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Characters On The Couch

How a psychologist thinks about your favorite Film & TV characters.

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Groundhog Day How To Get Out of A Very Bad Negative Rut

GROUNDHOG DAY @ 27 YEARS: 1993-2020
What Does It Take To Get Out
Of A Very Bad Negative Rut?

September 17, 2020 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Do you feel like poor Phil Connors (Bill Murray) – stuck repeating the same day over and over again? COVID-19 quarantine can do that. It’s been 27 years since Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day hit the theaters for the first time. But 6 months probably feels long enough. If you’ve been ruminating about your love life …

Read moreGROUNDHOG DAY @ 27 YEARS: 1993-2020
What Does It Take To Get Out
Of A Very Bad Negative Rut?
THE LAST TREE “I’m Sorry” Helps A Traumatized Child Find His Real Self Again

THE LAST TREE
“I’m Sorry” Helps A Boy
Find His Real Self Again

August 26, 2020 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Children need secure love. Not broken promises. Or, betrayal. Especially not abuse. When that happens to you, you build hard walls around yourself. Shut down to love. Not believing it’s there. That’s Femi. Small boy, turned teenager in Shola Amoo’s powerful, semi-autobiographical, The Last Tree. And, when “going tough” means turning against needing anyone, that …

Read moreTHE LAST TREE
“I’m Sorry” Helps A Boy
Find His Real Self Again
NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS Sexual Abuse & Violation Is There Someone to Reach Inside My Pain?

NEVER RARELY
SOMETIMES ALWAYS
Secret World Of Sexual Abuse
Is There Someone To
Reach Inside My Pain?

August 20, 2020 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Watching Autumn’s cautious troubled face in the quietness of Never Rarely Sometimes Always draws us into the dark shattered life of a traumatized girl. If she’d let us in. Autumn lives behind walls. Alone. Vigilant. Angry. Always afraid. Can’t allow help: “I’ve got it.” People aren’t to be trusted. That she’s learned. If you think …

Read moreNEVER RARELY
SOMETIMES ALWAYS
Secret World Of Sexual Abuse
Is There Someone To
Reach Inside My Pain?
She Dies Tomorrow What Makes This Conviction Unshakable? The Real Culprit Is Loss

SHE DIES TOMORROW
What Makes This Conviction Unshakable?
The Real Culprit Is Loss

August 12, 2020 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

“I’m Ok. I’m Not Ok. It Just Is” (Is it?) You try to reassure yourself, but you can’t. Then you try to accept it. Whatever it is. In Amy Seimetz’s She Dies Tomorrow, that it is death. But, why tomorrow? Why is Amy’s (the character’s) conviction so unshakable? And contagious? Sure, we have the pandemic …

Read moreSHE DIES TOMORROW
What Makes This Conviction Unshakable?
The Real Culprit Is Loss
STAND BY ME Friendship Matters In Grief, Loneliness & COVID-19

STAND BY ME
Friendship Matters
In Grief, Loneliness & COVID-19

July 30, 2020 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

We all need friends. Like Gordie and Chris in Rob Reiner‘s 1986 film classic Stand by Me. Especially now. When the new fears of COVID-19 layer on top of old traumas, worries, and sadness – and can make them prey upon you like the gang of teenage bullies in the film. Won’t leave you alone. …

Read moreSTAND BY ME
Friendship Matters
In Grief, Loneliness & COVID-19
Palm Springs How Loss Gets You Stuck in a Time Loop If You're Afraid To Love Again

PALM SPRINGS
How Loss Gets You Stuck
In A Time Loop
If You’re Afraid To Love Again

July 23, 2020 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

What gets you stuck in a time loop? A freak of quantum physics? The self-quarantine of COVID-19 in which one day seems like the last (or the next)? Or, could it be the cynical self-protective bubble that loss and fear of love creates? Palm Springs, Max Barbakow and Andy Siara’s endearingly creative, intelligent, sensitive, and …

Read morePALM SPRINGS
How Loss Gets You Stuck
In A Time Loop
If You’re Afraid To Love Again
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Inspiration

“We come to Film and TV to find our hidden stories. If we look deeply into a character’s psyche, there is much to see about ourselves.”

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