Reviewed by Jessica Schrader
Source: cdn2.psychologytoday.com
What Is Therapy?
Source: cdn2.psychologytoday.com
The concept of therapy has undergone significant transformations over the years, reflecting changing societal beliefs about its power and limitations. In this article, we’ll explore how five films, spanning the 1950s to the 2020s, have portrayed the movie therapist archetype, revealing a total inversion of the therapist’s portrayal from a paternal, rational authority figure to an unreliable, traumatized individual.
Film Therapists Evolved from Paternal Experts to Flawed, Burned-Out Figures
The 1950s film ‘Three Faces of Eve’ (1957) introduced audiences to Dr. Curtis Luther (Lee J. Cobb), a paternal, rational authority figure who used fatherly tactics with Eve in a classic ‘doctor knows best’ style. This portrayal reflected the traditional societal expectations of the time, where psychiatry often treated patients with tranquilizers rather than addressing the underlying social pressures contributing to their unhappiness.
The 1970s Anti-Psychiatry Movement Recast Hollywood’s Therapist as an Agent of Control
In the 1970s, individual perceptions of institutions, gender, war, and more began to shift from trust to distrust, as evident in films like ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ (1975). With the rise of the anti-psychiatry movement, led by Thomas Szasz’s ‘The Myth of Mental Illness,’ the therapist was no longer the heroic savior or expert but a coercive means of control. In ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,’ Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) conducts group therapy as if it were an interrogation, using the clients’ vulnerabilities against them rather than offering insights to help them.
Embracing the ‘Wounded Healer’: Films Later Adopted Jung’s Therapeutic Approach
The 1997 film ‘Good Will Hunting’ introduced audiences to Dr. Maguire (Robin Williams), a therapist who embodies the ‘wounded healer’ approach, where a therapist’s own pain becomes insight. Dr. Maguire’s office is messy, his jokes are crude, and he doesn’t approach therapy in the generic way. Instead, he approaches therapy and his clients from his own experience of having dealt with trauma, recognizing that a therapist’s own flaws and vulnerabilities can be a strength in the therapeutic relationship.
Existential Therapeutic Approaches: Delving into the Subconscious
The 2001 film ‘Donnie Darko’ showcases Dr. Lilian Thurman (Katharine Ross), a therapist who uses hypnotherapy to delve into Donnie’s subconscious. Coming from a more existential therapeutic approach, she asks ‘Do you believe in God? How does time travel work?’ She takes Donnie’s thoughts and hallucinations seriously and comforts him by asking about life’s bigger questions. This therapist does not dismiss Donnie as having an ‘illness’ that needs to be fixed, but she recognizes that anxiety is part of the human condition.
Backrooms (2026): A Flawed and Unreliable Therapist
The 2026 film ‘Backrooms’ introduces audiences to Dr. Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve), a flawed and unreliable therapist who has unhealed trauma that renders her ineffective. In this cultural and financial breakout horror film, she enters the never-ending loop of backrooms with her client, and when her client asks her how to change, Dr. Kline responds, ‘I don’t know,’ further provoking the anxiety of being stuck in a nightmare with a therapist who cannot help you.
References
A. V. Horwitz. ‘How an Age of Anxiety Became an Age of Depression.’ Milbank Q, vol. 88, no. 1, 2010, pp. 112-38. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0009.2010.00591.x. PMID: 20377760; PMCID: PMC2888013.
