Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt recently won a restraining order against 62-year-old David Nolte (who apparently isn’t her first stalker) last week.

Sure, this isn’t really news anymore given that it happened last week, but because I’ve touched on celebrity stalkers once or twice here at Celebrity Psychings, I want to comment on it.

Actually, what I want to comment on are a few of the reader comments left at “Love Hewitt Wins Restraining Order Against ‘Stalker’”, the SFGate.com article announcing the verdict.

Although each shows a clear inability to separate good points from stigmatizing theatrics, the good points are still there (in bold, courtesy of me).

They are:

OHMYGOD you think that sick f#ck is going to be detered [sic] by a restraining order? Can’t they do a little more for her safety?

A restraining order is just a piece of paper. It won’t stop crazy. Hire a good security team and hope that he meets with an unfortunate accident.

Restraining orders work when folks have restraint. But for the most part, you’ll have the same crazy MF, newly-challenged to make the most of the 3-5 minute lag/”response” time before the cops arrive. My preference would be to videotape my telling someone they are not allowed at my property nor anywhere around me, then to secure a “police response” order that allows me to quietly call when the fool shows up. You violate MY civil right and you have none of your own to claim.

Like I said, there are some poorly chosen expressions, but each of these comments does make a good universal point: A restraining order probably isn’t going to be all that effective when you’re dealing with a stalker.

Think about it: If a person has gotten to the point that s/he’s actually stalking someone, it’s highly unlikely a piece of paper – regardless of where it came from – is going to make that person suddenly realize, “Oh, wow, you know what? I’d better stop doing this. I could go to jail or something.”

Obsessions don’t work that way.

So, what do you do if you’re being stalked? …

Wonder if animal-abusing rapper DMX thinks he looks just as cool throwing up gang signs while he’s garbed in pink?

In case you haven’t heard, various prisons and jails across the nation have been employing the color pink to not only calm inmates during their stints, but also hopefully lower their area’s re-offense rate.

Sounds a bit oxymoronic to me (I mean, if the jail time is so soothing, what exactly is it that motivates a lower re-offense rate?), but, whatever. The Van Zandt County Criminal Justice Center in Texas, the Dallas County Detention Center in Missouri, and the Jackson County Jail in Iowa have all transitioned to pink in one form or another.

Some believers in color psychology think pink has a calming effect, but DMX (who is currently incarcerated in Arizona’s Maricopa County Jail, a facility that’s been dressing cons in pink for 10 years) feels it’s “ridiculous” and “disrespectful.”

Yeah, it’s better than beating dogs, dude. Deal with it.

Of course, maybe we shouldn’t be so hard on X. He wants to start a TV show and begin preaching, both of which he hopes will help him reach out to others who need help. Could be prison talk, but, let’s hope he’s straightening up.

On to the weekend psychings!

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Back during the spring of 2000, ABC aired a mere two episodes of Wonderland which was, very simply put, a pretty gritty series that involved the goings-on of a psychiatric ward. Because I was too busy trying to bring up my grade point average after an…interesting first semester in college, I didn’t watch a whole lot of television that spring; however, to my understanding, Wonderland was both praised by critics and loathed by mental health advocates.

As if it’s trying to build a reputation for salvaging potentially awesome television (think Friday Night Lights – which was also written by Wonderland writer Peter Berg – only, without the “potential,” because clearly that show rocks), DirecTV began airing the remaining eight unaired Wonderland episodes from 2000 last night on its 101 Network.

Television shows, movies, books, and even their writers all have a fine line to walk when it comes to mental illness and entertainment. They’re either going to do it well and refrain from enraging the masses, or they’re going to fail miserably and become the target of a proverbial head hunt. Wonderland seemed to accomplish both back in 2000 (again, the critics loved it, but as About.com writer Marcia Purse pointed out, there were nine mental health organizations that called Wonderland a “public health hazard”), so I’m interested in seeing how it’s received this time around.

Although I completely understand how the media’s portrayal of mental illness can negatively affect real people with mental health issues, it takes quite a bit before I’m personally offended. Just from the descriptions I’ve read, I doubt Wonderland would be something that ticks me off (of course, I’ve been wrong before); however, I don’t have DirecTV, so I can’t watch Wonderland and form my own opinion on it’s entertainment value or it’s potential harm to folks with mental illnesses.

If any of you do have DirecTV- or if any of you saw the first two Wonderland episodes nine years ago – feel free to chime in. Do you think the show is worth bringing back, or do …

The eighth season of American Idol kicked off with the first two-hour night of a two-night, four-hour premier last night and, I have to admit, I missed the first hour because I was watching NCIS.

Don’t misunderstand: I do love American Idol. I just love Tony DiNozzo more.

Anyway, it’s no surprise that American Idol blog posts, articles and message boards are hot with various bits of news, speculations and opinions. They love Idol. They hate Idol. They want to strangle and/or marry Simon Cowell and they’re not quite sure how they feel about the new girl in town, Kara DioGuardi.

One article that held my attention, though, was “I Hate You, ‘American Idol’! You’ve Ruined Everything!”, Simon Dumenco’s piece at Advertising Age that was written a day before the premier and offers 10 reasons to – you guessed it – hate American Idol.

Way up near the top of the list?

Because the producers relish baiting not just the talentless and the tone-deaf, but the mentally ill.

Obviously (because Dumenco goes on to explain), this is a reference to the tragic suicide of Paula Abdul’s long-time stalker, Paula Goodspeed. Dumenco makes a good point, too: Despite the fact that Abdul informed Idol execs that Goodspeed had been stalking her for 18 years, that she’d received “disturbing letters” from Goodspeed, and that she’d taken out multiple restraining orders on the woman, they still allowed Goodspeed to show up for auditions.

According to Dumenco’s article, Abdul chalked it up to the producers finding it fun to cause her stress, but I suspect it had a bit more to do with ratings than anything else.

Still, does American Idol actually “bait” the mentally ill?

As far as the Goodspeed incident is concerned, perhaps they did. I don’t think their intents were actually malicious, but, really – if one of your judge’s is telling you not to allow someone on set because that someone has been stalking her for 18 years, you should take heed. Let’s hope they’ve learned their lesson.

What do you think about the Paula Abdul/Paula Goodspeed situation, and the role American Idol …

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When I think of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in the media, one word (actually, one show) comes to mind: Monk.

I don’t even watch the show, but it’s no surprise I should think of it when I think of OCD used for entertainment. I mean, Adrian Monk’s OCD “quirks” are pretty infamous at this point, aren’t they? Not only are they used to help him in his usually unorthodox methods of solving crimes, but they’re also big reasons why so many fans (and even fellow characters) find him endearing.

The USA Network even offers Germicide: Outbreak, an interactive game that – in addition to being a blatant advertisement for such products as Windex Antibacterial (as if folks with mental health issues don’t have enough advertisements thrown at them, ha) – gives fans the chance to get things as clean as Monk needs them to be.

However, despite Hollywood’s knack for capitalizing on the condition, the mental and physical stresses OCD causes aren’t always endearing or worthy of a chuckle – however good-natured that chuckle may be. The obsessions and compulsions people with OCD endure can literally cripple their abilities to function in every day life. People often joke about their own “OCD tendencies,” but sometimes those tendencies are so severe there’s no room for laughter.

The Irish Times recently ran an article, Cycle of Obsessive Thoughts, that touches on OCD in various entertainment venues (for example, Jack Nicholson in As Good as it Gets and Michael J. Fox’s guest appearances as a surgeon obsessed with hygiene in Scrubs); however, the piece also does an excellent job of introducing the layperson to obsessive-compulsive disorder in real life, including what it is and who suffers from it; the various symptoms and how they can disrupt life; and diagnosis and treatment options.

All in all, a good read and one worthy of a Celebrity Psychings stamp of approval. I’m glad the publication also offered the article in its print format.

So, what do you think? Is the entertainment business skewing people’s understanding …

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“Are you sure? ‘Cause that sounds kind of whacked.” – Alex Karev, Grey’s Anatomy.

Yep, Izzie Stevens finally broke down and told her boyfriend, Alex Karev (Justin Chambers, right), that she could see, hear, and feel her dead ex-fiance, Denny Duquette.

And Alex responded exactly as I expected him to.

If you’re a Grey’s Anatomy fan, chances are you spent the better part of an hour last Thursday night either a) rolling your eyes, b) wondering why the heck Alex is so cool with Izzie thinking she can do much more than just communicate with the dead, or c) contemplating the success of a Grey’s Anatomy/Ghostbusters crossover a la Michael Ausiello.

What you might not have stopped to contemplate, however, is that the longer this bizarre love triangle drags on, the longer Izzie’s brain problem continues. (True, we don’t know what that brain problem is, and I’m not even absolutely sure there is one – I’m just going by what “sources” have claimed) – but if there is…). And, the longer this problem goes unattended to, I think a bigger (and perhaps more important) theme we might start seeing in future Grey’s Anatomy episodes will revolve around a loved one’s unwillingness to admit something’s not right.

Of course, that’s just my prediction. It wouldn’t be so surprising, though. Whether it’s a mental or physical problem, loved ones sometimes have issues with denial (for that matter, sometimes the patients themselves have issues with denial).

It also wouldn’t be uncharacteristic of Alex’s character. Remember the whole Rebecca/Ava thing? It took an incident with a knife, an authority battle between Alex and Izzie, and a trip to the psychiatric ward where he was told Rebecca had borderline personality disorder before Alex would admit she had a problem she needed to deal with.

Perhaps there’s hope for this storyline yet?

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Jevon Phillips of the Los Angeles Times recently spoke with actor Michael Hogan about his role as Col. Saul Tigh on the Sci-Fi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica.

Phillips seemed especially interested in Hogan’s response to the revelation that his character is a Cylon – a response Hogan was especially interested in sharing.

If possible, I know even less about Cylons than I know about Battlestar Galactica, but, because I have friends who are into it (one of whom even writes Battlestar Galactica fanfiction), I sometimes pay attention when I hear or see something about the show.

What caught my attention this time was how Hogan described approaching his character after finding out his character was a Cylon:

So I voiced my concerns about being a Cylon, and that’s what it was. It’s not really like all of a sudden Tigh clicks over and says, ‘Oh, I’m a Cylon.’ … Tigh’s been through so much with his alcoholism and his war wounds and having to kill Ellen, after the occupation and what he’d been through there — now they call it post-traumatic stress … so when he hears the music, it’s like he hears music often. He doesn’t really think about the music and then go, ‘Oh, I’m a Cylon.’ I treated it more as mental illness, almost like schizophrenia. Not just like, ‘Oh, I’m a Cylon. What do I do?’

So, now – despite having never watched a Battlestar Galactica episode – I’m suddenly very interested in knowing why being a Cylon is akin to having a mental illness. I’m assuming being a Cylon isn’t something one wants to be (especially given that, about the actors’ responses to being Cylons, Hogan told Phillips “We just sort of dealt with it in our own ways,” ha), but I’ve been wrong before.

Any Battlestar Galactica fans out there? Anyone who can shed some light?

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“Oprah Winfrey would make an excellent education secretary. Dr. Phil could look after the nation’s mental health. And, if you stretch the imagination a bit, Jack Bauer of 24 – minus the predilection to torture that regrettably seems to animate him – would be ideal for homeland security.” Times Online’s Gerard Baker’s response to Barack Obama’s plans to appoint a television doctor as U.S. Surgeon General.

Jack Bauer would probably be ideal, yes, but as long as we’re voting for fictional characters, my yays go to Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows.

For both mental health and homeland security purposes.

I’m just in love loyal like that.

Anyway, it’s time for another Weekend Psychings – enjoy!

As for movies, Todd Drezner, a Columbia University Film MFA graduate, is currently making Loving Lampposts, a film FilmStew.com says will “include a close-up look at ‘neurodiversity,’ a movement which posits that curing autism is something that is neither possible nor desirable.” As the father of a son diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, Drezner takes special interest in the subject and the film will reportedly feature celebrity advocates like Jenny McCarthy. (For those who’re interested, Loving Lampposts is Drezner’s directorial debut, but he also worked as an editor on I Paint Pictures, a 2007 documentary about a New York street artist with schizophrenia.)

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OK, so I know The Sun probably isn’t the most reliable source of legit news. It’s a tabloid and, well, we know how that goes.

Tupac and Elvis just gave birth to another one of those frightening alien babies that taunt me in checkout aisles.

So, when The Sun highlighted a Lily Allen interview in which the singer actually defended drug use, naturally I had to do some detective work. Lo and behold – it’s true (you can read the interview courtesy of Word Magazine) and it’s disgusting.

Among some of her more brilliant comments (“Some people are bad at taking drugs” and “I wish people wouldn’t sensationalize it,” for example), Allen states:

The only story is that drugs are bad and they will kill you. You will become a prostitute or a rapist or a dealer. But that’s not true. I know lots of people that take cocaine three nights a week and get up and go to work every day, no problem at all. But we never hear that side of the story.

You know what, Allen? I know a lot of people who are in rehab, prison, and the ground right now because of drug use. Drug and alcohol abuse can cause permanent damage to a person’s physical and mental health, not to mention the ability to, you know, live. Thank GOD we hear those sides of the stories more than the ones about your super successful recreational drug-abusing friends.

Unsurprisingly, representatives from several drug prevention organizations responded. One from Addaction told The Sun:

“These comments are misguided. There isn’t a ‘good’ or right way to take drugs and cocaine poses huge health risks to anyone using it – particularly if you drink alcohol with it. Fortunately, independent research carried out by Addaction last year showed the vast majority of young people, 86 per cent, aren’t influenced by celebrities when it comes to drugs and booze.”

As if on cue, Allen released a statement (mostly related to her “Everyone’s At It” song, …

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We’re still a few weeks away from the anniversary of actor Heath Ledger’s tragic death, but there’s no need to wait to praise this UsMagazine.com article. Actually, the praise goes to the subject of the article, Robert Pattinson – the Twilight star who portrays every female’s favorite crookedly-smiling immortal, Edward Cullen.

As if he needs an introduction.

Swoon.

Anyway, according to the article Pattinson had quite the negative reaction to an unnamed comedian’s “impression of Heath Ledger” at a No on H8 show at The ­Improv in Hollywood back in December – an impression that involved the comedian collapsing on the floor and faking convulsions.

“Robert and his friend went nuts yelling at him,” the source tells Us Weekly. “[Pattinson screamed] f–k you! You suck!”

Before his death, which resulted from an overdose of medications used for insomnia, depression, anxiety, and pain and was ruled an accidental overdose due to prescription medication abuse, Ledger was reportedly experiencing some serious sleep problems and racing thoughts he claimed were somewhat related to his then-upcoming movie, The Dark Knight.

I really cannot wrap my brain around what this comedian thought would be funny about an impression of someone overdosing and dying. Ledger was a young father, talented actor, and loved by so many. What’s funny about losing him so tragically? What’s comical about the way he died?

Not a thing. And yay for you, Pattinson, for letting him know.