A comment on the original post provided a link to an L.A. Times article where therapists respond to the content of the In Treatment that is worth sharing here. Along with some positive responses in the article there are a number of complaints about the way that psychotherapy is portrayed. Prominent examples of what they dislike are lack of professional boundaries and the therapist's life being as stereotypically chaotic as the lives of his patients. My take is that this is to be expected. Whether in the ER, the coroner's lab or on the beat with a cop, portrayals of any field are going to be more dramatic by definition. If real life were just as interesting as the stories (in this case in the form of television) we turn to for entertainment, television, movies and plays would be pulling in a lot less business. Admittedly they are condensed and spiced up a bit. Whether it is jazzed up to the point of being less than worthwhile viewing, I'll leave to readers to decide for themselves.
I will agree with some of the therapists in the article below, that my clinical supervisor, whom I pay out of pocket since I'm in private practice, I find infinitely more helpful than the supervisor is portrayed in the first Friday episode. Though again our sessions probably would not make for very good cable TV. Not without a good amount of editing anyway.
In any case here is the link to the LA Times article on In Treatment.
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