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Health lessons from 'The Wizard of Oz'
By John Bonifield The late actress Judy Garland, who portrayed the orphaned Kansas girl Dorothy Gale in the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz," would have turned 88 today. You may love the film, but you may not know that it contains lessons about health and medicine. Nurses have used the story of Dorothy and her dog, Toto, to glean a better understanding of wisdom, passion and courage in patient care. A group of 33 nurses and nurse educators analyzed passages from the book and scenes from the movie for metaphorical meanings that apply to nursing. For example, the Wizard helps the Lion to realize that sometimes it is actually wise, and not cowardly, to run from dangerous situations. "The distance between courage and folly is not great, thus nurses and nurse educators need to be cautious. Nurses and nurse educators do need to take risks to carry out their agency's mission... but they should strive to make those risks as well informed and thoughtful as possible," the researchers write in a study published in Nursing Science Quarterly. "A central characteristic of nursing is the process of giving respect and loving witness to the wisdom, compassion, and courage of others." Psychologists have also used the film to help explain why, so often, impressions we make about the size of people based on their voices are wrong. Dorothy is initially terrified of the Wizard's large, booming voice, only to discover that he is, in reality, a short man. "We all have had experiences roughly similar to Dorothy's in which we have formed clear, if implicit, impressions of people based primarily on the sound of their voices, only to have them dramatically contradicted when we meet them in person" psychologists note in a study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. "They turn out to be considerably shorter or taller than we expected." Hypnotherapists have even used the story of "The Wizard of Oz" to put kids into hypnosis. When some 8-to-13-year-old children weren't responding to traditional cognitive-behavioral therapy, hypnotherapists in Montana developed an individualized hypnotic treatment based on metaphors found in Dorothy's adventures. According to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, to induce hypnosis the therapists suggestively told the children: "In the Wizard of Oz, the Straw Man wanted brains, the Tin Man wanted a heart, the Lion wanted courage, and Dorothy wanted to take Toto and go home to Kansas. They wanted these things very badly. So, they went to the Wizard for help. At first the Wizard seemed bothered. He called himself the 'great and powerful Oz' and sent them away. Later, he sent them out to bring back the witch's broom. When the Straw Man, Tin Man, Lion, Dorothy, and Toto returned with the broom, they were surprised with their own success. They discovered that the Wizard was just a regular man and wasn't really a Wizard after all. They also discovered that they already had brains, a heart, and courage. Then, the Wizard gave them each something to show they were smart, loving, and brave. And Dorothy discovered she had within herself, the power to get her and Toto back to Kansas." After hypnosis, by applying the metaphors, the children were more capable of defining their goals and realizing they already had within them some of the things they thought they were missing.
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QUOTE:
"They discovered that the Wizard was just a regular man and wasn't really a Wizard after all."
But doctors, like Doctor Gupta, really are wizards, aren't they? Doesn't a long white coat confer superhuman powers? After all, they scold us mere mortals when we are "non-compliant" because of silly little things like adverse side-effects of prescription medications.
Jim Purdy
The 50 Best Health Blogs
Interesting article, although... the wizard's voice was mechanically altered to sound booming and large. His own real voice was a pretty acute portrayal of his actual size, as are most people's true voice when not tampered with. But I suppose the main takeaway of that example was simply that one should not base judgments solely on preconceived notions of what a person might be like.
the movie was one of the greatest ever, that is all that counts.what a joke all these medical malcontents.
I know the wicked witch is now the speaker of the house, whichever character it was that wanted brains was our former president, the one that wants courage is the current president, but who was it that wanted a heart?
Great space-filler!!
I take objection with the analysis of "Dorothy is initially terrified of the Wizard's large, booming voice, only to discover that he is, in reality, a short man." True, she was terrified because he had a booming voice, but it should also be noted that she discovered that he was a small and weak man. Just because a person is short doesn't mean that they're not powerful.
Not to be negative, but this is a really silly article. Lessons can be drawn from practically ANY movie. Also, being a nurse, the idea of taking any risk with a patient's welfare, let alone a calculated one, goes against the entire concept of the patient-doctor-nurse relationship.
...not to mention playing Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album to match up with action and dialogue in the film. Such fun.
Wow. They're already scraping the bottom of the barrel for summer news. I can't wait to see what they're writing about in August. Too bad that Van der Sloot guy confessed. We could've followed that story line all summer.
is this a joke?
interesting read. but i agree with bill.
this article is irrelevant and these same lessons can be drawn from everyday life.
really is there no other late breaking news to discuss? we have to talk about how nurses take lessons from a movie i saw when i was 3? cmon CNN...
What you have said is true. Let me tell you what I see. I watch the movie every night or listen to it at least. No joke every night, it helps me to sleep. I'm 56, this movie has always been my farvorlte movie since I first saw it in the late 50's as a small child. I've been watching it every night I'm home for at least the last year. Until about six months ago saw each of characters as individuals Dorothy, Scare Crow, Tin Man and Lion, each with their own needs. Now for me at times the characters have morphed into one character. I now see a homeless, brainless, heartless, coward. Please believe I'm not trying to make sport of the movie because I truly like the movie very much. It has helped me to expand my thought processes. The bottom line is it reminds the of the people we now call the homeless. Eventhough we all know that the vast majority of the homeless have all the necessary componets of mind, body, compassion and strength of character. Most seem to be lost in the forest trying to make it to the wizard, when they already have in them what they need. Of course there are many people out there that truly need help. I'm not down talking the homeless because at times we all need help. I'm just speaking of the metaphor I see in the film.
"The Wizard of Oz" is an allegory about a central banking system, much like the Federal Reserve System. "Oz" or the abbreviation of ounce (of gold). In the book, Dorothy's shoes are made of silver, not ruby. And the Yellow brick road represents gold. Don't believe it? Look up the author, Frank L. Baum.
What a waste of writing space...there are much more important matters in the world to discuss. To be honest, I feel bad for the kids that they had to see therepists. Hypnosis is just a bunch of brain-washing nonsense. This page is a bunch of nonsense! Wheres the dislike button????
For Spike: the heart was Cheney!
You posted Spike's comments but not mine?
Space filler.. You could put the whole article to E.T. and you'd get the same result.
And we have an oil spill that threatens the whole ecosystem and society of American society.. CNN is in a dream world.
yet another fluff piece from CrapNotNews. thanx.
"the power to get she and toto back to Kansas"?!? i'm sorry, but when did it become acceptable to be able to publish an article in a Medical Journal and ignore the English language? The mistakes that can be made by using your own bad language habits can kill people. If not here, where?!?
Especially in psychiatry/psychology, a misused word can be very damaging.
Let's try to speak properly; not "good english". Seriously, folks, even spell check would catch that!
Ridiculous. Judy Garland committed suicide, for Pete's sake.
Well, some medical advise was not so sound. When entering a poppy field (opium) and becoming too sleepy to go any further, the best antidote may not be to get perked up with snow flakes (cocaine). But hey, none of that stuff grows in any farms in Kansas in the '30s, so no harm done, I suppose.
My god, this article misses the whole point of the movie, the line that tells us that we have all we need, all we will ever need, right now: "If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with." Frank Baum
How many important news stories happened today outside the US borders? Apparently none, since this was on the CNN front page.
I agree Bill.
This is hilarious.
Being a Psych nurse, (& lover of the movie I might add)
you can teach lessons from any situation in general.
It is interesting relaying it to hypnosis in children though.
& & what is with mentioning that Judy Garland would have been 88 today?!....ok.......I think we all know she is not alive anymore.
[ RIP I loved her.]
Wow, this article went over every one of your heads. Or medicine means nothing to you. (Except for eva) The point was made. She was afraid of the big voice. He was a small man. She didn't know that. Was she supposed to turn to the camera and adrress that fact? Space filler. You don't want to learn, go to another page. Malcontent? Idiot. And it just happened to the movie they picked. It could have been one of many. And actually I have no grip with Pink Floyd because We did a study on that.
The actual book was about the POTUS election of 1896 and the argument of getting rid of the Gold Standard for a Bimetal Standard because the Gold standard was crippling American business.
The Scarecrow represented the farmers who "had no brains" – who wanted the bimetal standard so that there would be capital available for them to borrow. The Tin Man represented the businessmen who "had no hearts" who wanted to keep control of the money supply among themselves. The Cowardly Lion was Dem. candidate William Jennings Bryant who would not do a whistle stop, shake hands campaign. The "Yellow Brick Road" was, of course, the "Gold Standard" which led to the "Wizard of Oz": William McKinley, who actually had no real power because the Gold Standard didn't work. In the book, the Ruby Slippers are Silver Slippers – silver being the other metal in the Bimetal Standard. And that's the right way to get "home"!
Of course, it was eventually realized that the Gold Standard was cripplong American enterprise by limiting the total money supply, preventing it from growing with the population, and it was eventually scrapped. Of course don't tell the followers of Ron Paul, they believe the Gold Standard should be brought back (without understanding anything about what that means to the economy) and claim it will stop inflation (as if it stopped inflation in the 1800's when it was in place!).
"...And Dorothy discovered she had within herself, the power to get *SHE* and Toto back to Kansas"?!!!
Come ON...!!!
..Love, Courage, Wisdom and Adventure it's all good. The article is is what happens when there's simply nothing else to report. At least they picked a classic and it's nice exposure for a great movie.
I think there are some health lessons to be drawn from "Deep Throat."
This is not news! What a waste of space!!!
in response:
Spike June 10th, 2010 19:39 ET
I know the wicked witch is now the speaker of the house, whichever character it was that wanted brains was our former president, the one that wants courage is the current president, but who was it that wanted a heart?
BP...
@spike The one who wanted a heart was Cheney. Both literally and hypothetically
this is such a huge stretch that it's not connected. nice try, but whiff
I, personally, have a distaste for contrived stories, e.g., those books that have a really good idea to share and instead of just putting it out there, they built false context around it to make the point (like Rich Dad, Poor Dad). But I also understand that some people (even educated medical professionals) need that kind of real-life context to really "get it". It's scary to think about, but I believe they are the majority.
the only voices that ever tricked me, were disc jockeys, lol, & that was only because they had trained voices. this article was pretty lame. couldn't you come up with a better connection to the movie, than NURSING? for real? that's just plain weird. I sure hope nurses aren't using a work of fantasy to get them through shift work.
Almost any piece of art can be reinterpreted in order to justify a particular view. Here is one interpretation, the wizard is a doctor. Most doctor's realize that their magic is limited and so they must use persuasion that it is really more powerful than it really is. What people believed about the wizard/doctor was in many ways more important than reality. The same with doctors. We go to a doctor believing that he/she will cure us and deeply hope so. In the vast majority of cases, almost anything the doctor does will cause an improvement in the patient illness. About 85% of visits to doctors, the patient will improve as long as the doctor does not make it worse. This is the basis of a placebo. So a doctor must first do not harm and allow nature to be the healer. Of course some ailments do not get better by themselves and then doctors are put to the real test.
Hmm. Very nice. But they left out the part about how poppies make you feel all calm and woozy but prevent you from achieving goals, even when The Emerald City is only a few steps away!
What about....don't get caught in a damn tornado! (You might die!)
After reading the comments, I found that most of the posters have forgotten what it was like to be a child and see things the way we did when we were children. If you've forgotten what it was like to be a child, then you have forgotten how to be open to the teaching that life offers to us. You learn some of the most importnt lessons as a child. Anyone that has ever read, "I learned everything I need to know in Kindergarten" will understand. It is when the cup is empty, that it becomes useful.
I found out about this book "Lessons from Oz" at the L.A. Festival of Books a few years back that was also allegories extrapolated from the story. Even though it's pretty clear that the Wizard of Oz was a satire of the turn of the century political landscape; it was still interesting to see how effective all the messages of the story are.
I enjoyed the article and actually read the peer-review journal article detailing the methods and offering some interesting implications. THIS IS NOT AN ESOTERIC STUDY. It provides knowledge and insight and has reliable conclusions based on empirical research. Continue to share MORE of these type of cognitive psyche articles...even if it is written at an 8th grade level with pronoun innaccuracies. We will benefit from less about Lindsey Lohan, and Van Der Sloot and more about what makes us act and react in our world. Knowledge for the sake of knowledge means no study is esoteric.
Their are a lot of lessons to be learned by watching the wizard of Oz movie. It covers everything from Accounting to Politics etc.
And Paula Jean check out the Wicked Witch looking into the crystal ball and Dorothy etc falling asleep in the poppie field.
Buddy Ebsen, cast as The Tin Man, had to drop out after a serious reaction to silver body paint. Thought that was the health lesson!
In a 007 movie Goldfinger a woman died because her whole body was covered in Gold colored paint. Buddy Ebsen only had part of his body covered in paint.
Mark (June 10th, 2010 22:31 ET)
Too right. Spot on. We are all looking for answers in far away places whn really we have them already. We just have to open our eyes. The Wizard actually gave them nothing but just the chance to realise they had it already
@ mamala: It wasn't silver body paint that caused Mr. Ebsen his troubles. It was the powdered aluminum they were *using* to turn him silver colored. It got into his lungs. After that, they used an aluminum paste.
Good gosh people – why not enjoy a little info about a historic movie instead of being so negative – oh wait that’s right your Americans with 'Freedom of Speech' that has developed the fine skill of negativity as well as discarded 'In God We Trust'.
From the movie AND the book? That's funny because in the book the Wizard filled the Scarecrow's head with pins and needles (that's healthy) and gives the Lion "liquid courage," not to mention that he CUTS A HOLE in the Tinman's chest to give him his heart. I love the Wizard of Oz, but this article is trying too hard.
I just don't get it , I've been a Social Worker for 25 years and never have a I used a film for a reference anything, dumb. How about teaching nurses to be compassionate, not worry so much about their licesences (sic) and care for the sick. They have strayed from their original purpose and now only worry about big paychecks.
I clicked on this article because I felt sure it was going to be about the dangers of covering one's entire body with silver paint, or at least about the medical conditions related to dwarfism. What a disappointment!