Post 4 In Treatment

A few years before I started the Counselling Psychology program there was an HBO program that I really enjoyed called In Treatment which followed a fictional therapist and his clients week by week. Looking back now I can see how my intense interest in the sessions with clients and seeing the evolution of their thoughts and emotions during the therapy process helped to spur my pursuit of studying counselling. Another interesting dynamic of the series was that at the end of the week the tables would turn and the viewer would get to sit in on one of the therapist’s sessions with his own therapist, which allowed for some light to be shed on what it was like for him during his client’s sessions. I found these episodes to be really unique and to hold a similar dynamic of how supervision sessions go between a counsellor and a supervising practitioner, putting the fictional therapist’s personal issues aside of course. I really enjoyed the program before I received any kind of formal training in psychotherapy, but I’m a little torn about going back and revisiting it now with more of an expert opinion because I might see through the drama and lose my initial enjoyment. I am expecting some aspects would be overly dramatized for television, but it would be interesting to evaluate the fictional therapist’s ability to see how accurate the portrayal was.