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Critical Psychoanalysis Failure: Difference between revisions
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== Comic Books ==
* Marv of ''[[Sin City]]'' was once psychoanalyzed, but the analyst, the girlfriend of his parole officer Lucille, pulled out because she "got too scared."
* [[Watchmen (comics)|Rorschach]], as the page quote suggests, causes a gradual breakdown of his therapist's positive worldview, and replaces it with his own existential perspective. Dr. Long comes to realize that nothing truly means anything, and that reality is just like the inkblots that gave Rorschach his name: the only meaning in life is that which we choose to impose. Despite this, though, he ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|still tries]] [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|to help people]]'', because to him, [[The Anti-Nihilist|it's the only thing that means anything]].
** He's showing signs of a real recovery by the time {{spoiler|[[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|he blows up along with New York City]]}}.
* Harley Quinn from ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'' was the Joker's therapist, Dr. Harleen Quinnzel, before he drove her insane. Now she's nuttier than a fruitcake and a [[Villainous Harlequin]] to boot. Really, though, she deserves it for not [[Genre Savvy|spotting]] the [[Meaningful Name]] and bailing to get it changed before things got too... [[Love Makes You Evil|weird]].
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** However, this is not a typical example. He does nothing to affect their sanity, but he also does not want therapy and is simply smart enough to know how to annoy them.
* ''[[Grosse Pointe Blank]]'':
{{quote|'''Dr. Oatman:''' You didn't tell me [[Career Killers|what you did for a living]] for ''four'' sessions. ''Then'' you told me. And I said, "I don't want to work with you any more." And yet, you come back each week at the same time. That's a difficulty for me. On top of that, if you've committed a crime or you're thinking about committing a crime, I have to tell the authorities.
'''Martin:''' I know the law, okay? But I don't want to be withholding; I'm very serious about this process. [''[[Beat]]''] And I know where you live. }}
* The psychiatrist in the ''[[Lethal Weapon]]'' films gets progressively crazier as she has to deal with Riggs.
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* Played with in the second and third ''[[Terminator]]'' films. Neither the patient [Sarah Connor] nor the therapist is crazy. The therapist just prefers to ''think'' he is insane than to accept that her story could be correct.
** And that's totally understandable until halfway through the third movie.
* This is basically the plot of ''[[What About Bob?]]'' although it's a variation: The therapist is on vacation and the patient follows him. This is mixed with a hearty dollop of [[The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes]].
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* [[Seinfeld|George Costanza]] once drove a therapist to suicide.
* In ''[[Seven Days]]'', Frank's psychiatrist storms into the supervisor's office ranting about Frank's impossible psychiatric state. Apparently he has a god complex and a martyr complex at the same time and likes tormenting the poor doctor.
* ''[[Star Trek: The
* The ''[[My Family]]'' episode "Shrink Rap" features a therapist who was trying to quit smoking with the help of another therapist. She ends up ''eating'' nicotine patches as the general stress of attempting to deal with the Harpers' dysfunctions for even ''half an hour'' takes its toll.
* In the "R. Tam Sessions," one of the tie-ins to the ''[[Firefly]]'' movie ''[[Serenity]]'', River is undergoing prolonged interviews with a counselor/interrogator while [[Mind Rape|being experimented on.]] While in most cases, Critical Psychoanalysis Failure results in mere mental damage, this one ended up far worse; [[Joss Whedon|the interrogator]], not realizing just how dangerously mentally unstable River is becoming, eventually ends up making the ''extreme'' mistake of giving River a pen when she says she needs to write something down. [[The Pen Is Mightier|Stab.]]
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* Dr. Cox of ''[[Scrubs]]'' has been giving psychologists fits for years.
* An episode of ''[[The Facts of Life]]'' had a youth guidance counselor have to be talked out of jumping off a building.
* Likewise, an episode of ''[[Perfect Strangers]]'' had a reporter for the ''Chicago Sun'' be talked out of jumping after reporting on [[Humans Are
* ''[[Muppets Tonight]]'' did a sketch where Kermit goes to psychiatrist Sandra Bullock, complaining that every time he hears the word "phenomenon", the singers from the old "Manna Manna" song suddenly appear and start singing. Bullock asks if she can try it, says "phenomenon", and joins in the singing, leaving Kermit even more disconcerted.
* Inverted in ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' when we learn that Rimmer once volunteered on the Samaritans' suicide prevention hotline.
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* Inverted in [[Call of Cthulhu (tabletop game)]], where a fumble on a psychoanalyst roll makes the ''patient'' lose SAN points. Although there's nothing keeping the sadistic GM from also inflicting SAN loss for psychoanalyzing the minds of those touched by the Cthulhu Mythos...
* Somewhat implied in the [[Unknown Armies]] supplement ''Post Modern Magick'', which mentions that trying to treat adepts (insane magicians) in an mental institution is risky. The corebook, however, doesn't use this trope in the normal rules for curing madness (but GM can certainly inflict madness checks on the therapist if he feels it appropriate).
* In the old second edition of [[Dungeons
* In the [[Ravenloft]] boxed set ''Nightmare Realms'', Dr. Illhousen's attempts to assist his dream-plagued patients wind up getting him targeted by the Nightmare Court, who begin attacking the sanity of Illhousen {{spoiler|and his colleague Dr. Trasker}} along with that of his patients'.
** Also, Madness checks are mandatory for [[Ravenloft]] characters who read the minds of the insane, or of [[Starfish Aliens|creatures whose thought-processes rate as "insane" by humanoid standards]].
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* The Warner kids in ''[[Animaniacs]]'' do this to Dr. Scratchinsniff on a regular basis.
* In one episode of ''[[Dan Vs.]]'', Dan manages to send a top-tier psychologist running out of the room screaming.
* Crocker's only and temporary shrink in ''[[The Fairly
* One ''[[Code Monkeys]]'' episode had a psychiatrist assess the staff, who were all noticeably crazy in different ways. She wound up hating them until she was just as insane. She also pointed out ''her own'' [[You Need to Get Laid|need to get laid]].
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*** And Police Officers who end up dealing with the aftermath of such cases are also a high-risk group.
*** Medical professionals, too. ''Especially'' pediatricians.
** Similarly, dealing with [[Humans Are
* Mental health workers tend to have a higher instance of mental illnesses, especially mood disorders (depression, bipolar disorder, and the like). Whether the mentally ill are drawn to psychology or it's this trope in action is up for debate (although it's probably a combination).
* In ''The Fifty Minute Hour'' psychoanalyst Robert Lindner describes the case of Kirk Allen, a brilliant young physicist who claimed to have a parallel life in a [[Space Opera|galaxy far far away]]. His fantasies were so consistent and extensive that eventually Lindner came to believe them himself, at which point Allen confessed that he had invented the whole thing. A brief outline of the story can be found in ''The Demon-haunted World'' by Carl Sagan.
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[[Category:Speeches and Monologues]]
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