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How a psychologist thinks about your favorite

Film & TV characters.

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Welcome to Characters On The Couch, my Film & Television site, where I delve into character psychology. If you’re interested in psychology, film, or a combination of the two, I bring my insights into your favorite contemporary and classic characters. I hope to help you understand their deeper psychological motivations (and, maybe, even your own).

When you think about truly iconic films, do you wonder what gives them such staying power? Is it the time of your life when you watched them? Is it the costumes or images that seemed unforgettable? Did one or more characters align with your struggles or painful experiences? Did you feel along with them?  Or maybe, it’s simply that the film pulled at your heart and caused you to explore emotions in a new and profound way?

I say it’s all of the above. And, in the same way, when these meaningful elements are missing, a story becomes forgettable. I hope this site will encourage you to transform your story, personal or in writing, into magic by finding the human thread that links it and you to a universal experience.

Everything in life ties us back to complex emotions and the rhythm and language of feelings and psychology. I'll offer your that language of feeling in my blog as I write about the human struggles in each film.

ROBIN WILLIAMS’ SUICIDE
Depression is No Laughing Matter

AUGUST 11 — I was shocked and saddened to hear of Robin Williams’ untimely death and tragic suicide. Truly, depression is a terrible thing to live with. My heart goes out to his family and loved ones in this time of excruciating loss. And, also to the rest of us, who loved him in our own ways. Indeed,…

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BUYER AND CELLAR
An Actor’s Personal History Matters

If you haven’t seen Jonathan Tolins’ hit off-Broadway play Buyer and Cellar at the Mark Taper Forum in Downtown Los Angeles run don’t walk (or, should I say, Google the show? Get tickets as fast as you can before the comedy concludes its LA run on Sunday, August 17th. You absolutely don’t want to miss Michael Urie’s laugh-out-loud,…

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GOOD WILL HUNTING
Whys of Robin Williams’ Suicide?
Self-Hate Must Be Healed

The heartbreak of Robin Williams’ suicide brings depression and suicide to the forefront of everyone’s mind, along with remembrances of his many film roles. Why did he do it? Ironically, Williams won his only Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1998 for his emotional performance as Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting. Maguire, a…

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