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PANIC AND ANXIETY INSPIRE PITTSBURGH FILM, "DOING THERAPY"
Pittsburgh Boomers Joe Giacobello April 2006
Anxiety now affects over 19 million Americans of all ages, races and persuasions. For many, the condition is simply brought on by a genetic predisposition, and hits at the most unexpected times and places. As for me, I discovered anxiety in a big way in September of 1989, as I stood onstage, under the bright lights, in front of a sold-out audience at the Erie Playhouse. (How's that for an unexpected place!) I was playing the part of George Gibbs in the classic play Our Town, when, in the middle of a key scene, I began to feel "out of control." (This is hard to describe—just use your imagination.) It started slowly, and then snowballed. My heart pounded. Disoriented and drenched with sweat, I steadied myself by clinging to a chair and tried desperately to keep the scene moving. In my peripheral, I could see stagehands motioning in the wings, trying to prompt me on the lines. I wasn't forgetting my lines, and I wasn't sick. I was having a panic attack. And so it began. My journey with anxiety took me to psychologists, support groups and all sorts of interesting places I would not normally have ventured. Over the years, I spoke to many people about their experiences with anxiety, and still many others who had not a clue what I was talking about. I came to realize that society is still largely uninformed about the subject of anxiety. It seems that over the years, many health-related and other issues have come to the forefront and become acceptable (i.e., depression, alternative lifestyles, etc.), but really, anxiety has been kept relatively "under the carpet." A theatrical person, I looked around and could see no existing movies—drama, comedy or other—that truly embraced the theme of anxiety and panic in a realistic way that people could relate to. So I decided to create a film—not a dry documentary, but a fun, romantic comedy that could catch people's attention, but at the same time, raise awareness about the issue. The setting would be Pittsburgh. And the title..."Doing Therapy." The plot goes like this. A successful, high-class Hollywood actress, Diane Rischard (played by Barbara Winters), suddenly develops a problem while onstage. She is stricken with frightful, paralyzing panic attacks that begin to affect her job and her personal life. In an effort to help her, her family seeks out the best anxiety specialist in the country—an offbeat psychologist (Joe Giacobello) working out of a clinic in Pittsburgh. To avoid the media attention, Diane goes to Pittsburgh, and the unlikely couple is stuck together for an entire month in extensive, 24-hour-a-day therapy. A psychotic stalker resurfaces from Diane's past, Joe struggles with ghosts from his own past, some romance develops—and soon you've got a fun, heartwarming tale with all of the sincerity and simplicity of a 1950s melodrama. My hope is that people will be able to relate to the characters, as each works through some difficult issues in their lives. Feedback from this soon-to-be-released, full-length movie has been extremely positive, and it was recently accepted at the Delray Beach Film Festival in Florida. In these troubled times of fear, uncertainty, and broken dreams, I hope that many people will find "Doing Therapy" to be the perfect prescription. A few laughs, a little romance, and a whole new perspective on an age-old but recently growing phenomenon known as anxiety. Joe Giacobello is a writer, director and actor living in Moon Township, PA. Find out more about "Doing Therapy" at the Bello Films website at www.bellofilms.com. |
With all of the catastrophic events that America has witnessed in recent years—from September 11th to Hurricane Katrina—a condition known as anxiety is rapidly taking center stage. Many Americans have found themselves in a constant state of alert—on guard and not quite knowing what to expect next when they turn on the daily news. Some psychologists define anxiety as a loss of control, a feeling that one is losing or has completely lost control over some situation in their life. In today's unpredictable world, most people would admit that it is difficult to feel "in control" of anything.