Finally, this tendency in the film industry may symbolically indicate something deeper; it may depict the fear or concern of the general population that psychotherapists actually have “the power to control mind”. Psychoanalytically, these archetype fears may correspond to different kinds of feelings that people have when they go for treatment: the wish for healing and rescue, the fear of incompetence, and the fear of pain, madness, and death (Schultz, 1998). Some great examples of these fears are films such as One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) or Silence of the Lambs (1991).
In conclusion, it is clear enough that the image of the mental health professions in movies depicts, most of the times, a therapist incompetent who crosses ethical boundaries and princi-ples regardless the benefit of the client. Although cinema and television tend not to depict the precise role of a therapist, the whole therapeutic stance may be amplified.
Collaboration between mental health professionals and film industry will surely allow professionals to guide clients toward accurate information on how and when to access mental health care.
M.A, Clinical Psychologist
www.psychologosantonopoulos.com
References
Gharaibeh N. M. (2005). The psychiatrist’s image in commercially available American movies. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 111, 316–319.
Macfarlane S. (2004). Antwone Fisher: how dangerous is ‘Dr Wonderful’?. Australasian Psychiatry, 12 (2).
Orchowski L. M., Spickard B. A., McNamara J. R. (2006). Cinema and the Valuing of Psy-chotherapy: Implications for Clinical Practice. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 37 (5), 506–514.
Schultz H. T. (2005). Hollywood's portrayal of psychologists and psychiatrists: Gender and
professional training differences. In E. Cole, J. H. Daniel, J. D. Henderson (Eds.),
Featuring Females: Feminist Analyses of Media (pp. 101- 112). Portland: American Psychological Association.
Psychologized / June 2014