DOCTORS ’ NOTES
L continued from p5
readers learn to gain mindful awareness of the triggers that prompt us to eat when we ’ re not hungry .
Paying attention to what we ’ re feeling before we open that bag of chips — a grumbling stomach versus , say , boredom or stress — is the first step in changing our behavior . But Brewer reassures us that if we eat the chips even though we ’ re not hungry , that ’ s not a failure ; it ’ s a learning opportunity . An apt analogy brings the message home : “ Awareness is to habits as yeast is to bread ,” he writes . “[ I ] t is an essential ingredient for change to happen .” — Phoebe Hall
Stephanie Hartselle
Script Doctor to the Rescue
A practicing psychiatrist moonlights as a consultant to screenwriters . BY KATIE LIESENER
By day , Stephanie Hartselle , MD , is a clinical associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown with a private practice in Providence . By night , she ’ s a superhero — saving TV and film scripts from insensitive and hackneyed depictions of mental illness and therapy .
How did you get involved in this work ? I ’ m a media spokesperson for the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , and sometimes I ’ ll speak about social media and streaming programs that portray mental illness in a less-than-dignified way . Through that work , I was contacted by a director who works for Sundance . I also lecture first-year medical students and tend to use movie clips to demonstrate how personality disorders or different types of episodic mood disorders can be portrayed well or mistakenly . One of the students I taught happened to be close friends with a producer .
What kinds of projects have you consulted on ? I either get sci-fi or comics . It ’ s not the genre I watch . The first large movie I consulted on was about [ the DC comic character ] Harley Quinn . But all I knew was that it was called Birds of Prey . I remember turning to my husband and saying , “ I think they want me to consult on a bird documentary .”
PHOTOGRAPHY ( THIS PAGE ): COURTESY OF STEPHANIE HARTSELLE . ( OPPOSITE PAGE ): COURTESY OF TOUSSAINT LAB ; BROWN UNIVERSITY .
How does your psychiatric expertise come into play with these fantastical storylines ? I typically consult on how character personalities would develop . So for example , they might ask , “ How would this kind of trauma affect a child who grew up with no parental kindness or warmth ?” I have to do a lot of research to figure out whether a personality disorder could develop and how that might play out in front of a camera . Everyone has been very interested and respectful of the thoughts I have to share .
Do you have a particular pet peeve when it comes to onscreen depictions of mental illness and its treatment ? The portrayal of therapists , clinicians , and physicians in dynamics that are absolute breaches of our ethics . Romantic involvement with a patient comes up a lot . I consulted on a script once where a therapist was also best friends with her patient . I kept saying , “ This cannot happen .” It ’ s unethical to show this and not comment on how it ’ s inappropriate .
6 HEALTH DISCOVERIES @ BROWN l WINTER 2025