This group assignment analyzes how psychotherapy is portrayed in popular media. The media article highlights both inaccurate portrayals, such as therapists being depicted as neurotic or egoistic, as well as more accurate portrayals like in the film Good Will Hunting. The original research paper examines how cinema has portrayed psychotherapy in ways that can influence public perceptions and clinical practice. While movies often rely on stereotypes for entertainment, some sources suggest media could also be used to educate the public if certain portrayals are analyzed critically. The research aims to understand both the limitations and impact of media in shaping views of mental health treatment.
A critique of outcome research in psychotherapy, and a proposal that more weight should be put on the ability fo therapists and clients to continue in relationships for as long as therapy remains active and mutative
Promoting the Patient's Capacity to Suffer: A Revision of Contemporary Notion...James Tobin, Ph.D.
In this presentation, Dr. Tobin argues that the era of evidence-based treatment has inadvertently placed too much pressure and responsibility on the part of the clinician to "heal" the patient. Symptom reduction and characterologoical transformation are perspectives on therapeutic transformation that oversimplify the clinical situation. According to Dr. Tobin, a principle focus of psychodynamic treatment is increasing the patient's capacity to contact, tolerate, and represent his or her contributions to experience; learning by suffering denotes a psychological competency in which denial, minimization, and other defensive modes of distortion are replaced by more accurate appraisals of reality.
A critique of outcome research in psychotherapy, and a proposal that more weight should be put on the ability fo therapists and clients to continue in relationships for as long as therapy remains active and mutative
Promoting the Patient's Capacity to Suffer: A Revision of Contemporary Notion...James Tobin, Ph.D.
In this presentation, Dr. Tobin argues that the era of evidence-based treatment has inadvertently placed too much pressure and responsibility on the part of the clinician to "heal" the patient. Symptom reduction and characterologoical transformation are perspectives on therapeutic transformation that oversimplify the clinical situation. According to Dr. Tobin, a principle focus of psychodynamic treatment is increasing the patient's capacity to contact, tolerate, and represent his or her contributions to experience; learning by suffering denotes a psychological competency in which denial, minimization, and other defensive modes of distortion are replaced by more accurate appraisals of reality.
The Assessment, Management, and Treatment of Suicidal PatientsJohn Gavazzi
This PowerPoint is a companion to The Ethics and Psychology Podcast #25: The Assessment, Management, and Treatment of Suicidal Patients. Dr. John Gavazzi speaks with Dr. Sam Knapp about assessing, managing and treating the suicidal patient. Please read the disclaimer and the note on competence in dealing with suicidal patients. The podcast or video meets the requirements for Pennsylvania Act 74 requirements for all mental health professionals in Pennsylvania.
In Psychiatry and Psychology, Insight means the recognition of one’s own condition. (mental illness)
It refers to:-
the conscious awareness and understanding of one’s own psychodynamics and symptoms of maladaptive behavior; highly important in effecting changes in the personality and behavior of a person.
insight,
true insight,
impaired insight,
judgement,
mental status examination,
Multi-dimensional model of Insight,
Grades of Insight, intellectual insight
assesment
The Anatomy of Discovery in Psychotherapy: "Something So Familiar, It is Stra...James Tobin, Ph.D.
In this talk, presented at the Western Psychological Association Annual Convention in April, 2014, Dr. Tobin cautions that the current environment of empirically-based treatment may foreclose on the discovery process psychotherapy affords. According to Dr. Tobin, psychotherapy is most successful when the patient's self-observing capacities are supported by the therapist. If the therapist can avoid narcissistic ambitions and instrumental fictions employed to understand the patient prematurely, the conditions may allow for the patient to connect with dissociated memories, cognitions, and affects. Dr. Tobin utilizes movie clips from the feature films "Ordinary People" and "9 1/2 Weeks" to illustrate his perspective.
The Assessment, Management, and Treatment of Suicidal PatientsJohn Gavazzi
This PowerPoint is a companion to The Ethics and Psychology Podcast #25: The Assessment, Management, and Treatment of Suicidal Patients. Dr. John Gavazzi speaks with Dr. Sam Knapp about assessing, managing and treating the suicidal patient. Please read the disclaimer and the note on competence in dealing with suicidal patients. The podcast or video meets the requirements for Pennsylvania Act 74 requirements for all mental health professionals in Pennsylvania.
In Psychiatry and Psychology, Insight means the recognition of one’s own condition. (mental illness)
It refers to:-
the conscious awareness and understanding of one’s own psychodynamics and symptoms of maladaptive behavior; highly important in effecting changes in the personality and behavior of a person.
insight,
true insight,
impaired insight,
judgement,
mental status examination,
Multi-dimensional model of Insight,
Grades of Insight, intellectual insight
assesment
The Anatomy of Discovery in Psychotherapy: "Something So Familiar, It is Stra...James Tobin, Ph.D.
In this talk, presented at the Western Psychological Association Annual Convention in April, 2014, Dr. Tobin cautions that the current environment of empirically-based treatment may foreclose on the discovery process psychotherapy affords. According to Dr. Tobin, psychotherapy is most successful when the patient's self-observing capacities are supported by the therapist. If the therapist can avoid narcissistic ambitions and instrumental fictions employed to understand the patient prematurely, the conditions may allow for the patient to connect with dissociated memories, cognitions, and affects. Dr. Tobin utilizes movie clips from the feature films "Ordinary People" and "9 1/2 Weeks" to illustrate his perspective.
adjustment disorders and distress in Palliative careruparnakhurana
Psychosocial disorders are very common in patients with advanced malignancies with the commonest being anxiety and depression. Early identification and treatment will help in improving the quality of life of patients and their families and increasing compliance towards treatment and self care,
The standards of care of the modern mental health system all but insist that a therapist use force in working with clients diagnosed with severe psychiatric problems—especially those labeled with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. The mental health practitioner is taught to be skeptical of their judgment, their self-control, and thus their wishes.
Social Psychiatry Comes of Age - Inaugural Column in Psychiatric TimesUniversité de Montréal
In this inaugural column on “Second Thoughts… About Psychiatry, Psychology, and Psychotherapy,” I want to express second thoughts about my profession in a warm and constructive way.
https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/social-psychiatry-comes-of-age
Therapy Without Force: A Treatment Model for Severe Psychiatric ProblemsAhmed YaGoub
The standards of care of the modern mental health system all but insist that a therapist use force in working with clients diagnosed with severe psychiatric problems—especially those labeled with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. The mental health practitioner is taught to be skeptical of their judgment, their self-control, and thus their wishes.
I am convinced that your efforts will bring us closer to the day when psychiatry will, at last, become a truly human psychiatry.
– Philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, Preface to Laing & Cooper’s Reason and Violence
Nothing is closer to the heart of therapists across all our clinical professions than the notion of change. Like the title of my first book, A Stranger in the Family (Di Nicola, 1997), “changing the subject” is a polysemous phrase that invokes several layers of change. Family Therapy (FT) changed the subject by changing the frame of therapy, placing the individual in a family context, invoking systems theory. My model of cultural family therapy (CFT) changed the subject by placing the family itself in the larger context of culture. These approaches also changed the subject of our work – both the identified patient (IP) and the family system or culture. Now, I propose to change the subject again, identifying three gaps in relational theory and therapy: a theory of the subject (how we define persons), a theory of therapy (how to conduct therapy), and most important, a theory of change (how change or innovation occurs). While we have many competing theories of these tasks, there no consensus among therapists. To address these gaps, I invoke the event as a new model, based on the philosophy of Alain Badiou (Badiou & Tarby, 2013). Faced with a predicament (crisis, rupture), two potential outcomes arise: trauma or event. Trauma closes down the possibilities of life, while event opens them up. By drawing a clear line, marking a before and after, the event changes a world – as an individual (subject), a family (system, culture), or an entire community (the world). Thus, the Event speaks to the very definition of being – beyond attitudes, behaviour, cognitions, and emotions – to what being-in-the-world means. The three conditions for the Event are: (1) being there to witness the event, (2) naming it, and (3) fidelity to the event, which radically changes the subject by identifying with the event. Recalling the story of Antonella (Di Nicola, 2021), an Italian immigrant to Canada referred by an Italian family therapist, I conduct an evental analysis to examine her lifeworld (Lebenswelt in German), her search for meaning and identity. Then through evental therapy (individual, couple, and family meetings), I bear witness to the event of her life. Reaching beyond the human world to become a dog breeder, Antonella resolves her ambivalent attachments to become – “at last,” as Sartre said – a genuinely human subject with an identity and a purpose in life.
References:
Badiou A, Tarby F. Philosophy and the Event. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2013.
Di Nicola V. A Stranger in the Family: Culture, Families, and Therapy. New York: Norton, 1997.
Di Nicola V. Antonella – “A stranger in the family”: A case study of eating disorders across cultures. In: DS Stoyanov, et al. (Eds), International Perspectives in Values-Based Mental Health Practice. Springer, 2021.
3. ARTICLE SUMMARY:
“The Media and Mental Illness: The Good, the Bad, and the
Ridiculous”
• Author Margarita Tartakovsky highlights a psychologist, Ryan Howes, and
psychotherapist Jeffrey Sumber’s take on how therapy is portrayed in the media
• Shows and Film’s That Got It Wrong
• “Fraser,” “Web Thearpy,” and “What About Bob” depict therapists as
neutoric, egotistic
• Shows and Films That Got It Right
• “In Therapy,” “Good Will Hunting,” “The Sopranos,” and a few other dramatic
movie
• Taking the Media With a Grain of Salt
• The author notes that the media’s job is entertainment. (A position also
taken by Gabbard in his article (27) and Orchowski (507) in hers)
4. ORIGINAL PAPER:
“Cinema and the Valuing of Psychotherapy: Implications for
Clinical Practice” by Orchowski et al.
• Though no specific academic paper is mentioned in the media source, there are a
number of papers that corroborate its message about psychotherapy’s
misrepresentation in the media: This is one
• Other examples include:
• “Using Media to Teach How Not to Do Psychotherapy,” specficially
on In Treatment as a teaching tool
• “The Impact of Stigma on Severe Mental Illness” which examines the
impact of the media on people seeking therapy
5. Figure 1. Kelsey Grammer as “Frasier,” is one of
Howes’ examples of a neurotic therapist. [Click
to View.]
Figure 2. In “Anger Management,” therapy seems
chaotic and the therapist distracted [Click to View]
6. WHAT DO WE ALREADY KNOW?
• Psychotherapy provides treatment or assistance to someone suffering from mental illness
or personal distress
• Roger R. Hock says, “You do not have to be ‘crazy’ to need psychotherapy.”
• Often, there are waitlists to see a psychotherapist
7. DOES THE TOPIC TIE INTO CLASS?
• Four main studies on “psychotherapy” were studied in class. These relate to the
types of therapy and their effectiveness
• Techniques include systematic desensitization and projective therapy
• Specifically, however, Rosenhan’s study deals with the effects of seeking treatment
• Although the study was explicitly concerned with labels regarding
schizophrenia, it also brings up the potential stigma or labels associated with
seeking treatment
8. WHAT IS THE POPULAR MEDIA ASKING US TO ACCEPT?
• That movies and televisions have limitations in portraying therapeutic
practices
• That professionals sometimes take issue with television and movie
portrayals of their profession
• But there are also good examples of therapy
• “In Treatment” comes up as an example which is “overly dramatic,” but
one of the better portrayals
9. WHAT IS THE RESEARCH QUESTION ASKED IN THE
ORIGINAL ARTICLE?
• A meta-analysis was performed on various research articles that studied the
impact of the portrayal of psychotherapy by the media.
WHAT METHODS WERE USED IN THE ORIGINAL
RESEARCH?
• How is psychotherapy portrayed in the media, what are its advantages and
limitations, and how can the media be used to teach clinical psychotherapy?
10. DOES THE ORIGINAL EVIDENCE SUPPORT THE CLAIMS
MADE BY THE MEDIA?
• In “Using Media to Teach How Not to Do Psychotherapy,” the authors comment on the
limitations of “showbiz”
• However, they confirm precisely what Tartakovsky brings up about “In Treatment.”
• Though overly dramatic, it accurately portrays boundary transgressions by therapist
and patient and the authors even suggest using it as a teaching tool
• In the Orchowski paper, the authors echo the media’s claims about portrayals of therapists
as neurotic or “eccentric” (508)
• They also point to the use of stereotypes of therapy as portrayed in such shows as
contributing to the “demedicalization of psychiatry”
• Suggestions that the patient can be cured by love:
• In Treatment fails to illustrate the complexity of patient transferance
• What About Bob where a lonely patient follows his psychiatrist to his lake home and finds
solace by befriending his family
11. WHAT ARE SOME CRITICISMS/LIMITATIONS OF THE
ORIGINAL RESEARCH? STRENGTHS?
• Somewhat subjective use of language: filmmakers in the past have dealt
with “narrow generic conventions” (Orchowski 508), portrayals of therapists
within cinema are “disturbing”
• Infrequent citation of specific films, television shows. Large studies are
referenced by few specific examples excerpted
• Categorizations of different therapeutic “types” somewhat arbitrary
• Therapists in movies described as oracles, societal agents, eccentrics or
other categories
• Large body of research cited, helpful suggestions for clinical practice
12. ALTERNATIVE WAYS TO EXAMINE THE TOPIC
• Develop a qualitative grading scheme for accuracy of media portrayals
based on professional training guidelines
• Survey public opinion on specific aspects of psychotherapy and determine
whether they relate more closely to media portrayals or true experiences in
psychotherapy
• Expose research participants to a media source on therapy or a televised
control, and then comment on their behavior in an actual psychotherapist’s
office
13. REASONABLE CONCLUSIONS…
• Probably not unhealthy to view movies or television shows on
psychotherapy
• Certainly, movies and television shows on psychotherapy should be viewed
critically
• Still, oftentimes movies are deliberately playing against stereotypes of
therapists for dramatic or comedic effect
• Some films that Got It Right…
14. Figure 3. “Good Will Hunting;” Howes’ selection
for an example of accurate psychotherapy [Click
to View.]
15. CONCLUSIONS
The significance of research of media portrayals of therapy
patients is highly relatable to patient willingness to seek
therapy, deal with stigma, and disclose his or her mental
illness. If patients feel that they will be stigmatized or labelled
by seeking treatment, or confining in friends or family
members, this can have potentially adverse effects on their
psychological development.
16. BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.) Tartakovsky, Margarita. “The Media and Mental Illness: The Good, the Bad, and the
Ridiculous.” Psych Central, Web. 18 Mar. 2016 <http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-media-and-
mental-illness-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ridiculous/>
2.) Hock, Roger. Forty Studies that Changed Psychology: Explorations into the History of
Psychological Research. 7th ed. New York: Pearson, 2013. Print.
3.) Gabbard, Glen; Horowitz, Mardi. “Using Media to Teach How Not to Do Psychotherapy.”
Academic Psychiatry 34:1 (2010): 27-30
4.) Orchowski, Lindsay M.; Spickard, Brad A.; “Cinema and the Valuing of Psychotherapy:
Implications for Clinical Practice” Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. 37.5 (2006):
506-514