Post Avatar Depression

"I'd like to talk to you about a fresh start on a New World where you can make a difference."

There have been self-reports that people are feeling blue after watching Avatar. According to this news report this is because their lives lack meaning.



Is this the beginning of a new syndrome, a new mood disorder, like the Truman Show delusion? Or has it got something to do with the 3D technology used to make and watch the film? 

A clinical psychology professor at Oxford, Dr Gordon Claridge, claims that 3D technology may be the cause. He points out that 3D virtual simulations are used to educate and treat paranoid disorders and:

"If the presentation of a virtual reality under lab conditions can affect behaviour, it is not hard to believe that it has the power to do so in the Cinema."

Answer the following question:

A clinical psychologist has observed some people who watch the film Avatar have developed depression. Design a study to investigate the relationship between watching the film in 3D and 2D and the development of depression. You should include sufficient details to permit replication, for example a hypothesis, variables, detail of design and procedure, sampling, etc. (12 marks)

This Times article discusses post-avatar depression