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Characters On The Couch

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

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dr. sandra cohen

The Visit 4 Signs Loss and Guilt are too scary to feel

SHYAMALAN’S THE VISIT
4 Signs Loss And Guilt
Are Too Scary To Feel

September 29, 2015 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

M. Night Shyamalan’s new psychological horror film, The Visit, has twists and turns and unexpected surprises that I wouldn’t think of revealing. And, of course, this film has one of Shyamalan’s shock endings – it wouldn’t be a Shyamalan film without it. But for me as a psychoanalyst, there’s something else of more interest. What …

Read moreSHYAMALAN’S THE VISIT
4 Signs Loss And Guilt
Are Too Scary To Feel

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK
Talking To Soso About Depression
Healy Gets It 100% Wrong

July 3, 2015 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Never stop a depressed person from talking. Healy gets it 100% wrong in Orange Is The New Black. Never say, “It’s all in your head.” It’s not. Or that no one wants to be around you because of your feelings. There are reasons for every depression. Including Soso’s, in Season 3 of Orange Is The …

Read moreORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK
Talking To Soso About Depression
Healy Gets It 100% Wrong
American Crime Episode 3 The Lure of Sex & Drugs When Love's in Short Supply

AMERICAN CRIME Episode 3
The Lure Of Sex & Drugs
When Love’s In Short Supply

March 22, 2015 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

As secrets continue to unfold in American Crime Episode 3, drugs, sex, and complicated family histories are increasingly implicated in the crime against Matt and Gwen. Drugs and sex are not infrequently turned to as ‘answers’ to various kinds of desperate circumstances and pasts. Gwen turned to sex. Matt turned to drugs. Aubrey Taylor (Caitlin …

Read moreAMERICAN CRIME Episode 3
The Lure Of Sex & Drugs
When Love’s In Short Supply

UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT
5 Ways The Series Repeats
Kimmy’s Original Problems

March 19, 2015 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

SPOILER ALERT: You might not want to read this post until you’ve watched the entire series. It’s terribly difficult to write a comedy about something as traumatic as kidnapping, sexual exploitation, and brainwashing. Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (created by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock) tries to do just that. Does it work? Is there a …

Read moreUNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT
5 Ways The Series Repeats
Kimmy’s Original Problems
ADDICTION Realistic Characters 101 Addicted Fails

ADDICTED
Realistic Characters 101
Addicted Fails

January 5, 2015 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Watching Billie Woodruff’s Addicted, I could barely restrain myself from grabbing a tomato and joining my Rotten Tomatoes compadres in throwing it at the screen. The 8% of critics who gave their approval of this psychologically offensive project must have been feeling particularly generous that day. What could have been a sensitive and even insightful look at a woman struggling …

Read moreADDICTED
Realistic Characters 101
Addicted Fails
My Old Lady Stories of the Past Self-Hate or Liberating Truth?

MY OLD LADY
Stories of a Past
Self-Hate or Liberating Truth?

January 5, 2015 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

The way any one of us lives with the past is a complicated thing. My Old Lady, a deeply psychological and sometimes shockingly honest film written and directed by Israel Horovitz, takes us layer upon layer into the kinds of deeply wrought emotional problems living with a difficult past can bring. Matthias Gold (Kevin Kline) lives …

Read moreMY OLD LADY
Stories of a Past
Self-Hate or Liberating Truth?
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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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