http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/ed ... edit_x.htmFame undermines therapy in reality TV's 'Brat Camp'
By Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser
Here's the latest premise for a reality television program: "What would you do with a teen who curses at you, breaks the law in your house and doesn't listen to anything you say?"
That's what families are facing in ABC's new reality series Brat Camp. The show follows nine teens, whisked without their knowledge to SageWalk, an intense and intensive program of tough confrontations taking place in Redmond, Ore. The hope: These facilitated experiences will turn their troubled lives around.
Therapy programs like this are extreme and controversial, yet sometimes effective. The teens come from varied backgrounds, all disturbing. One girl was molested at 11, a boy was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and another girl's adoptive parents fear that their daughter is heading toward the drug-induced coma her birth mother landed in.
The reality is that for young people struggling with issues this giant and personal, to have their depths dumped out on national TV crosses a line that we, as a society, should strenuously question.
Teenagers are not houses; they should not be submitted to national TV for an extreme human makeover. Their arduous personal journeys are not suited for reality TV's sensationalized, faux drama, with its leading teasers for each segment and its reductive labeling of participants alongside his or her name: compulsive liar, violent, self-destructive or hyperactive.
The risks for these teens ? as the show's narration intones ? are huge. Their desperate parents made a high-stakes gamble, hoping that SageWalk can ameliorate their private pain ? in this show, while the public views their personal journeys.
The wilderness school model already has to overcome a formidable breach of trust with its students, who had little or no say in whether they participated. Their parents made that call, though the kids did agree to appear on TV.
A key component of why these therapeutic programs work, though, is that the trust built within the group draws participants out of themselves. To add to the pressure of rolling cameras and national television exposure surely compromises the likelihood of that trust taking hold.
Maybe these are worthwhile risks, but the notion that such difficult, critical issues can unfold under the rubric of entertainment is unsettling.
The subject matter and the form are at painful odds with one another. While watching, I wanted to place a big private sign across my TV set. Yet the voyeuristic appeal is unmistakable. It is fascinating to observe how SageWalk's staff approaches these kids and is attuned to their emotions and needs. The program includes hiking, camping and group therapy. These professionals ? counselors and therapists who have been involved with SageWalk for years ? do not seem intent upon fame. Regardless, Brat Camp projects a strange mixture of sensationalism and promotion for SageWalk alongside its authentic, admirable process.
I'm pulling for all nine of these teens to rise above their personal demons, as well as the ones that television's notoriety might place ahead of them.
The wilderness of public opinion and reality TV celebrity awaits them, and not because they signed up for such fame. In this country, we safeguard young people through child labor laws, protective services and anonymity in the court system.
What sets Brat Camp apart from many other potentially demeaning programs meant to entertain is that it robs what is too personal from unsuspecting minors for others' consumption ? rather than solely for the teens' benefit.
Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser is a writer and mother of three in Northampton, Mass.