In Treatment: Testing Paul

Episode 1 of In Treatment displays the two main ways patients test therapists. Viewers should be aware that the video contains some graphic language.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• In
• Treatment
• HBO
• Laura
• Paul

[axlrosea675]

problem i always see: how do therapists actually get you out of the mud? ok, so he understands he is being tested and then...what?!

[ControlMastery]

@axlrosea675 Good question. When a therapist passes a test, it assures the patient that the therapist will be a source of reliable support when he seeks to disconfirm his pathogenic beliefs in his daily life, which is where the real work of therapy takes place. The therapist helps by being a secure base for the patient, which means the therapist is always there for the patient, offering moral support, encouragement, and good advice.

[axlrosea675]

@ControlMastery well, i hope you do it well. my shrink drove me nuts

[ControlMastery]

@axlrosea675 A good friend can be better than the best therapist.

[jazzzphannn]

I find it mystifying that a real therapist can analyze a fictional character. You are explaining something that actually doesn't exist. You are attempting to give a three dimensional explanation of thoughts created,written down, then manifested by a choreographed presentation. Wow....that is amazing.

[ControlMastery]

@jazzzphannn The episodes were based on actual case histories. Even it they weren't, as is true of the current In Treatment episodes, it is possible for good writers to depict characters acting in psychologically accurate ways, even when they lack psychological understanding of what is going on. There is no such thing as a fictional character; such characters are always modeled on real people.

[Lgilsig]

I got more out of this eight minute video than I did two years of clinical practicums. Laura is a very typical Axis II, or features of an Axis II, client. She is very sensative and preceptive. I always felt a bit defensive when working with "Laura's", feeling that I was outgunned. Took a good while to get over it...

[RCNJ12]

@mathistle

This comment sounds like a joke to me. Like a satire of psychoanalytical jargon, with a whole bunch of terms thrown into a single comment. At least I hope so, because if it's meant to be serious, it really just sounds like a lot of psychobabble double talk.

[lieberso]

@ControlMastery Right. In Germany they broadcast season 1 now. They've interviewed german psychoanalist Margarete Mitscherlich recently if this series is realistic and she confirmed too.

[mathistle]

Sorry ControlMastery I didn't have enough space to fully describe my opinion. What I basically meant to say was that I think Laura is suffering primarily from a Narcissistic problem. She is trying to implement 'merger transference' in an attempt to control Paul and in doing so is trying to re-establish her self object matrix. Something likely triggered a loss in her ability to emphasize with others, most likely an unsatisfied electra complex and therefore is reenacting her trauma.

[ControlMastery]

@mathistle I'm not sure I understand your recommendation.