Characters On The Couch

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

reality check

THE END OF THE TOUR
Jason Segel Gets Inside
Foster Wallace’s Quiet Torment

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Depression is outwardly a quiet torment. Inside it’s an almost constant implosion of self-deprecating self-doubt. That’s what we witness in director James Ponsoldt’s The End of the Tour – wrapped around David Foster Wallace like his famous bandana. Woven all-too-frequently into the substance of his conversation with David Lipsky: the ravages of a cruelly oppressive …

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Jason Segel Gets Inside
Foster Wallace’s Quiet Torment

AMY SCHUMER
Not A Trainwreck
A Women’s Self-Esteem Advocate

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Amy Schumer just might be the most vocal supporter and spokeswoman for twenty and thirty-something women. They all need her for their all-too-common struggles with self-esteem, body image, sexuality, and doubts about their lovability. We all do at whatever age. Thankfully, Amy likes “tackling the stuff nobody else talks about, like the darkest, most serious …

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Not A Trainwreck
A Women’s Self-Esteem Advocate

CHARLESTON TRAGEDY
Psychotherapy Or Gun Control
For Violent Haters?

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Gun control versus mental health intervention for the risk of extreme violence like we saw recently in Charleston? Mental health services aren’t the answer. Therapy takes too long and someone like Dylan Roof would have to know the problem is his for therapy to be effective. Clearly, Dylan Roof has serious psychological problems. The obvious …

Read moreCHARLESTON TRAGEDY
Psychotherapy Or Gun Control
For Violent Haters?