[xmca] PBS series on human emotions

[Steve Gabosch <stevegabosch@me.com>]

This three part PBS series on human emotions begins tonight January 4.
- Steve



Monday, January 4, 2010 - Page updated at 12:16 AM

Paul Allen


Richard Hutton


Andrew Meltzoff

TV preview
"This Emotional Life"
The program airs today at 9 p.m. and continues for two more nights on  
KCTS (Channel 9) in Seattle. More information atwww.pbs.org/ 
thisemotionallife, www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova andwww.clearblueskyfilms.com

Paul Allen-conceived PBS series looks at human emotions
By Kristi Heim
Seattle Times business reporter
What is the secret to happiness? Even billionaire philanthropists want  
to know.

Just in time for the post-holiday doldrums, a new documentary  
conceived by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen aims to shed light on  
that question.

Coproduced by Allen's Vulcan Productions and NOVA/WGBH Science Unit,  
the three-part series, "This Emotional Life," begins tonight on PBS.

The project explores the cutting-edge science that unravels some of  
the mysteries of human emotion, such as how infants form early  
attachments that determine lifelong emotional health, and how  
therapists use eye movement to help people reprocess disturbing  
memories.

But Allen wanted to go further, pairing scientific knowledge with  
personal stories and practical resources to help people cope.

The project includes online tools and multimedia and kicks off a two- 
year outreach to young parents and military families. Parents can  
connect with others and get information about early learning, and  
military families can get support and resources to deal with post- 
traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), for example.

Allen said he was pleased with the results.

"I hope everyone benefits from this series and it provokes new  
thoughts on how we can improve our lives," he wrote in an e-mail.  
"Some of the stories the participants tell us are moving examples of  
how we can all work at finding a better emotional balance in our lives  
— just like we work to get physically fit."

Hosted by Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert, the series covers the  
importance of social relationships to humans, ways to confront fear,  
anxiety and other obstacles, and the pursuit of happiness.

It combines personal stories of ordinary people, such as a cancer  
survivor, and interviews with celebrities about their emotional  
challenges, including actor Chevy Chase, "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry  
David and "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric.

For Allen, whose eclectic interests include brain research and  
extraterrestrial life, it all started with a trip to Harvard about  
five years ago.

He said he was stunned to learn how many of the brightest college  
students took prescription drugs for depression and anxiety.

That realization turned a budding idea for a project involving mental  
health into plans for the documentary, said Richard Hutton, Vulcan  
senior executive producer.

Allen himself has had a challenging past year. In November, his sister  
disclosed he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer  
similar to one he fought 25 years ago. Earlier in 2009, Charter  
Communications, the cable company he controls, filed for Chapter 11  
bankruptcy protection. It has since emerged from bankruptcy.

Asked whether making the series helped Allen personally, Hutton said.  
"In a way, yeah. ... I hope so."

Hutton teamed with Paula Apsell, senior executive producer at NOVA/ 
WGBH Science Unit, the same award-winning team that coproduced "Rx for  
Survival — A Global Health Challenge," "Evolution" and "Judgment Day:  
Intelligent Design on Trial."

The hard part was figuring out how to structure the series to break  
new ground and also provide the most useful information, Hutton said.

"We all have feelings, emotions and relationships of some kind, so we  
think this should be easy," he said. "Well, it was really, really hard."

Showing well-known personalities discussing their struggles might help  
overcome the stigmas associated with emotional issues, and help others  
dealing with the same issues, Hutton said.

"When people hear Chevy Chase talking about depression or [former  
tennis great] John McEnroe talking about anger, I think in some ways  
that makes it more acceptable for people to say 'I have that. I can go  
and look for help,' " Hutton said.

Scientists have begun to understand more about emotions, and new  
learning can help debunk previous assumptions about trauma and other  
experiences.

"For many years, people thought you just forget you went through that  
horrible thing in Vietnam," Hutton said. "Now the theory is to  
confront it, go through it, meet the experience head- on."

One person involved in cutting-edge work on human emotion is Andrew  
Meltzoff, professor of psychology and Tamaki Chair at the University  
of Washington. He codirects the UW Institute for Learning and Brain  
Sciences (I-LAB) and is featured in the first episode of the series.

"There has been a revolution in our understanding of our early  
development and its impact on lifelong psychological well-being," he  
said.

A child's brain develops most in the first two or three years, he  
said. Babies observe and learn from those around them during that  
period, long before they can talk.

"They're very active learners, very busy interpreting the emotional  
and linguistic signals we give them," Meltzoff said. "They are as  
carefully looking out and trying to make sense of us as we are of them."

Because humans long for attention, children ignored in orphanages can  
show ill effects throughout their lives. But humans also are  
emotionally resilient, so bonding with even one person "can help  
rescue a child and lead to amazing growth," Meltzoff said.

Before the series got off the ground, Meltzoff said one of the first  
conversations he had with Allen took place at an informal gathering of  
scientists and educators Allen hosted in a retreat near Seattle.

The group discussed early learning and brain science over several days.

Meltzoff called it "among the most exciting, intellectually vibrant  
conversations I have had."

"Paul was always jumping in with particular questions about the  
science and how it could be scaled up to impact society and what big  
questions it could address."

The series reflects Allen's personal interests; he has made a dozen  
documentaries, mostly about science, and gets involved in the work  
directly.

And what does science say about being a billionaire?

According to research on the Web site accompanying the series, money  
can buy happiness — as long as you give some of it away. Researchers  
found that happiness did correlate to higher incomes, spending money  
on others and giving to charity.

Kristi Heim: 206-464-2718 or kheim@seattletimes.com

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