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Characters On The Couch

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

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movie review

SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL 6 Obstacles to Love

THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL
6 Obstacles To Love

March 12, 2015 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

We all need love. Age doesn’t lessen that. Yet, sometimes it’s hard to trust love, for complicated reasons, even though you want it. John Madden’s The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel gives us a bird’s eye view into 6 serious obstacles to love. The reasons for putting love off are often not conscious, in my …

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6 Obstacles To Love
THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL 5 Ways To Change at Any Age

THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL
6 Ways To Change At Any Age

March 5, 2015 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

With The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel opening on Friday, March 6th, I thought I’d review what the first heartfelt and hopeful film tells us about change at any age. Change is hard. Especially if you’re discouraged by losses, disappointments, stale marriages, difficult parents, and unresolved fears. Yet, this film gives us some important pointers …

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6 Ways To Change At Any Age
GONE GIRL What Makes Amy Elliot Dunne Tick? 7 Clues

GONE GIRL
What Makes Amy Elliot Dunne Tick?
7 Clues

February 28, 2015 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Amy Elliot Dunne is a seriously troubled young woman. Rosamund Pike’s nuanced and chilling performance, in David Fincher’s Gone Girl, does her troubles justice. Yet, can we merely write her off as an unredeemable sociopath? If we follow some clues to what drove her to do what she did – is it even remotely possible to …

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What Makes Amy Elliot Dunne Tick?
7 Clues
Ida 2 Paths Away From Loss

IDA
Two Paths Away From Loss

February 26, 2015 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

The Academy Award-winning film, Ida by Pawel Pawlikowski, is beautifully poignant visually, thematically, and psychologically. A haunting story of loss and the sometimes- unwinnable struggle against the overwhelming feelings involved. Loss is difficult under any circumstance. In Ida, we witness an aunt and niece estranged in the aftermath of the Nazi occupation in Poland. Both …

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Two Paths Away From Loss
Still Alice What's Lost & Found in Alzheimer's

STILL ALICE
What’s Lost &Found In Alzheimer’s

February 22, 2015 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Even in the No Exit tragedy that Alzheimer’s is, bits and pieces of that old self still come through. Julianne Moore’s heartbreakingly real performance couldn’t show this more clearly. And, even, as Still Alice poignantly reveals – sometimes something flowers into bloom that wasn’t free to live fully before. A buried part of Alice is found. …

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What’s Lost &Found In Alzheimer’s
SELMA How Does A Wife Overcome 4 Essential Qualities

SELMA
How Does A Wife Overcome?
4 Essential Qualities

February 20, 2015 by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen

Many of us are talking about the timeliness of Selma in light of the tragic events in Ferguson, New York, and Ohio. The gripping message it has for all of us is to effectively garner our anger and fight injustice. Yet, director Ava DuVernay also has a passion for telling women’s stories. And, of course, …

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How Does A Wife Overcome?
4 Essential Qualities
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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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