But believe it or not, I am just a regular old person with a system of ethics and morals and everything else, and I went on a talk show! [img]smileys/smilies_03.gif[/img] Beware! With reality TV as pervasive as it is, the reality TV androids may walk amongst you, and you may never know it (unless you caught that particular episode and have a good eye for faces). In fact, I know thatone of the winners of Project Runway lurks in the shopping village in Houston that I frequent all the time. I'm keeping a lookout for that lowlife who exploited herself on TV like that so that I can avoid tainting myself with any further 15 minutes of famers. I hope to exorcise myself of the demons that forced me to debase myself by appearing on the Dr. Phil show. lol

[kristi425]

Yea, I stopped watching Maury after I saw one of those episodes. It totally made me angry as well. If someone is legitimately afraid of something, the last thing that needs to happen is that they appear on public tv, exposed to whatever they're afraid of, only to have an entire public audience laugh histarically as they react to it.


Of course the people are afraid of rediclous things like bandaids and balloons too. You never see someone who's say an emet on there because they're not gonna show somebody holding v- at the end. Whatever.


For my sake, I like saying that it's all a show and an act put on by the people who are scared. It makes me less angry that way...I guess it's not fair to all of us who have real phobias and having the rest of the world thinking it's hilarious to tease us about it and it can be cured for real in an hour. But then at least I don't have to think that they put someone with a real phobia in that situation in public.

[crimgoddess]

Ahhh.......you want to hear my Oprah = evil rationale.


In a nutshell, she believes she is and is portrayed as an authority within North American society. SHe is prone to making unsubstantiated and sweeping generalizations, which are then gobbled up by many watchers as 'truth' - because if OPRAH says it it MUST be true! I can handle it when it comes to day to day minutia, but when it happens in relation to a topic I happen to know a LOT about, work and volunteer within, and have read a great deal of the literature ON, it angers and frustrates me.


I volunteer with men convicted of sex offences who are now in the community, have done a placement in a clinical setting with these individuals, and am currently conducting research on this topic for my masters degree. If there is anything I have learned is that these individuals are NOT all the same. For Oprah, with all her influence, to go on her little soapbox and promote the ideal that they can't be treated and that they all should be incapacitated is completely damaging. Part of what prevents these men from re-offending is being able to form positive relationships within the community and feel as though they are part of something. This further promotes the notion that no matter what these people are the deviant 'other'.


Yep, sexual abuse is horrible and a pervasive problem in our society- no arguments there. Yes, effort should be made to apprehend the perpetrators- mostly so they can get help, and begiven the tools they need to live a healthy crime-free lifestyle. But the 'Oprah' mentalityofa sex offender is a sex offender, and theyshould NEVER be allowed back into the community isjust exacerbating an already bad situation, and leading to a higher propensity for recidivism.


On a completely different note, there is always the issue of mass consumerism- anything stamped with the "Oprah" approval is consumed by the masses, whether it be good or bad. EVen her charity work (where the money is the result of our consumerist habits)- to me it's debatable as to whether this is something she does out of her own heart, or that gives her more positive PR and brings more people into her fold (who are in turn going to buy more of the products she pimps out). It even manages to silence the critics, because then you are criticized for disagreeing with someone who does so much 'good'! (as I have noticed above)


The icing on the cake for me was the whole James Frey incident, and how quick Oprah was to change her story when the tide of public opinion turned. First she offered support.....but then he's a no good liar? I agree with Bruce Willis on this one- completely inappropriate as to how he was treated when he returned to the show. I even tuned in for that one, namely because I was curious as to how that was going to go down.


Well.....that is the coles notes version- I shall step off my soapbox now. I really don't expect anyone to agree with me, but that's aiight.


*Amber*

[Babydoll]

japa, I wasn't aware you were on the Dr.Phil show. I LOVE dr. Phil, im totally obsessed with him, haha.


I never meant to say there are a certain type of people who go on these shows. Dr Phil and Maury are not even on the same page, or book for that matter, when it comes to actually helping people. ( as far as I can see).


The big difference in these shows is the type of "help" people get. In my opinion, Dr Phil seems to care about what he does, while Maury does it for the ratings alone.


I didn't mean to offend you when I wrote this post, my main point was not the people on the show, but Maury himself was a jerk for doing what he's doing.


I think thats great you went on Dr..phil and I would faint if I ever met him. I think he's god. haha.

[japa]

Oh no, it's just fine, Babydoll. I wasn't at all offended. I was just kind of playing around with my post, sort of tongue in cheek, and making fun of myself. Everything's fine. And I will say that Dr. Phil doesn't do nearly as many "who my baby daddy" shows, so he's a more likeable fellow in that way.

japa, I wasn't aware you were on the Dr.Phil show. I LOVE dr. Phil, im totally obsessed with him, haha.


I never meant to say there are a certain type of people who go on these shows. Dr Phil and Maury are not even on the same page, or book for that matter, when it comes to actually helping people. ( as far as I can see).


The big difference in these shows is the type of "help" people get. In my opinion, Dr Phil seems to care about what he does, while Maury does it for the ratings alone.


I didn't mean to offend you when I wrote this post, my main point was not the people on the show, but Maury himself was a jerk for doing what he's doing.


I think thats great you went on Dr..phil and I would faint if I ever met him. I think he's god. haha.

[Galadriel]

Ahhh.......you want to hear my Oprah = evil rationale.


In a nutshell, she believes she is and is portrayed as an authority within North American society. SHe is prone to making unsubstantiated and sweeping generalizations, which are then gobbled up by many watchers as 'truth' - because if OPRAH says it it MUST be true! I can handle it when it comes to day to day minutia, but when it happens in relation to a topic I happen to know a LOT about, work and volunteer within, and have read a great deal of the literature ON, it angers and frustrates me.


I volunteer with men convicted of sex offences who are now in the community, have done a placement in a clinical setting with these individuals, and am currently conducting research on this topic for my masters degree. If there is anything I have learned is that these individuals are NOT all the same. For Oprah, with all her influence, to go on her little soapbox and promote the ideal that they can't be treated and that they all should be incapacitated is completely damaging. Part of what prevents these men from re-offending is being able to form positive relationships within the community and feel as though they are part of something. This further promotes the notion that no matter what these people are the deviant 'other'.


Yep, sexual abuse is horrible and a pervasive problem in our society- no arguments there. Yes, effort should be made to apprehend the perpetrators- mostly so they can get help, and begiven the tools they need to live a healthy crime-free lifestyle. But the 'Oprah' mentalityofa sex offender is a sex offender, and theyshould NEVER be allowed back into the community isjust exacerbating an already bad situation, and leading to a higher propensity for recidivism.


On a completely different note, there is always the issue of mass consumerism- anything stamped with the "Oprah" approval is consumed by the masses, whether it be good or bad. EVen her charity work (where the money is the result of our consumerist habits)- to me it's debatable as to whether this is something she does out of her own heart, or that gives her more positive PR and brings more people into her fold (who are in turn going to buy more of the products she pimps out). It even manages to silence the critics, because then you are criticized for disagreeing with someone who does so much 'good'! (as I have noticed above)


The icing on the cake for me was the whole James Frey incident, and how quick Oprah was to change her story when the tide of public opinion turned. First she offered support.....but then he's a no good liar? I agree with Bruce Willis on this one- completely inappropriate as to how he was treated when he returned to the show. I even tuned in for that one, namely because I was curious as to how that was going to go down.


Well.....that is the coles notes version- I shall step off my soapbox now. I really don't expect anyone to agree with me, but that's aiight.


*Amber*

I agree some with what you are saying. What gets me is, if she wants to be such a big help (and is such a big help giving and such), why does she always have to do it with a TVcamera in her face? I mean millions of people do good and give to charities everyday, but they don't do it with a camera in their face. To me (this is just how I see it), its like "hey world look at ME and MY giving! See how good I am?


I feel that if she really wanted to give from the heart, she wouldn't need to broadcast it, she would just quietly do it, at least without it being televized.


I remember watching the whole Katrina aftermath, and seeing her on tv shown hugging a young girl and reaching out her hand and others flocking to her, and I think she also reunited a family. I mean all of this is good and great, but it kind of demeans it to me that the camera has to like zoom in on her crying face.


This is just how I see it, this isn't meant to start anything.

[Galadriel]

To the OP, I saw that Maury show, and I too was upset at how they brought out what the person was most afraid of and the audience laughed uproarously as the phobic person hopped around and yelled and criedtrying to get away from the feared object.


Granted, these people are asking for it in a way going on national TV to get help rather than to a liscenced therapist or some such to get proper help. Its debatable also whether these people really do have phobias or if they are just acting like it to make a TV show (I suspect this mainly because they got over the fears so fast, theres no way a true phobic could get over it that quick.


I mainly wanted to see how the woman with the fear of balloons (popping) would do, because I have this same fear.

[crimgoddess]

Galadriel- I completely agree with everything you said. It's almost like having the cameras there made the Katrina survivors part of her PR. And of course, reinforces the idea that god forbid you not like Oprah- look at the GOOD she does! (lol- and because she is such a good person- you should buy her books/maganizes/etc.)


*amber*

[Babydoll]

hehe amber, I some how get the feeling you may not like oprah? hehe *jk*.

[crimgoddess]

lol- Jill, please don't induct me into the cult......I will resist damnit! [img]smileys/smilies_02.gif[/img]


*amber*