Bad Therapy – Details, episodes & analysis

CONTENT NOTE: Discussions of physical assault. Also swearing and, of course, spoilers.

You know how sometimes you accidentally take a 5-month break from the hobby you genuinely enjoy because you feel kinda burnt out by other things so all you have energy for in your downtime is snuggling your cat and playing The Sims?

Neither do we. Let's talk about Dr. Melfi.

Please note, the contents of this podcast are for entertainment purposes only. Nothing said in this podcast is intended to be taken as personal or medical advice.

CONTENT NOTE: Discussions of physical assault. Also swearing and, of course, spoilers.

You can't talk about therapy in movies for too long without talking about Good Will Hunting (1997). So we didn't.

Will is a brilliant-but-troubled fella from Southie, Sean is a brilliant-but-sad therapist fella from Southie, and together, they live-laugh-love their way into some psychological healing (with just a teensy little bit of strangulation). We get to talk about self-disclosure, motivational enhancement, rolling with resistance, and boundary setting - all the juiciest stuff we know you've been waiting for, you little therapy scamps. 

Truly, this was mostly an excuse to watch Robin Williams.

Please note, the contents of this podcast are for entertainment purposes only. Nothing said in this podcast is intended to be taken as personal or medical advice.

CONTENT NOTE: Discussions of suicidality, medical torture, especially medical torture specifically targeted at LGBTQ people, homicide, gore, and psychiatric hospitalization. Also swearing and, of course, spoilers.

Now that we're veteran podcasters, we decided to take on one of pop culture's most heinous villains: Nurse Ratched.

The Netflix series Ratched follows the duplicitous, chaotic Nurse Ratched's...uhhh...descent?...into the cold, manipulative tyrant of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. So we get to talk about the early-ish wacky days of psychology before ethical standards were introduced!

Sources:

The Prefrontal Cortex and Neurosurgical Treatment for Intractable OCD

Psychosurgery: A History from Prefrontal Lobotomy to Deep Brain Stimulation

The Healing Waters: The Long History of Using Water to Cure Madness

Part 1: The Bastard Who Invented the Lobotomy

Part 2: The Bastard Who Invented the Lobotomy

Please note, the contents of this podcast are for entertainment purposes only. Nothing said in this podcast is intended to be taken as personal or medical advice.

CONTENT NOTE: Discussions of self-harm, disordered eating, and suicidality. Also swearing and, of course, spoilers.

After a quick hiatus for some holidays, we're back and talking about inpatient psychiatric care with Girl, Interrupted (1999)!

Based on her memoir of the same name, Girl, Interrupted tells the story of Susanna Kaysen's experience living in an inpatient psychiatric hospital in the late 60's. So we're stepping away from conventional outpatient therapy for a bit to talk about inpatient, or milieu, therapy and its strengths and weaknesses.

Most importantly, though, we answer the most pressing question raised in this film: do they get to keep the cat?

Yes. Yes, they do.

Please note, the contents of this podcast are for entertainment purposes only. Nothing said in this podcast is intended to be taken as personal or medical advice.

It's only episode 2 and we're already blowing our premise. It's time to talk about some good therapy on Netflix's (formerly Fox's) Lucifer!

Dr. Linda Martin has a...umm...ethically questionable relationship with her patient, Lucifer (yes, that Lucifer), but we'll be damned if she's not actually a very gifted, well-written therapist. 

Pull up a spot on your sleeper sofa (a bold choice) and join us as we talk about every show's favorite way to ethically compromise therapists - sex with clients.

Please note, the contents of this podcast are for entertainment purposes only. Nothing said in this podcast is intended to be taken as personal or medical advice.

CONTENT NOTE: Discussions of suicidality, sexual assault, physical assault, child abuse, and murder. Also swearing and, of course, spoilers.

For a show that talks a big game about encouraging teens to seek help in times of crisis, 13 Reasons Why sure does make therapists look totally useless!

Anyone familiar with Netflix's 13 Reasons Why knows that it got a lot of backlash for its graphic portrayal of sexual assault and teen suicide upon its initial release. What didn't get nearly enough discussion, in our opinion, was how absolutely TERRIBLE the school counselor, Mr. Porter, is at his job. Even though we know the point of his character was to be really bad at his job, we just had to talk about it.

For anyone in the US who's in crisis or who loves someone in crisis and wants to talk to someone right now, call 1-800-273-8255 or go to https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org for free, confidential support.

Please note, the contents of this podcast are for entertainment purposes only. Nothing said in this podcast is intended to be taken as personal or medical advice.