In August 1980 the United Kingdom Department of Health and Social Security published the Report of the Working Group on Inequalities in Health, also known as the Black Report (after chairman Sir Douglas Black, President of the Royal College of Physicians). The Report showed in great detail the extent of which ill-health and death are unequally distributed among the population of Britain, and suggested that these inequalities have been widening rather than diminishing since the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948.
My senior partner at my first practice in inner city Manchester explained that our patients lived in an environment that promoted instant gratification before deferred gratification. Market forces were one of the agents of instant gratification. A documentary “The century of the self”, by Adam Curtis explains how marketing for financial gain affects citizens. My hope was that patients holding their own records and having access to regular deferred gratification "advertising" from the National Health Service might go some way to increase deferred gratification. The NHS app is becoming a prolific NHS patient conversation tool.
The Century of the Self is a 2002 British television documentary series by filmmaker Adam Curtis. It focuses on the work of psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud and Anna Freud, and PR consultant Edward Bernays. In episode one, Curtis says, "This series is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy."
Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, changed our perception of the mind and its workings. The documentary explores the various ways that governments, global organizations, and corporations have used Freud's theories. Freud and his nephew Edward Bernays, who was the first to use psychological techniques in public relations, are discussed in part one. His daughter Anna Freud, a pioneer of child psychoanalysis, is mentioned in part two. Wilhelm Reich, an opponent of Freud's theories, is discussed in part three.
Commercial organizations inadvertently become corporations - which may have no body that can be punished, nor soul that can be Edward Thurlow, 1st Baron Thurlow (1731-1806), a renowned lawyer and then politician who served under four Prime Ministers as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain for fourteen years, has made an astute observation that still meaningfully resonates today: “Corporations have neither bodies to be punished, nor souls to be condemned, they therefore do as they like. We support them as the public through our pension funds?
HIFA profile: Richard Fitton is a retired family doctor - GP. Professional interests: Health literacy, patient partnership of trust and implementation of healthcare with professionals, family and public involvement in the prevention of modern lifestyle diseases, patients using access to professional records to overcome confidentiality barriers to care, patients as part of the policing of the use of their patient data Email address: richardpeterfitton7 AT gmail.com
[*Note from HIFA moderator (NPW): Thank you Richard, important points and highly relevant to health promotion. I have added 'Instant versus deferred gratification' to the subject line.]