In a world where not even Netflix has enough content to sustain our fickle attention spans (the streaming giant is apparently losing subscribers faster than a Bridgerton character’s clothes fall off), we’ve had to find a new form of late-night entertainment: catching up on today’s celebrity court hearings. For the last week or so we have been dealing with the wormhole in another dimension which is the Wagatha Christie trial in the High Courtbut if that has begun to bore you, I have news for you: today, after a break of a week, Johnny Depp v Amber Heard roars back to lifeto deliver us a more amazing Deposition (see what I did there?).
Like most people, I am realizing that truth is often much stranger than fiction. And the truth is this, in the case of Depp and Heard: we’d all be a lot better off if they had spent their money on some decent therapy, before donating the rest to charity. Instead, Depp has chosen to chase his ex-wife to the brink of insanity, and many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people have happily joined him on the journey. Social networks buzz with posts and videos explaining why Johnny is innocent. This is apparently a libel suit. But really, it’s a modern day witch trial.
Early in the proceedings, we heard from a forensic psychologist that Heard most likely had borderline personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder. Dr. Shannon Curry had been called as a witness for Depp and said she had made the assessment based on an examination of Heard’s previous psychological evaluations, along with direct examination on two occasions and participation in a Personality Inventory test. Minnesota multiphasic (MMPI). Curry also disputed Heard’s claims that her relationship left her with PTSD, announcing that the condition is one of the easiest to fake.
What is the message here, other than that the mentally ill cannot be believed or trusted? And there is another reading that could come out of this testimony: that if Depp misbehaved in some way, then Heard pushed him to do so. He is nothing more than an innocent victim of a sick woman.
But there is nothing worse than using mental illness as a metaphorical stick to beat someone up in court. It’s cheap, it’s tacky, and it’s dangerous. We know, for example, that the mentally ill are much more vulnerable to abuse than most. And it sets the mental health campaign back decades because implicit in this judgment is the notion that someone with BPD or HPD is bad, rather than a human being with a problem who deserves compassion and help.
It’s also troubling how many people I’ve heard say they don’t like Heard, as if liking someone is the benchmark for deciding whether or not we should take their concerns seriously. There is a surprising lack of human empathy, not to mention understanding, when a person complains of abuse, and all we can do in return is shrug our shoulders and point out that the person is difficult, so what do you expect?
There is something deeply disturbing about a justice system that not only allows this kind of pathetic public posturing, but also seems to actively encourage it. What are these highly educated attorneys doing happily accepting payment from people who literally have more money than common sense? There is a good place for people like Depp and Heard, and it is not a court. It is a treatment center, where with some hope, both can recover.
Doctors really know best
We’ve just recovered from a particularly nasty bout of stomach flu at home, no thanks to the internet. Lying on the bathroom floor on the fourth day of illness, I grabbed my phone and asked Instagram what I should do. Look, I was desperate, and the Imodium just wasn’t working. “Does anyone have any home remedies?” I croaked into my camera.
Ten minutes later, dozens of people had told me to take activated charcoal. Apparently it would bind to the lurgy in my stomach and expel it. My husband, fortunately untouched by the bug, went to Holland & Barrett and returned with a bottle of the aforementioned charcoal. I drank it in water, trying not to gag, and waited for this miracle cure to work its magic on him.
It didn’t happen. In fact, it only seemed to get worse. When I relayed this to my followers, they seemed quite offended on behalf of the activated charcoal, telling me that it is “supposed to make things worse” and that I should “take more, until it stops”. But at this point, I had decided it was best to ignore the internet and follow my doctor’s advice, who pointed out that the only real “cure” for such bugs is to simply let them run their course. Who would say that in medical matters, it is always better to listen to a qualified professional and not to strangers on social networks?
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