# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/41 "2013-06-17T18:35:34Z")
Robin Williams’ character in Good Will Hunting, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/42 "2013-06-17T18:39:11Z")
A major character, but Martin Dysart from _EQUUS_. His colleague would be minor. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/43 "2013-06-17T19:34:02Z")
_Fine_ by Samuel Shem. But it’s the protagonist, not a minor character, who’s the psychiatrist. (Shem, whose real name is Stephen Bergman, is himself a psychiatrist.) ---
**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, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/44 "2013-06-17T19:40:21Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > Thanks, all. Some great suggestions. > > … never occurred to me that Wiki would have such a list. Sigh. The list is, of course, woefully incomplete since it doesn’t include the shrink from PSYCHO, nor Dr Chumley from the play HARVEY. 😉 I’m kind of curious why you just can’t make up a character. Are all the characters in your story based on other literary figures? ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/45 "2013-06-17T19:41:12Z")
It’s an obscure children’s book, but Dr. Harry Hope from _Cherry Ames at Hilton Hospital_, by Helen Wells, fits your criteria exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/46 "2013-06-17T19:49:18Z")
> [@Dancer\_Flight](#): > > Robert B. Parker’s Spencer, Jesse Stone, and Sunny Randall novels all share a common world which includes Susan Silverman, a psychiatrist. She is Spenser’s significant other and Sunny Randall’s therapist. I can’t recall if Jesse Stone has had any direct interactions or not with Susan. > > -DF Stone sees Dr. Dix; ex-cop turned shrink, helping Jesse with his drinking problems and occasional insight on cases. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/47 "2013-06-17T21:53:14Z")
He’s hardly a minor character, but Damien Karras in \*the Exorcist \*is a psychiatrist, and he’s a very positive, relatable character. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/48 "2013-06-18T03:34:23Z")
There’s Dr John Stillingfleet in two Agatha Christie novels: “Third Girl” and “Sad Cypress”. He’s a minor character, albeit playing key roles in the plots. In the Sayers-verse, there’s Sir Julian Freke, who is a renowned psychiatrist, but he plays a major role in “Whose Body”, so I don’t know if he meets **Dex’s** criteria. ---
**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 18, 2013, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/49 "2013-06-18T12:26:37Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I’m kind of curious why you just can’t make up a character. Are all the characters in your story based on other literary figures? Not all, but several. It’s kind of inspired by Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series… ---
**Author:** ![Renifer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Renifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renifer)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/50 "2013-06-20T16:12:44Z")
Joanna sees a psychologist in _The Stepford Wives_. Unlike the rest of the professionals to whom Joanna tries to tell her suspicions, the psychologist takes her fears seriously and encourages her to leave Stepford. The social worker in _Push_ by Sapphire, or the movie _Prescious_. I’m amazed about how well she handled that final confrontation with Precious’s mother, which would move most people to overpowering anger. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/51 "2013-06-20T16:24:29Z")
Would comic books count? There are heroes Doctor Leonard Samson and Karla Sofen (Moonstone, a now-reformed villainess) and the villain Doctor Faustus in the Marvel Universe, and the villain Professor Hugo Strange in the DC Universe. ---
**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 21, 2013, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/52 "2013-06-21T05:21:04Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Sounds a little like [Captain Newman, M.D.](http://www.amazon.com/Captain-Newman-M-D-Calvin-Rosten/dp/0440110602) by Leo Rosten. A good psychotherapist, but obviously not a minor character. Also loosely based on a real person. That’s it. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![FeAudrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FeAudrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FeAudrey)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/53 "2013-06-21T17:46:53Z")
How about psychoanalysts? Not just psychoanalysts, but Jewish psychoanalysts, and lots of 'em? The first book in Israeli mystery writer Batya Gur’s “Michael Ohayon” series (police detective) is set in their world: > **[Amazon.com: The Saturday Morning Murder: A Psychoanalytic Case (Michael Ohayon...](https://www.amazon.com/Saturday-Morning-Murder-Psychoanalytic-Mysteries/dp/0060995084)** > > Amazon.com: The Saturday Morning Murder: A Psychoanalytic Case (Michael Ohayon Mysteries, No. 1): 9780060995089: Batya Gur, Dalya Bilu: Books ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/54 "2013-06-21T23:46:32Z")
What about [Dr. Darryl Nolan](http://house.wikia.com/wiki/Dr._Nolan), the psychiatrist who helped House when he had his breakdown? He was portrayed as an intelligent, compassionate doctor who would stand up to House’s bullshit. There’s also [Malcolm Long](http://watchmen.wikia.com/wiki/Malcolm_Long), the psychiatrist who worked with Rorschach in _Watchmen_–he was helpful if somewhat ineffectual. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus\_alba](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quercus_alba/32/4061_2.png) [@Quercus\_alba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus_alba)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/55 "2013-06-22T00:59:50Z")
There was an article in Psychiatric News a number of years ago, when _Prince of Tides_ and _Silence of the Lamb_s were both fairly recent, that stated that according to Hollywood, Bad Psychiatrists sleep with their patients and then kill them, whereas Good Psychiatrists just sleep with their patients. I wouldn’t say that either model really touches on what we actually do on a day to day basis… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/56 "2013-06-22T04:13:24Z")
Deanna Troi, Ship’s Counselor, Star Trek:The Next Generation ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156/57 "2013-06-22T05:13:07Z")
Judith Rossner of _Looking for Mr Goodbar_ fame wrote an interesting novel about psychoanlysis - [August](http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/10/19/home/rossner-august.html). The story is recounted from the point of view of the psychoanalyst Dr. Lulu Shinefeld. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-needed-psychiatrist-from-fiction/661156.md?page=2)