# Help needed: Psychiatrist from fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2013, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156 "2013-06-17T01:59:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/1 "2013-06-17T01:59:40Z")
Long story, but I need to find a fictional character who is a psychiatrist (or psychoanalyst or similar) from some work of literature, preferably a minor character. I do _not_ want someone who is made fun of (like the shrink in _Catch 22_) or ineffectual. I want someone who is helpful and intelligent. All I can come up with is the shrink at the end of _Psycho_, but that’s not exactly “great literature.” Anyone have any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/2 "2013-06-17T02:25:28Z")
You could look at the [Mental illness in fiction wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_illness_in_fiction)for ideas. Dr. Wilbur from Sybil was the only name that came to mind. The [TV show](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0673239/)based on this [Perry Mason](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1845473.The_Case_of_the_Demure_Defendant)book says the doctor is a psychiatrist, I don’t know if it was written that way in the novel. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/3 "2013-06-17T02:30:26Z")
How about [The Prince of Tides](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince_of_Tides) character, Susan Lowenstein (played by Barbra Streisand in the movie)? Seemed like a positive model of a psychiatrist, at least from my vague recollections of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/4 "2013-06-17T02:31:02Z")
So Lucy van Pelt doesn’t count? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/5 "2013-06-17T02:53:30Z")
Sidney Freedman in **MASH** (the TV show). The psychiatrist in **The End of the Road** (book and movie) certainly helps Jacob Horner, but his techniques are certainly not standard. There’s also the psychologist from **Ordinary People.** ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/6 "2013-06-17T02:54:07Z")
Dr. Stanley Freedman from the M_A_S\*H TV show? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/7 "2013-06-17T02:54:31Z")
The Judd Hirsch character (Dr. Berger) in _Ordinary People_ comes to mind. The movie was based on a novel, but I haven’t read it. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/8 "2013-06-17T02:55:33Z")
Dr O’Mara from James White’s [Sector General](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sector_General) stories is competent, but many or may not be disqualified for the “minor character” part. His importance varies greatly depending on the story; he ranges from a background figure to being the protagonist in one short story and one of the novels. So it would depend on if the series as a whole has to be considered, or just one of the stories where he doesn’t have much presence. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/9 "2013-06-17T03:01:30Z")
Define ‘literature.’ Does it have to be something highbrow, or any trashy novel. Does it have to be written, or will a movie or TV series do? Wiki’s [List of fictional psychiatrists](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_psychiatrists) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/10 "2013-06-17T03:04:38Z")
Not literature and maybe a _little_ bit of a comic character, but the first thing I thought of was Dr. Kroger on the [Monk](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312172/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1) TV series. ---
**Author:** ![kivrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@kivrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kivrin)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/11 "2013-06-17T03:09:30Z")
Johanna Von Haller, the Jungian psychoanalyst in Robertson Davies’ _The Manticore_. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/12 "2013-06-17T03:13:26Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Not literature and maybe a _little_ bit of a comic character, but the first thing I thought of was Dr. Kroger on the [Monk](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312172/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1) TV series. And I guess Dr. Bell after Stanley Kamel, the actor who portrayed Dr. Kroger, died, but I’ll always think of Dr. Kroger first in _Monk_. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/13 "2013-06-17T03:24:57Z")
Hannibal Lector from “Silence of the Lambs” would sort of fit the requirements, though perhaps he had a rather more prominent role than the OP is looking for, albeit not the lead role in that book. He certainly was helpful to agent Starling, and was quite frighteningly intelligent. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/14 "2013-06-17T03:33:03Z")
The first kindly fictional mental health professional who springs to mind is the title character on _The Bob Newhart Show_, but that’s not literature and he’s not a minor character. After a little more thought, I came up with Dr. Fried in _I Never Promised You A Rose Garden_ by Hannah Green (pen name of Joanne Greenberg). She is the main character’s therapist and is very helpful to her in dealing with her mental illness and feelings of guilt and shame. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/15 "2013-06-17T03:55:33Z")
Essentially he whole of _Portnoy’s Complaint_ is a monologue of Portnoy speaking to his psychoanalyst. However, (I am not sure because it is a very long time since I read it) I do not think we learn much if anything about the analyst. I am not sure if he even gets to speak. There is Dr Haber in Ursula Le Guin’s _The Lathe of Heaven_. He is sort of the villain, but initially at least, has good intentions, IIRC. Certainly he is not comical or incompetent, but the book is science fiction and the psychiatry involved does not bear much resemblance to the real thing. If we are including TV (as most posters seem to be doing - doesn’t anyone read books any more?!), the obvious ones are surely the Crane brothers, Niles and Frasier. Although they are comic characters, they are not comic _psychiatrists_: that is, I think we are supposed to believe that they (perhaps Niles, especially) are genuinely competent at their work and really help their patients. They are only doofuses in their life outside the consulting room. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/16 "2013-06-17T04:34:06Z")
The psychiatrist at the end of this movie (I haven’t read the novel) was sympathetic and helpful: > **[Splendor in the Grass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splendor_in_the_Grass)** > > Splendor in the Grass is a 1961 American period drama film produced and directed by Elia Kazan, from a screenplay written by William Inge. It stars Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty (in his film debut) as two high school sweethearts, navigating feelings of sexual repression, love, and heartbreak. Pat Hingle, Audrey Christie, Barbara Loden, Zohra Lampert, and Joanna Roos are featured in supporting roles. > Splendor in the Grass was released theatrically on October 10, 1961, by Warner Bros. Pictures ... But while looking up that one, I thought also of the Claude Rains character in the movie _Now, Voyager_ ( [Now, Voyager - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now,_Voyager) ), based on a novel by Olive Higgins Prouty that I also haven’t read. He’s _exactly_ what you’re looking for! ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/17 "2013-06-17T04:37:48Z")
I can’t think of the title; been many, many years since I’ve really tried to look for it. The fictional story takes place during World War II, European theater, at an Army Air Corps hospital, the psychiatric wing. One of the first scenes features a soldier going in to interview for an assignment as an orderly. The doctor asks the soldier what experience he’s had in psychiatric hospitals, and the soldier says that he’s been in a few. Through a typical paper-work snafu, the soldier’s papers saying that he’d been in psych wards got translated as his having experience in psych ward work, but, well, he’s really willing to do his best. The soldier just has a little Tourette’s Syndrome problem, is all. The doctor figures that the thing to do is order the soldier to cuss him out first thing in the morning, but at no other time, and that that might provide the soldier with enough emotional relief. This relationship endures. … and I Can’t Think Of The Name Of The Doctor, which is also part of the book’s title. Arghhh! They also made a movie about it, I think. The book is a little dated, I think. I believe in a major crisis scene, an airman finally breaks down into full schizophrenia (is that possible?), demonstrated by his going into a transgender episode. Offensive by today’s standards, yeah. I would like to learn the name of the book, just for my own emotional well-being. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/18 "2013-06-17T05:04:31Z")
Iz Einsam from Alison Lurie’s “The Nowhere City”. A fairly unconventional character, his extremely dubious methods are portrayed as being central to the psychological development of the main character (Katherine Cattleman, his secretary) What, especially, do you need of this character? Apart from “being a psychiatrist”? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/19 "2013-06-17T05:28:50Z")
Doonsbury had a run of strips with an army counsellor named Elias. Not sure if he was a psychiatrist or not though. Granted that’s kinda stretching the definition of “literature”. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/20 "2013-06-17T05:55:48Z")
If TV counts, there’s Frasier and Niles Crane. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156.md?page=2)