# Shrinks in Movies/fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 11, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186 "2009-11-11T15:14:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/1 "2009-11-11T15:14:56Z")
I’m a registered psychotherapist \*(I know!) \* and always enjoy seeing therapy done in fiction. My personal fave is Dr Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting - specifically this; “If you ever disrespect my wife again, I will end you. I will fuckin’ end you. Got that, chief?” It sings doesn’t it! I liked early Dr Melfi in The Sopranos but that wore pretty thin; and as for Dr Elliot Kupferberg naming Tony as a client at a dinner party of therapists - well I just don’t know. I think overall the therapist for me would have to be Dr Molly Griswald in Tin Cup. Yow! The transference! Any thoughts /viewing suggestions? Hello the Dope - I’m listening. MiM ---
**Author:** ![StoutHearted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@StoutHearted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StoutHearted)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/2 "2009-11-11T15:24:14Z")
I always enjoyed the therapist in _Monk_, but he passed away. I’m wondering, what do you think of the _Analyze This_/_That_ movies? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/3 "2009-11-11T15:27:18Z")
What about [What About Bob?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103241/)? (At least, if you like seeing a psychiatrist going slowly and hilariously insane.) ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/4 "2009-11-11T15:27:35Z")
I always liked Judd Hirsch as Dr. Berger in “Ordinary People.” ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/5 "2009-11-11T15:30:01Z")
Whit Bissell in “I was a Teenage Werewolf”. To quote Monty Python, “A mad psychiatrist. That’d be new.” ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/6 "2009-11-11T15:38:03Z")
I’ve always had a thing for Dr. Liz Olivet. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/7 "2009-11-11T15:41:36Z")
Two of my favorite mental health professionals from TV/movies are Dr. Marvin Monroe from _The Simpsons_ and Dr. Swanson from _Office Space_: **Peter** So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that’s on the worst day of my life. **Dr. Swanson** What about today? Is today the worst day of your life? **Peter** Yeah. **Dr. Swanson** Wow, that’s messed up. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/8 "2009-11-11T15:45:45Z")
[Bob Newhart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bob_Newhart_Show)! ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/9 "2009-11-11T16:14:56Z")
Claude Rains as the sympathetic Dr. Jaquith in _Now, Voyager_. He takes Bette Davis away from her horrid mother to his sanitarium for a good rest, and pretty much saves her from having a total breakdown. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/10 "2009-11-11T16:17:09Z")
Major Sidney Freedman of M_A_S\*H seemed to know what he was doing, even if Hawkeye did end up as a raving loon. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/11 "2009-11-11T16:17:51Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > What about [What About Bob?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103241/)? (At least, if you like seeing a psychiatrist going slowly and hilariously insane.) I had the toughest time watching this movie because I kept feeling sorry for the wrong character. I saw it again and identified with Bill Murray more and enjoyed the movie much more. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/12 "2009-11-11T16:23:58Z")
I just watched a movie this weekend caled _The Movie Hero_ with Jeremy Sisto. It was an awful movie. The plot is that Sisto walks around talking to “his audience” all the time, pretending he’s in a movie. He goes to see a shrink - he happens to be her first case, as she’s just out of school - and he immediately decides she is his “love interest” (in movie terms) and that his audience now expect the two to fall in love. So he begins to pursue her. Only, she’s engaged (to a twat novelist, of course) and oh yeah she’s his therapist so she tells him it will never happen. But, he keeps pursuing her, over at least three weeks. He shows up at her house, the fiancee berates him (because of course she’s told the fiancee Sisto’s mental health history), he stops showing up at sessions, she finds him, some other bullshit happens, they end up together. The whole plot was so unethical and so unbelieveable that it made me cringe. I can’t believe I watched all the way to the end…it did me no good whatsoever. So, yeah - a vote for the **worst** psychologist in movies - the lady from _The Movie Hero_. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/13 "2009-11-11T16:27:50Z")
I love J.K. Simmons when he does his occasional spots as the shrink on _Law & Order_. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/14 "2009-11-11T16:34:18Z")
[The President’s Anaylyst](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062153/) \*Dr. Sidney Schaefer: Fascinating, Don… I suppose it’s the conditioning of motion pictures, or television, or maybe it’s just it’s the times we live in, but… killing is serious business, yet this little card makes it somehow less shocking… acceptable in a way! You mean to say you can actually legally kill someone? Don Masters, CEA Agent: Yeah, and it bothers me sometimes that I don’t feel guilty about it. Don’t you think that’s psychotic behavior? Dr. Sidney Schaefer: No I don’t! It explains your utter lack of hostility. You can vent your aggressive feelings by actually killing people! It’s a sensational solution to the hostility problem\* ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/15 "2009-11-11T16:34:32Z")
I like a lot of the shrinks already mentioned, but one I can add is the one that appeared in the Coupling episode **Inferno**. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/16 "2009-11-11T16:45:15Z")
Anyone remember [Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111942/)? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/17 "2009-11-11T16:50:46Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > I had the toughest time watching this movie because I kept feeling sorry for the wrong character. > > I saw it again and identified with Bill Murray more and enjoyed the movie much more. Yes, Richard Dreyfuss’s character (the psychiatrist Dr. Leo Marvin) is a reasonably sympathetic one, even if he is a bit uptight, and his family loves him in spite of his faults, so if you identify with him you might have trouble enjoying the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/18 "2009-11-11T16:56:44Z")
Another good movie is [Mumford](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumford_(film)), although I’d agree with the assesment at the end, “nice but forgetable.” It does have Jason Lee skating around, but I don’t remember much more about it. ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/19 "2009-11-11T16:58:42Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I love J.K. Simmons when he does his occasional spots as the shrink on _Law & Order_. Yeah, I always liked Skoda more than Olivet–he always came off as more professional. I was also impressed with Andre Braugher as the psychiatrist on this season’s premiere of _House_. And, a bit off topic, and no disrespect to the victims, but anyone wanna bet that the shootings by the psychologist at Ft. Hood winds up as a plot on _Law & Order_ or one of the _CSI’s_ in the near future? I see Jeffrey Tambor in the part. ---
**Author:** ![bleach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bleach/32/3106_2.png) [@bleach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleach)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/20 "2009-11-11T19:47:30Z")
There is HBO’s [In Treatment](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0835434/) with Gabriel Byrne. It was sort of like listening in on a therapist’s sessions with 4 clients struggling with different issues. Very raw, simple, and powerful. Then you get to see the therapist’s own session (as a client) with his mentor. There are two seasons so far and they just announced that a third season is planned. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186.md?page=2)