Wide Awake: Alan Berliner and Merle Haggard: Restless Spirits in the Night
Boy Behind Bars
words and music by Dr BLT © 2009
Download | Duration: 00:03:18
If you've seen Alan Berliner, you've gained a phenomenological understanding of what it means to suffer from creative-job-related insomnia. But if you've seen this flick, you've also received a glimpse of Berliner's personality. In the comments section below, introduce yourself. Then, if you've seen Wide Awake, share some of your reflections on the flick. To the extent possible, entertain hypotheses about the nature of Berliner's suffering. Provide unofficial analysis of personality factors and developmental issues, based upon your understanding of Freud's defense mechanisms, and his stages of psychosexual development.
To the extent that you've been exposed to Merle's mode of operation, and to the extent that you've been exposed to his personality through books, his songs, his performances, etc., do the same in his case.
In my world of blog n roll, I provide the topics and the tunes, and you provide the talk. So make the talk rock! Ready? Blog and roll!!!
Posted by Bruce L Thiessen Ph D at 6/11/2009 8:05 AM 
Categories: new songs, movies
Tags: dr blt boy behind bars psychology comes alive personality theories wide awake
Categories: new songs, movies
Tags: dr blt boy behind bars psychology comes alive personality theories wide awake
Hi,
my name is Conrad/aka Deadman. I am an adult student (38) at Chapman University majoring in psychology. Like Alan Berliner and Merle haggard, I too suffer from sleepless nights, but like Berliner suggested, I feel that I am the most creative and get the most done (lyrically) in the wee morning hours.
Berliner seemed to have various other personality or mood disorders that were somewhat obvious but not necessarily negative to his lifestyle. I am not sure if Berliner’s extensive collection of miscellaneous objects is a sign of OCD or another disorder, like hording, although from what I know so far (which is not much, yet) it seems that hording is a behavior associated with OCD. Other than his eccentric collection of eclectic items, Berliner seems to be a healthy minded, highly intelligent individual. Perhaps he may also suffer from some slight neurosis that he developed from his Jewish upbringing and heritage. The fact that Berliner wants to be awake a lot longer than most people shows that he must love life and want to be awake for most of it. It is unfortunate though that Berliner’s wife wants him to change his natural habits and become a day walker, which in my assumption could totally obliterate his whole artistic groove.
As far as Freud’s levels of development I would bet that Berliner is probably stuck in the anal phase, which again could be because of growing up in the Jewish culture.
Although Alan Berliner, Merle Haggard, and many, if not most, other highly creative thinkers seem to suffer the negative effects of their sleepless nights, they too seem to prosper and thrive creatively from their natural ability (gift?) to embrace a nocturnal existence. Perhaps Bram Stoker was a night owl and the idea that Dracula could only emerge from his coffin at night may have been spawned from his own nocturnal habits. Being a night dweller myself I can totally empathize with Alan’s and Merle’s plight, yet at the same time I understand that there are benefits to staying up well after the rest of the world has fallen into deep REM sleep, as Berliner had explained in Wide Awake. For instance, if there is a fire, break in, or any other unforeseen catastrophe I will be awake in order to alert those who are sleeping. Come to think of it, I bet Paul Revere probably had insomnia too. With that in mind, my advice to Merle and Alan and anyone else who feels the need to change their nightly wanderings is “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”
to check out Deadman and Digi Hartatak
(NoiseCollector) songs
www.archive.org/details/noisecollector
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Hi my name is Cendy Corona I am the nurse that works at the prison. I am not an insomniac,in fact, i love sleeping and have no problems falling asleep. I thought it was interesting to see the documentary Alan made based on his sleep disorder, It gave a good look at the world through the eyes of an individual suffering from insomnia. It seems to me that to a certain degree, Alan loves to be awake. He enjoys putting all the extra hours he saves by not sleeping, to creative use. As Merle Haggard. Many artists that suffer from this sleep disorder have their best work emerge at night when everyone is asleep. As if everything flows better when they feel they are the only ones awake. ALthough they in turn suffer from the effects of being sleepless, and must endure constant physical and mental exhaustion. It seems to me that Alan suffers from OCD. He seems to collect stacks of items and has them all incredibly organized. That would fit in with Freud's anal phase. In which the individual stays fixated on controlling things to a tee, with a sort of perfection.
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Hey, I'm Julie. I'm the massage therapist that relaxes people and puts them to sleep, ironically.
I have had a sleep disorder since I can remember, in fact I overslept for work today because I couldn't fall asleep until 6 AM even with 2 sleeping pills!
I know that I'm a bit OCD, but Berliner is just over-the-top OCD with his collections and the way that he had everything organized, labeled, etc. Wow. His mind was going a mile a minute, no wonder he can't sleep. He's like me, though...he enjoys being awake, and is more awake at night (I'm posting this comment at 1 AM). I also do my best and most creative work late at night (or when I'm depressed).
I almost got a caffiene high watching him after he drank the coffee, lol. He is so anal, in the Freudian sense! I don't think that he would know what to do if he was suddenly able to sleep normally.
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Hi. My name is Barri Sekly and I am a Senior at Chapman and will be finished with my Bachelor degree after Fall I. I have two girls 18 and 22 and have been married for 26 years. My husband and I love to travel and I usually go on vacation between sessions.
I can totaly relate to Berliner as I too have had problems with sleep. I used to never get a full nights sleep and suffered from sleep apnea. Going to sleep at night was a chore for me. I no longer have this problem as I sleep with a breathing machine and this helps me get a good nights sleep.
After watching Wide Awake it seemed as if Berliner suffered from some sort of personality disorder. He seemed like someone with OCD with the way he had things saved and categorized in boxes. He also showed us a glimpse of his childhood which definitely had some sort of impact on his life as he listened to his parents fighting late into the night, as a child.
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Hi my name is Lindsey Koopman, I am a behavior consultant for children with autism at a school district. I am not currently and have never suffered insomnia, only the occasional night of restless sleep. I thought the documentary offered a very insightful and personal look at Alan’s life with insomnia. I thought it depicted the struggle one could have in wanting to be a part of life, which exists during the day and the solitude, and creativity one might find during the quiet hours of night. Insomnia, it seems up until recently, worked really well for Alan and was reinforced by his successful career, which seems to have been born of his insomnia. However, since his marriage and birth of his child daily life seems to be pulling at him in a more demanding fashion. Alan seemed torn between wanting to get sleep, wanting be an active participant in his family and home life, while also not wanting to give up on what has ultimately paid off with a great deal of success, which is the creativity he finds when everyone else is asleep. Because I am not a trained psychologist I can only make guesses about the other behaviors Alan demonstrated in the documentary. The hording or obsessive collecting of random items and extreme system of organization do seem to fall in line with Freud’s Anal Phase of psychosexual development. I also think he uses sublimation as a defense mechanism, as defined by Freud, to excuse or act-out his compulsive behaviors. I question whether the compulsive behavior is a reaction to the insomnia or vise versa.
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Hi my name is Lindsey Koopman, I am a behavior consultant for children with autism at a school district. I am not currently and have never suffered insomnia, only the occasional night of restless sleep. I thought the documentary offered a very insightful and personal look at Alan’s life with insomnia. I thought it depicted the struggle one could have in wanting to be a part of life, which exists during the day and the solitude, and creativity one might find during the quiet hours of night. Insomnia, it seems up until recently, worked really well for Alan and was reinforced by his successful career, which seems to have been born of his insomnia. However, since his marriage and birth of his child daily life seems to be pulling at him in a more demanding fashion. Alan seemed torn between wanting to get sleep, wanting be an active participant in his family and home life, while also not wanting to give up on what has ultimately paid off with a great deal of success, which is the creativity he finds when everyone else is asleep. Because I am not a trained psychologist I can only make guesses about the other behaviors Alan demonstrated in the documentary. The hording or obsessive collecting of random items and extreme system of organization do seem to fall in line with Freud’s Anal Phase of psychosexual development. I also think he uses sublimation as a defense mechanism, as defined by Freud, to excuse or act-out his compulsive behaviors. I question whether the compulsive behavior is a reaction to the insomnia or vise versa.
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I have suffered from insomnia since I was in my early twenties. So, that's over 20 years of dealing with this issue off and on. Also, having had 3 children I have had infant induced sleep deprivation which affected me differently. Some realizations I've had about this issue are:
I have been addicted to being sleep deprived at various times.
When suffering I ask myself, "How does being sleep deprived serve me" How is it serving me?
I will not die from being sleepy.
The more I obsess the worse it gets. The more I try and control it the worse it gets.
It's slightly rebellious on my part.
Just a few thoughts about this issue...
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My name is Ania McKinley and I am a fulltime student at Chapman. I'm pursuing my Bachelors in Criminal Justice. I moved to the Santa Clarita area two years ago from Riverside county. I have lived in North Carolina and have family roots in Central America. This is my first psychology class so I'm adjusting to all the "Psych Specific" language. The movie Wide Awake added insight to what I believed insomnia to be. I previously thought that insomnia was a condition in which a person could not fall asleep on rare occassions. Having my views clarified by the movie was very enlightening. The character Alan seems to have adjusted to his insomnia condition however has the want to conform to society's norm. It seems as though if here were not married with a family he perhaps happily lived the rest of his life with this condition. Although Alan has studied insomnia he also has other behaviors of obsessive compulsive behavior. Curing or adjusting to his insomnia would only deal with half his problems. I have never experienced insomnia or the inability to sleep. I tend to enjoy sleeping and do not feel it's related to any kind of depression issues. I am comforted by sleep and also use it as a tool to relieve stress and stay young looking. I really enjoyed the file and gained alot of knowledge on the topic
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My name is Ileane Lew I like Berliner can not sleep at night. I believe from sleepless nights he is not just a film producer but has had develop muliple personalities and mental disorders. Multiple personlities like a so called Sible he has had to create these personalites to exist in society, home life, and or life existence. I often field tired like he does. I noticed his organized behavior and his success in his career. That could be the Frueds anul stage. I could relate with his loss of syncriny with his family sounds like my husband since he works day and night. The movie was interestining
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My name is Herschel O'Brien and I felt that this is a very good topic to get into. For myself, I have not suffered from insomnia. Closely related though, I have had a few nights where I have only received two hours of sleep upon completing assignments. I know that I felt phlegmatic the next morning and not ambitious. So how can a man do this everyday? From taking numerous classes and watching myself, patterns are key. I feel that Alan Berliner has come accross a pattern, which appears to be successful. I hold this to be true because of the project that he has completed during his time at night when he cannot sleep.
In addition, I like the blog by Conrad Gill saying that Berliner possibly has a case of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). I feel Berliner can be diagnosed with OCD looking at his previous behavior in the office. For example,everything is organized with colors, names being put into specific categories,and each item is in its rightful place. Though I am not familiar with the diagnoses of OCD in the DSM IV, I clearly can announce that this behavior has potential of being OCD. Beacause of his necessity of organization, the ideas probably keep him up at night.
Along with a case of OCD, I found points brought up about nature verses nuture. To start the idea off, nature are behaviors that are innate in people or what they were born with. The other term nuture,brigns up Pavlov's, Watson's, and Skinner's ideas of outside influences through classic and operant conditioning. Furthermore, Berliner announces that he has a grandfather that looked irritable and is possible caused from a lack of sleep. I feel that this exemplifies nature. What does not give good evidence of nature is the incite of his parents and sister not having insomnia.
On the other side, nuture comes into the picture when Berliner brings up the ideas of his childhood upon watching his parents argue late at night. I feel that Berliner has been influenced to stay up late at night because of his curiosity of listening to his parents argue; therefore announcing that nuture has some influences to his life and his problem faced with insomnia. From nature and nuture, I feel both contribute to who Alan Berliner is in life.
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Deadman is correct, Merle we are here for you.
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That was inspiring,
Keep up the good work,
Thanks for writing about it
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This is a awesome article. Thanks for the info.
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