Art by J im Paterson
FEELING GOOD
High•Tech Mental Health
A plethora of audio cassettes and
videotapes promise to help you with
any of life's problems, from losing
weight to feeling ok.
JANET RUTH FALON
Special to The Jewish News
D
o-it-yourself psycho-
logy used to be lim-
ited to books with
how-to titles and a variety of
claims that the ideas contain-
ed within would help make
your world better. With the
technological revolution, the
market has expanded. Now,
self-help information is
available via audio cassettes
and videotapes. The topics ad-
dressed on these tapes in-
clude relaxation, weight con-
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 1988
trol, stress management, how
to attract love and/or money,
and overall quality-of-life im-
provement. Some allow
leaders of pop psychology,
such as Leo Buscaglia or
Scott Peck, to share their
wisdom.
The high-tech devices are
advertised everywhere, in
publications as respectable as
Psychology Today and profes-
sional journals as well as in
glossy brochures mailed to
you if you've ever put your
name on a mailing list for a
"new age"-type of product.
Howard Friedman, a Birm-
ingham psychiatrist and
medical director of Woodside
Hospital in Pontiac, points
out that there are a wide
variety of "high-tech tapes."
"They can range from the
subliminal to didactic or lec-
ture tapes. They can be
helpful as a general, informa-
tional exercise," says Fried-
man. Friedman notes that
tapes have benefits, but they
are not to be confused with
psychotherapy.
High-tech mental health
has even hit the computer
software market. For in-
stance, Mindscape, Inc., a soft-
ware company based in Nor-
thbrook, Ill., markets The
Luscher Profile, a personality
test based on preferences for
various colors, shades and
shapes. Developed in 1947 by
Dr. Max Luscher, a Swiss psy-
chologist, the test has been
available for several years in
book form. In computer form,
The Luscher Profile involves
marking responses to a series
of tests from which emerges
— instantaneously! — a pro-
file of the factors that define
the test-taker's current ap-
proach to work, relationships
and life in general. The
results are interesting,
sometimes uncannily on
target, and aside from self-
knowledge, make for a great
party game.
"Most people buy it as a pop
psychological tool," says
Karen Novak, a Mindscape
spokesperson. "And that's
how it was marketed. The ad
featured an eye looking
through a hole in a disk and
the words 'who you really are
is worth looking into.' "
Bob Griswold is president of
Effective Learning Systems,
Inc., of Edina, Minn., a school
that develops and sells a vari-