Shrink rap: TV characters love therapy

When Meredith’s post-ferry accident life had turned her so mopey that not even Derek could McRevive her, “Grey’s Anatomy’s” writers sent her to a shrink. And after a few episodes telling guest star Amy Madigan how much therapy won’t help, she finally broke out of her emotional funk in May’s finale.

On Fox, the delightful if grisly crime drama “Bones” knows the character-building power of therapy well. First, viewers got under Booth’s skin when the strait-laced FBI agent had to visit guest star Stephen Fry’s couch for clearance after an on-the-job shooting. Now the show has made a series regular out of Dr. Sweets, the young but confident shrink who treats Booth and Brennan like they’re in couple’s counseling.

HBO recently debuted two series that put therapy front and center. “Tell Me You Love Me” focused on three couples linked by a common therapist, who herself was forced to confront the relationships in her own life. The show made headlines for its graphic and frank depictions of sex, but it was the Jane Alexander’s Dr. Foster who became this show’s most fascinating feature.

“In Treatment” took it one step further. The show, told in half-hour daily doses featuring a different patient each day of the week, even sent its therapist to a shrink of his own every Friday. Getting inside Dr. Paul Weston’s head proved to be one of the most rewarding endeavors of the year for the fans willing to devote the time to joining him in therapy – both his own and his patients.

And perhaps that is the reason therapy has become such an effective storytelling device in recent years. It celebrates personal choice. For therapy to work, you have to be willing to show up. Whether you are the chronically sexist Charlie Harper, the chronically wounded Meredith Grey or the chronically phobic detective Adrian Monk, some part of you must want to change to  sit down on that couch in the first place. And TV has proven that that journey to change can be powerfully funny, touchingly dramatic and all-around entertaining.

Jeff Hidek writes about TV for the Star-News in Wilmington NC. Contact him at or read his blog at http://tv.starnewsonline.com

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