The Problem with On-screen Therapists

Lucas Versantvoort / October 8, 2014

Now, I’m no therapist, but to quote Tony Soprano, “I understand therapy as a concept.” After seeing several on-screen therapists, an interesting problem is revealed: on-screen therapists lose their credibility with too much character development, but  little to no character development makes for boring characters. A therapist isn’t supposed to become personally involved with the patient, especially not romantically. They’re supposed to remain at a distance and do what’s best for the patient. On the other hand, therapists who struggle with this could make for interesting drama, but degrade the profession. I’d like to go through a few examples of on-screen therapists and see which ones are the best. (On a side note, I won't be differentiating between therapists, psychologists and psychiatrists.)

            The prototype of an on-screen therapist can be found in Robert Redford’s Ordinary People, played by Judd Hirsch. Already intriguing is the casting of Hirsch who was primarily known for showing his comedy chops in Taxi and now had to show subtle dramatic acting and resist any possible desire to amplify his acting with comedy as that would run counter to the style of the film. The result is a therapist who comes across as something close to ‘laid back’ but without it negatively impacting his credibility. Hirsch’s therapist not only succeeds in his task of helping Hutton’s character, but comes across as someone you’d feel comfortable talking to. Crucially, the film displays no major backstory, no melodrama underlining his actions, no alcohol or drug abuse or any such nonsense. 

            A more complicated character is Robin Williams’s therapist in Good Will Hunting. Though this is in part due to the script, Williams succeeds in downplaying the over-the-top comedic style he was known for and present a subtly dramatic character. The beard doesn’t hurt either… His therapist differs from Hirsch’s in that Williams’s ups the drama and backstory. He’s lost his wife and when Matt Damon’s character jokes about it, he slams him against the wall, telling him he will end him if he ever disrespects his wife again. This scene in crucial in that it establishes the kind of therapy they’ll be engaging in. Whereas Hirsch’s therapist had no backstory and helped Hutton, Williams’s therapist has a more personal relationship with Damon and it’s precisely due to their mutual respect for each other, their personal knowledge of each other’s lives, that he is capable of helping Damon. Unlike Hirsch, Williams's therapist is troubled, but doesn't let it stop him from helping his patient.

            A far more disappointing on-screen therapist (especially if you're a therapist yourself) can be found in the series In Treatment. Now, I’m not referring to the American version, but the Dutch version (In Therapie). I don’t know whether they have the same flaws, but there you go. The main therapist seen here is played by Dutch actor Jacob Derwig. The series is formatted that every working day we see him treating different patients while Friday he meets with his own therapist. He tries to help his patients, emphasis on tries. He fails most of his patients in a variety of ways and is disappointed with himself. Not only that, but he falls in love with one of them, a woman who’s fully aware of her own seductive skills. He admits to his own therapist he loves here, but crucially doesn’t fully state he knows that’s wrong. He’s not ‘damn, I’ve fallen in love with a patient. I’d best refer her to someone else’. No, he fully admits he loves her and wants to be with her. At this point, he’s not even a therapist anymore, at least to her. Obviously, this series wants to present an entirely different picture of therapists than Ordinary People and Good Will Hunting. It wants to complicate them, to humanize them, to show the struggles they face on a daily basis. That’s fine, but in doing so (and making Derwig’s character fall head over heels for one of his patients and not having him do anything about it), they also simultaneously degrade the profession itself and people’s faith in it. This is the problem I referred to before. It’s no surprise then that season 2 used a different therapist, one without a lot of emotional baggage hindering him from doing his job and season 2 is all the better for it.

            The last example I want to analyze is Dr. Melfi in The Sopranos, played by Lorraine Bracco. Melfi’s character is written in such a way as to develop her character without her crossing the boundaries of her profession. She takes on Tony Soprano as a patient. Eventually she knows how his anxiety attacks relate to his childhood and tries to help him, but Tony’s own daily life as a mobster means he can’t really afford to do a lot of soul searching. What’s great about Melfi is that she’s not The Perfect Therapist, but they manage to humanize her without ridiculing therapy. Melfi isn’t some perfect intellectual who helps Tony overcome his issues, but a complicated person who, while genuinely helping Tony, struggles with having someone like him as a patient. She perseveres, but also doubts whether she can truly help him. Early on, Tony tries to make advances on Melfi. She refuses of course, claiming that it’s all a byproduct of progress. According to Melfi, Tony having feelings for her is a reflection of Tony’s own disappointment with the women in his life (his wife Carmela and his mother). Later on, Melfi is raped and has nightmares about being assailed again, but there's a dog present who attacks the assailant. She realizes the dog symbolizes Tony and how she could ask him to help her. The ever helpful Tony would leap to her rescue and she would have the satisfaction of revenge. This would however end their therapy right then and there, so she doesn’t reveal what happened to her. All these scenes and more complicate her character without compromising her integrity as a therapist. It’s not for nothing series creator David Chase had been in therapy himself before making The Sopranos. It’s not for nothing multiple institutes awarded the series and Bracco for their portrayal of therapy. It’s not for nothing the series caused a resurgence of the popularity of therapy and psychology. The Sopranos then finds a comfortable middle ground between developing and complicating the character of the therapist without dishonoring therapy as a profession in the process (save for perhaps her and Tony’s final exchange, but that’s debatable).