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In Montgomery Alabama

Copyright 2003 edited March 15, 2010

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Hollywood Is Not Immune

Brief mental breaks have happened around the world for centuries. When they do the local ethnic and  cultural values describe what has happened and names the event. This can be seen in Culture Bound Syndromes. (CBS)

In previous decades the mental event here in the United States was called a nervous break down.  Unhappy with that undignified title the APA changed the name. Brief psychotic episode or another of several names are used.

There have been deaths of Hollywood personalities from prescription and recreational drug use. No one considers that the use of these drugs might begin as self medication for a chronic mental event experienced as depression.

Those performers who memorize scripts, practice music, write music, or just daydream are at risk if the activity is done where there is repeating detectable movement in peripheral vision. Any detectable movement will do. Although roommates or family members walking by are certainly possibilities the movement does not have to be of human origin or even alive. Tommy Stein, son of actor Ben Stein, had an aquarium with a single large fish on his right side while he played the Sony video game Everquest. (Everquest Connection page)

Remember, because of the way the peripheral vision reflex is triggered Subliminal Distraction exposure is silent, painless, and invisible. The victim has no clue that anything is happening to them. They just experience the effects of it. Normally they associate the experience with something they are engaged with at the time. Fear and paranoia, major effects of exposure, shape thought about current activities. Jennifer Wilbanks, runaway bride, began to dread her upcoming wedding. She told Barbara Walters she considered suicide.

Doctors, psychologists, and psychiatrists do the same thing ignorantly blaming these episodes on the fragility of the human psyche. In seven years searching I have yet to find anyone in mental health services aware of this simple problem discovered and solved forty years ago. (The Modern Cubicle site page. )

Read the Personal Experiences page for examples  my wife experienced. When a church member told me about a phone call Connie made it pinpointed one of her episodes. I questioned her about it. An accounting assistant in payroll at the University of Alabama, she said the numbers scrambled and made no sense.

In recent news reports performers such as Britney Spears and Mischa Barton have experienced episodes of bizarre behavior. Britney shaved off her hair and was placed on a year long custody arrangement with her father as guardian. You do not get that type court control unless there is evidence of a serious mental event. 

As I research this phenomenon this page has examples of these mental events together with evidence, if any, that these mental episodes were caused by Subliminal Distraction exposure.

Stevie Ray Vaughn

Drug and alcohol use was blamed for Vaughn's mental break on a tour bus in Germany. But listen as he describes what he experienced. It was a Subliminal Distraction episode. (Use the back up link below if the video will not run. His description of it is about half way through the video clip.)

The key feature was intense fear. He says he was afraid just to be awake. Then he began to cry when he attempted to speak to his bass player. Vaughn was flown back to the United States and recovered with, as you can see, no apparent permanent harm. That is another feature of a Subliminal Distraction episode.  There is usually a full remission with no after effects. Vaughn died in a helicopter crash.

There are many musician tours each year. This is the only instance I found that living in a tour buss allowed Subliminal Distraction exposure. 

 Back up link full YouTube video begins at 3:40 out of 7:09  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZoX6Q0UK8A

Randy Quaid, Mel Gibson, and potentially Demi Levato have behaviors that suggest  Subliminal Distraction exposure.

Listen as  these performers discuss their situation and beliefs. They appear and sound normal. If Quaid had not said he believed teams of assassins were trying to kill him you would never know anything was wrong. It is very unusual for two people to have the same delusions but it does happen and has a name, Folie Deux. It has appeared before in an incident recorded on this site when two students, Amy Scott and Daniel  Querzoli, borrowed a car even though they owned one and vanished. When they were recovered Scott convinced her roommates they were all in danger and some of them moved. Missing Students VPN site

This does not mean Quaid is mentally ill. For his problem to be Subliminal Distraction he would have to create the "special circumstances" for exposure long enough to cause an altered mental state with bizarre beliefs.

People with this exposure sometimes have only bizarre beliefs and function normally otherwise. Another example is George Dillman who believes he can throw Chee energy to strike opponents. That example appeared on a National Geographic Channel  program called "Is It Real." Dillman is a successful  business man and teaches Karate. First Psychotic Episodes page.

Demi Levato left her tour with the Jonas Brothers in Peru saying her schedule had overwhelmed her. Confined living combined with crowded travel situations would provide the circumstances for Subliminal Distraction. Variety news shows have alluded to behaviors like cutting and that she has gone into rehab after the Peru incident.. There is no information about this yet. (Nov 2, 2010)

Tammy Leppert  

Tammy had an argument with her boyfriend and got out of his car in downtown Coco Beach Florida. She has not been seen since. Her sister said that she spent most of her time in her bedroom. There had been a near break down on the set of Scarface. An outline of her figure was used in the design of  posters for that movie.

Accounts on line say she went to a party for the movie and said she had seen something she shouldn't have. She believed someone was trying to kill her. Paranoid in the extreme, she refused to eat food on the family table fearing it was poisoned.

As with most of these old cases the house and that bedroom are no longer are available. Her sister could not remember how the furniture in it was arranged. We know from the Finnish National Police picture of Peka Erick Auvinen's bedroom computer that a mirror can reflect movement to allow Subliminal Distraction exposure. Auvinen was the Joleka school mass killer. (That picture is on the Redlake School Shooting page.)

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=231523

Mischa Barton

Unlike Vaughn there is little about her experience available.  Each person understands the experience differently. To one person it may appear to have been a panic attack. Another person might mention deep despondency. 

Her statement to reporters was, “I just had a bad time of year and now it’s all over and done with. I’m just very happy to be feeling happy again and back on top of it and not so worried about everything. It was just too much to handle for me at the time.”

Another source quoted her as saying she didn't know what happened.

She recovered quickly with no apparent after effects.

Brian Wilson - Beach Boys

His mental break is recorded in media accounts but nothing is said about how he responded.

There is an interview for ABILITY Magazine in which he describes intense fear that comes and goes  Hearing voices was the first manifestation of his problem.

Wilson: "... I’d taken some psychedelic drugs, and then about a week after that I started hearing voices...Now I get it mostly in the afternoon. I dread the derogatory voices I hear during the afternoon. They say things like, “You are going to die soon,” and I have to deal with those negative thoughts. But it’s not as bad as it used to be. When I’m on stage, I try to combat the voices by singing really loud. When I’m not on stage, I play my instruments all day, making music for people...."

Note that he blames drugs for the onset even though he admits the voices began a week after the drug experience. His fear would rise with SD exposure and drop when there was no exposure. That might help pinpoint times he has problematic activities.

http://www.abilitymagazine.com/past/brianW/brianw.html

 Wilson has facial paralysis that he attributes to tardive dyskinesia from psychotropic drugs. (Still being investigated.)

The Wikipedia article about him mentions he continued to have psychiatric symptoms for his entire life. That would mean if he was a Subliminal Distraction victim there would be continuing evidence from people who knew him, how and where he worked.

Kristy McNichol

Kristy left the TV series Empty Nest and acting when she had trouble with depression and was diagnosed as Bipolar. Little information  is available since she no longer has a publicist and does not have a media presence.

Several sources repeat the story that she had episodes of depression that remitted and relapsed. That would have made regular work on a TV series difficult. She would have been seen as unreliable and possibly unable to finish other projects.

A detailed interview would be necessary to determine if Subliminal Distraction caused her depressive episodes.