Why therapy should stay boring: the effects of misrepresenting client-therapist relationships in media.

 Geetika Sharma 

The process of therapy can be slow and boring. It involves hours of talking, homework, introspection, and the frustration of dealing with non-linear recovery. This, obviously, can be hard to convey as an interesting part of one’s story, especially in a medium focused on entertainment, such as a television show. The solution reached, more often than not, is misrepresenting therapy and the client-therapist relationship to make it more ‘interesting’( Furlonger et al., 2015). A great example of this is the streaming platform Netflix’s hit show Lucifer. 

In Lucifer, a drama/comedy that explores the concept of how the biblical devil would conduct himself in the human world, the titular character, Lucifer, visits a therapist to understand his emotions better. However, being an angel of desire, he seduces his therapist, Dr. Linda, and pursues a sexual relationship with her that spans over multiple episodes. Further, in the show, Dr. Linda proceeds to befriend her client, his friends, and enter into a romantic relationship with her client’s brother Amenadiel, all while continuing to counsel both Lucifer and his group of friends and family as their therapist. 

Despite the show portraying the crossing of almost all boundaries of a client-therapist relationship, the failings of Dr.Linda to maintain a professional relationship with Lucifer or even refer him to another therapist not personally involved in his life are never acknowledged. The show even goes so far as trying to establish that Dr.Linda is a great therapist. It can be inferred that this message is intended for the viewers to believe as well since multiple characters are shown vocalising this opinion.

It may simply be that the show constantly pushes forth this idea of Dr. Linda being a good therapist in order to avoid painting one of the show’s main characters in a bad light. This article explores how therapist portrayals like these may have unintended negative real-life consequences. 

The problem 

One of the most important factors for the success of any psychotherapy is a good client-therapist bond (Hooley et al., 2021). This relationship is defined and strengthened not only by the assurance that the therapist would not judge the client over any of the information revealed to them, but also from the clear personal boundaries drawn between the client and therapist (Lilienfeld, 2010). The understanding that one’s therapist is not their friend or someone the client can establish any romantic or sexual relationship with, is imperative to therapy, as it can affect the therapist’s objectivity towards the client (Lilienfeld, 2010). 

So, what exactly could the negative consequences of seeing client-therapist relationships being misrepresented be? Though television shows and films have used client-therapist sexual relationships as a plot point to arouse viewers’ interest, casual depictions of these ethics violations can affect viewers’ perceptions of therapy (Robison & Ogles, 2008).

A study conducted by Brams in 1997 revealed that college students, when asked to report their perceptions of therapy- reported believing that there might be a prevalence in the instances of therapists engaging in sexual and romantic relationships with their clients [as high as 1 in 5 male therapists] (Bram, 1997). The same study found that media depictions of therapy were a significant contributory factor to these beliefs (Bram, 1997). 

The study also found that another popular belief among its subjects was that therapists are likely to not be able to control acting on their feelings- resulting in anger or retaliation against their client (Bram, 1997). This phenomenon is also present within Lucifer’s depiction of therapy- in the sixth episode of the second season of Lucifer, Dr. Linda raises her voice at her client, exclaiming how tired she is of him talking in metaphors. What can become of this belief is the development of a fear of being judged or resented by one therapist. This, in turn, could affect the client’s level of honesty with their therapist- hampering the therapy’s likelihood of success greatly. In more extreme cases, this belief or fear of being the subject of a therapist’s anger resulting from media-influenced misconceptions may even lead to certain people choosing not to seek therapy in the first place (Robison & Ogles, 2008). 

A client’s expectations of therapy can greatly influence the success of their therapy (Hooley et al., 2021). When a client has high expectations from the help being sought to better themselves, their therapy is aided by their likelihood of effectively engaging with their therapist, as well as an almost placebo effect of the client’s expectations of recovery, growth, or progress (Hooley et al., 2021). When a person lacking firsthand experiences with therapy is exposed to poor representations of the therapeutic practice such as those shown in Lucifer, they may develop poor expectations of therapy as well as misconceptions about the boundaries within the client-therapist relationship (Robison & Ogles, 2008). 

The belief that one could pursue a sexual or romantic relationship with their therapist can cause the client to not be fully honest with their therapist in order to impress them. Though therapists are equipped to tackle the phenomenon of transference, a much bigger problem out of their control is the deterrence of those afraid of being exploited by their therapist for seeking out professional help at all (Bram, 1997). 

The media has always had an important role in shaping public opinions and ideas- from starting conversations about topics like mental health and shaping perceptions about those with mental illnesses (Stuart, 2006). In the case of psychotherapy, a practice most people have not had first-hand exposure to, the media assumes a primary role in shaping ideas and expectations of the general public (Bram, 1997). Though it may be an impractical idea, in order to avoid causing harm to the prospect of seeking therapy, the media can pursue one simple goal for now- make therapy boring.  

References 

 Furlonger, B. (2015). The Portrayal of Counselling on Television and YouTube: Implications for Professional Counsellors. Journal of Behavioural Sciences, 25(2).

Bram, A. D. (1997). Perceptions of psychotherapy and psychotherapists: Implications from a study of undergraduates. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 28(2), 170–178. https://doi.org/10.1037/0735-7028.28.2.170

Hooley, J. M., Nock, M. K., & Butcher, J. N. (2021). Abnormal psychology. Pearson Education Limited.

Lilienfeld, S. O. (2010). Psychology: A framework for everyday thinking. Pearson.

Robison, T. A., & Ogles, B. M. (2008). Effects of fictional portrayals of psychotherapy on expectations of treatment. PsycEXTRA Dataset. https://doi.org/10.1037/e528952008-001

Stuart, H. (2006). Media portrayal of mental illness and its treatments. CNS Drugs, 20(2), 99–106. https://doi.org/10.2165/00023210-200620020-00002