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Characters On The Couch

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

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Lessons From ‘The Mandalorian’: When Childhood Attachments Go Wrong, Is Feeling Nothing, ‘The Way?’

Lessons From ‘The Mandalorian’
Childhood Attachments Go Wrong
Is Feeling Nothing, ‘The Way?’

March 15, 2021 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

When attachments go wrong in early life, you have to toughen up. But is feeling nothing “The Way?” If you thought it was, what does it take to break free and allow love? This was the question for Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars and it’s the question for Mando, The Mandalorian, who also lost his beloved parents …

Read moreLessons From ‘The Mandalorian’
Childhood Attachments Go Wrong
Is Feeling Nothing, ‘The Way?’
‘The Queen’s Gambit’ — This Is How Traumatized Children Survive

‘THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT’
How Traumatized Children Survive

January 12, 2021 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

The Queen’s Gambit is a tale of chess and childhood tragedy. This riveting series shows us clearly that when traumatized children try to survive adulthood, they may have questionable ways of coping. But there’s a big difference in how these children survive and the ways that actually help them. It’s important to know that difference. …

Read more‘THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT’
How Traumatized Children Survive
4 Lessons in Love At Any Age From The Kominsky Method

4 Lessons In Love At Any Age
From ‘The Kominsky Method’

January 6, 2021 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Are you having trouble making love work? Can’t seem to go with the flow in your relationships? Well, Chuck Lorre’s two-season Netflix series The Kominsky Method offers some lessons in love that just might help. These love lessons have two basic rules. So, here’s where you begin: 1. be totally present, and 2. pay close …

Read more4 Lessons In Love At Any Age
From ‘The Kominsky Method’
Neflix's Love A Dance of Insecurities Obstacles to Making Love Work

NETFLIX’S LOVE
A Dance Of Insecurities
Obstacles to Making Love Work

June 23, 2016 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Is it real? What does it take to make love work? Netflix’s Love by Judd Apatow, Paul Rust, and Leslie Arfin raises some important questions. What takes an attraction farther than a romantic fantasy? What allows two people who’ve been hurt in the past to get beyond the fear of being hurt again? Sometimes we don’t …

Read moreNETFLIX’S LOVE
A Dance Of Insecurities
Obstacles to Making Love Work
UnREAL Bullying Woman & The Bully In Your Head

UnREAL
Bullying Women &
The Bully In Your Head

October 27, 2015 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

October 2015 is Bullying Prevention Month: Defeat The Bully In Your Head Lifetime TV UnREAL’s Rachel Goldberg (Shiri Appleby) and Quinn King (Constance Zimmer) are the quintessential bullies. They use, torment, humiliate, tear down, and pit their reality show’s women contestants against each other for a chance at Everlasting love. Love is the key word here. …

Read moreUnREAL
Bullying Women &
The Bully In Your Head
UnREAl Like Mother like Daughter? Rachel's Toxic Mother's Trap

UnREAL
Like Mother Like Daughter?
Rachel’s Toxic Mother Trap

October 13, 2015 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

I’m not shocked by much – but UnREAL’S Episode 3, Mother, disturbed me. Rachel’s mother is clearly trouble. And, she’s a psychiatrist. Bad combination. I was left thinking about how deeply mothers affect their children. How mothers can make or break a child’s confidence and psychological stability. We don’t have to wander very far to …

Read moreUnREAL
Like Mother Like Daughter?
Rachel’s Toxic Mother Trap
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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.”

Recent Posts

Everything Everywhere All At Once Breaking Out of Someone Else's Box
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SOUND OF METAL How Silence Stops A Man From Running

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