There Are No Therapists: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

In most fiction, there are ''no'' official systems in place to protect those who are psychologically vulnerable. Nobody is ever concerned that the kid who watched their parents die might be considering suicide, [[Freudian Excuse|homicide]], or [[Batman|fighting crime]] [[Dexter|without due process]], for example, and there is no psychological profiling in military organizations to recognize problems, or counseling for those who observe massacres (in the real world, both are heavy priorities for efficiency and to avoid lawsuits).

This occurs frequently in anime, partly because Japan places the responsibility for an individual's mental state on their [[Parental Abandonment|family]] and [[Loners Are Freaks|friends]], which can lead to [[Values Dissonance]]. Word of Advice. Be ''nice'' to your [[Person of Mass Destruction]]. At the very least, maybe they'll kill you first, quickly and painlessly. You'd think this would be obvious, but ''[[Kids Are Cruel|noooo...]]''

 

 

A similar but related problem can exist where there are therapists, but the therapists are unskilled, not understanding while claiming to know everything, condemnatory, or otherwise problematic. This is why many people who may seem to severely need therapy in [[Real Life]] actively avoid it - they had a therapist who made their problems worse or who seemed laughably or [[Berserk Button|enragingly]] incapable of offering anything useful.

 

 

* [http://www.mangareader.net/all-rounder-meguru/47/8 Lampshaded] in [[All Rounder Meguru]]

* Almost anyone in the ''[[Digimon]]'' series. Given the [[Mons]]' connection to the children, teenage angst is a major factor in many battles.

* ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'': To begin with, the title character, Kenshin Himura, has spent years [[Walking the Earth|wandering]] [[The Atoner|in order to make up for all the killing he did in the past]] [[Thou Shalt Not Kill|by never killing again]], standing in the way to that goal is his own [[Super-Powered Evil Side]].

** Kaoru appears to have abandonement issues. First her father leaves to fight (then get killed). A few years later Kenshin leaves for Kyoto. Needless to say, she doesn't take this well.

** Eventually, {{spoiler|all humanity got group therapy in the final two episodes}}.

** Hell, the entire series is the DSM-IV manual, animated.

** And for what it's worth, {{spoiler|1=the EVAs only work if the pilots are horribly dysfunctional and emotionally messed-up. Even if there are a few therapists left, NERV wouldn't let them anywhere ''near'' the poor kids.}}

*** Unintentionally [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion]]'' when a character comments "those kids are our last hope, who knows what they're going through?" Well, Kaji and Misato are the only adults who attempt to converse with them, could that be the reason?

** Actually, Misato pointed out that Kowaru [http://www.evaotaku.com/html/dircut/eps24.html needs therapy]. Ahem, doesn't she? Actually, even if he acts oddly from human standards, Kowaru is probably the happiest character in the series.

** The worst thing in Evangelion is not the lack of professional therapists. It's the fact that many characters show no regular compassion at all. Seriously, after the accident with Eva-03 ({{spoiler|one of Shinji's friend is nearly killed}}), you can forgive Shinji for his breakdown, can't you? No, Gendo ''had'' to send him in military court — with handcuffs.

** Justified for Kira in the first half of [[[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED]] SEED], the Archangel had little more than a Skeleton crew (even when on Earth). There were many discussions about the state of Kira's mental health but the 2 senior officers had no clue how to deal with it.

* When the crew for the ''Nadesico'' is being assembled at the beginning of ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'', the prospector notes that getting some... interesting... personalities was unavoidable in collecting the best possible crew. During one episode, after a particularly shocking development, most of the crew IS sent for counseling... to the ship's [[Mr. Exposition|Ms. Exposition]], who isn't trained for this sort of thing.

** Even worsened by the fact that said counselor probably could use a good therapy session herself.

** Meanwhile, Negi ''really'' needs someone to talk to about his [[Parental Abandonment]] and [[Survivors Guilt]] issues. But if he did that, then we wouldn't have a [[Story Arc]], would we?

* ''[[Soukou no Strain]]'' only interrogates the troubled Sara until ''after'' they find out she's really [[Luke, I Am Your Father|Ralph's younger sister]], and even then, it takes an independent confrontation with a friend to fix her up. And there's a war going on!

* Most of the Genin in the early ''[[Naruto]]'' suffer from [[Parental Abandonment]], so of course it's a ''huge'' surprise when the most troubled of them all, a kid who watched his entire family be viciously slaughtered by the hands of his own brother, defects from the village and joins up with the [[Big Bad]]. {{spoiler|And then he gets his revenge on his brother, only to find out that he was only following orders and in fact had only spared him out of love, and then he ''really'' goes crazy.}} You'd think they'd have a Ninja Therapist lying around somewhere.

** [[Warrior Therapist|Naruto]] [[Defeat Means Friendship|therapy]] anyone?

** Hidden Mist under the Fourth Mizukage not only lacked therapists, but likely was ''anti''-therapist. Nothing like forcing your twelve year-old students to brutally kill their friends to start their career...

** Fan fiction writers speculate that by the time shinobi reach jonin rank, they've either developed coping mechanisms or gone insane.

*** On the other hand, Konoha also has the benefit of being perceived as the nice guys in the series.

* In ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]'', Lain watches a boy blow his own head off and gets splattered with his blood. She is questioned by police and then is back in school the next day.

** Hooo boy... Basically, the entire plot would fall to pieces if there were therapists. Children all over the world seeing {{spoiler|bizarre shared hallucinations}}? Strange men following people around in broad daylight? A wave of suicides linked to some crazy cult? No sir, [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight|nothing for the authorities to be interested in here]].

** The pilot comes up with an absolutely staggering solution for this genre. He's a ''mercenary''. If he doesn't want to work as much or the way they want him to, then they can just pay him less. This is a very alien concept to the Japanese mind.

* The three main characters in ''[[School Days]]'' would likely have been sent to a good therapist in the real world, especially the two girls with their overly (self-)destructive tendencies. Of course, the resulting drama would have had much less [[Downer Ending|impact]] that way.

* The girls in ''[[Gunslinger Girl]]'' undergo brainwashing to make them function as cyborg-assassins, but the mental problems caused by this process are never professionally addressed. The "handlers" of the girls could also need some counseling about how to deal with them, as to prevent situations like the one in which one of the girls {{spoiler|commits suicide after killing her handler first, because she didn't feel loved enough by him}}.

** Of course, given the situations several of the girls were in before the [[Brainwashed|brainwashing]] and memory editing, it can be argued that in many cases they are in no worse shape psychologically than they would have been if left alone. {{spoiler|Henrietta is described as explicitly suicidal when Giuseppe came across her case in the hospital.}}

*** The correct comparison would be to compare them to the situation they could have been in if they had proper help.

** Also, to be fair, they ''are'' the first generation of cyborgs. The people [[Playing with Syringes]] are still figuring out what makes the girls tick and what they need. So this is probably [[Justified Trope|justified.]]

* Even a comedic [[Slice of Life]] series like ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'' isn't immune. Sakaki's poor self-image did a number on her confidence until Chiyo-chan reached out to her, at which point she had friends to help her... but a little counseling wouldn't have hurt, considering she was too shy to even make any friends until they came to her, and her self-consciousness was a problem for her all series. It's tough being a [[Huge Schoolgirl]].

** And, on a lighter note... [[Genki Girl|Tomo]]. Medication. How about it, people?

* Of course Japan is much less inclined to see psychiatric help for anything short of certifiable institutional cases. But in the case of ''[[Red Garden]]'', the setting is New York and it's a trifle peculiar there that the grief counselors haven't been sicced on the whole school, especially the friends of the apparent suicide.

* ''[[Detective Conan]]'': Not that anyone seems worse for the wear in this series, but no one ever wonders if it is okay for six-year-old Conan to see a gruesome murder victim on a regular basis. Hell, it's probably not that good for seventeen-year-old Ran either.

*** Which brings up another point, is no-one even disturbed by the fact that six-year-old Conan is completely calm when seeing these murders?

*** Ran and Sonoko seem pretty creeped out in chapter 43, which is among other things a dismemberment case, when Conan (who found the body) observes thoughtfully that the victim "was wearing her shoes, even though she was cut up." Note that this attitude would be damn creepy even from a forty-five-year-old professional, let alone teenage [[The Hero|Shinichi]]. From little 'Conan' it's material that [[Psychopathic Manchild|should have his caretakers keeping an eye out for tortured small animals and classmates driven to suicide.]]

** Played with in Rena's background story. She did see a counselor; it just failed because [[Adults Are Useless]]. {{spoiler|And because the medication they gave her doesn't treat Hinamizawa Syndrome.}}

** [[Umineko no Naku Koro ni|The Ushiromiyas]] certainly have the cash to afford therapy, but it seems to be sorely lacking.

* Most of what happened in ''[[Prétear]]'' could've been avoided if {{spoiler|Takako}} hadn't decided that the best reaction to being rejected was to {{spoiler|'''destroy the world'''}}. And then there's Miwata, with her lasting grief after her father's death. She ''does'' send in postcards to Sasame, a talk show host that's about the closest thing to a therapist in the entire show, but {{spoiler|considering he's still in love with the woman destroying the world because his comrade didn't love her, and he bears increasing guilt because of having to fight her}}, he's not much help either and could use a good therapist himself.

* Miyuki from the ''[[Miyuki-chan in Wonderland]]'' series continuously has [[Homoerotic Dream|homoerotic dreams]] that clearly bother her but she never sees a therapist to analyze what these dreams mean. Probably related to [[Rule of Funny]] and [[Failure Is the Only Option]].

* The crew of ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'': a former gangster whose sworn enemy is actively out to kill him, a former cop whose past still creeps up on him, a compulsive gambler and con artist who doesn't know her own past, and Ed... somebody please pass this crew some anti-depressants and a bottle of whiskey.

** They've got plenty of whiskey already, and some of them might need more than just pills. Anyone with a shred of decency would've put Faye in a mental hospital as soon as she got unfrozen just out of everything she'd been through. Of course, in her case the doctors who unfroze her were con artists, so this could be justified in her case.

* If ever an entire anime series needed therapists, it would be ''[[Paranoia Agent]]''. But there are none.

* There would be no plot for [[Shugo Chara]] otherwise.

*** Particularly Riza, who after being objectified by her father in favor of his research, has to watch Roy use that research to cause more destruction than probably anyone except for Kimblee. Plus, they are obviously in mutual love, but they can't act on it because of their military duties. Emotional repression like that probably allows for some kind of therapy, and yet Riza is one of the most level-headed people in the series.

* The ''[[Pokémon Special]]'' really needs a few therapists. Been beat up by Pokémon, seeing death commonly, being kidnapped, having daddy issues, etc are common sight. While we're at it, [[Pocket Monsters (manga)|Isamu]] should see a therapist about all the [[Mind Screw|weird things that happens to him]].

** Anri lives alone {{spoiler|due to her parents being dead}}. She's bullied by the three ganguro girls and says nothing about the perverted teacher stalking her. She also lives like a leech to everyone {{spoiler|because of Saika.}} I think if she talked to someone...

** Mikado isn't any better with his low self esteem issues and the fact that he has a hard time [[Cannot Spit It Out|saying things he wants to say.]] Might not be as bad as some other characters but in recent novel chapters, {{spoiler|It seems like he has issues concerning his personality. If he's capable of switching personalities (from nice guy to cold hearted psycho and back), you would think someone besides Aoba would notice?}}

* ''[[Bleach]]'': One thinks that [[Hurting Hero|Ichigo]], [[Failure Knight|Rukia]], [[Stepford Smiler|Orihime]], [[Used to Be a Sweet Kid|Ishida]] and [[Broken Bird|Hinamori]] would have all needed therapists after their respective [[Break the Cutie]] incidents (the first four of which occurred before the manga's start), but no...

** Hitsugaya should now join them after {{spoiler|Aizen used his illusions to trick him into stabbing his childhood friend Hinamori.}}

* ''[[Oniisama e...]]'': Your step-sister is antisocial, depressive, suicidal and has a pill addiction? She'll sort it out herself. Just put her into a dark apartment with mirrors on every wall. Oh yeah, if you're bullied to the max, you're crazy classmate tries to keep you hostage, and oh yeah, {{spoiler|you're almost raped, thrown of a balcony and drowned,}} just keep to yourself and NEVER talk with ANYONE about it. Things will get better, no need for therapists.

* ''[[Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko]]''. Here's a little something for prospective parents: If your daughter disappears for six months and returns thinking she's a space alien, and then breaks her arm trying to 'prove it' by driving a bike off a bridge... ''Call a therapist''. Ignoring her and letting her live in her room wrapped up in a futon probably makes for marginally better television, but in [[Real Life]] you're more likely to get protective services called on you than wacky family rom-com hijinx.

* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'', Magical girls have no therapists. Explanations and warnings won't work. Half of the cast lost their parents or don't have one to begin with, and even if there's one, the therapist wouldn't be effective anyway.

{{quote|'''Junko''': This is the first time I can't see through her (Madoka).}}

* Played with in [[Great Teacher Onizuka]]: Class 3-4's multitudinous issues are slowly dealt with by Onizuka, because he's the only teacher who's had the patience to put up with their shenanigans and the awesome to break through their [[Wangst]]; Principal Domon used to be a therapist, but she used her abilities to recruit students to be her minions as part of her grand revenge scheme instead of actually making them better.

* The manga and OVA versions of ''[[Area 88]]'' have several prominent characters who suffer from war trauma but never get profesional help. After the Vietnam War, Mickey never got professional help for his PTSD, making it difficult for him to adjust to civilian life.

** If Kanzaki had gotten therapy after his mother's suicide, maybe he wouldn't have grown up to be a ruthless sociopath bent on seizing power at any cost?

* ''Kodomo no Jikan'' is full of people with issues. The most [[Egregious]] example is Reiji, who had what is possibly one of the worst childhoods imaginable, thanks to his abusive father and neglectful mother. He was then taken in by his older cousin Aki, {{spoiler|who he fell in love with and had a relationship with before she died of cancer.}} Now he's the sole guardian of his younger cousin Rin, who he's trying to {{spoiler|[[Wife Husbandry|raise to take her dead mother's place]].}} Then there's Rin herself, who has a huge crush on a man twice her age that manifests in truly disturbing ways, not the least of which includes a level of sexual knowledge no child that young should possess.

 

== Comic Books ==

** Beneath the [[Bottle Fairy]] exterior, [[Highly-Visible Ninja|Ninjette]] has a fair chunk of emotional issues herself, stemming from {{spoiler|a childhood with [[Abusive Parents|a drunken father who always put her down]], and constant derision from her [[McNinja]] clan for being useless.}}

{{quote|"I've gotten pretty good at ''some'' things, Emp, but I'm not quite good enough... I'm never good enough."}}

*** His works don't end in there. That psychologist even starts an anti-Batman TV campaign, manages to free the Joker and give him a sitcom... {{spoiler|killing him was the greater redeeming act from the Joker. Fact!}}. I think that since that day, therapists should be banned in Gotham!

** Remember: Joker ALWAYS pleads for insanity. The psychologists are the one and only cause which sends him through the revolving door of Arkham Asylum {{spoiler|in order to have a chance to write an essay about Joker}}. So, they are indeed his best accomplices.

* In [[Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' comic, there is no one to counsel the Freedom Fighters after fighting a years-long war with Robotnik and eventually ''killing'' him. Likewise (in the current story), Sonic defeats another Robotnik (another one from another [[The Multiverse|Multiverse]], who is left a broken man; Sonic watches as Robotnik's psychosis takes hold of him, to the point that he must be put in a straitjacket. Sonic seems deeply troubled by this. He tries talking to Sally about it, but she tells him the equivalent of "Suck it up and quit being such a drag; you're harshing our mellow." And of course, there is literally NO ONE IN ALL OF THE CITY THAT HE CAN TALK TO ABOUT IT THAT COULD POSSIBLY GIVE HIM PSYCHOLOGICAL HELP AT ALL.

* You know who could use a hug? [[The Punisher]]. PTSD ''is'' pretty well understood nowadays.

** He actually DID get therapy at one point, thanks to Doc Samson. He ended up leaving ''[[Up to Eleven|even worse off than before.]]''

* You'd think an organization like SHIELD would have the resources to talk Ultimate Hawkeye through ''the assassination of his entire family'' before he descends into [[Death Seeker]] territory. Then again, he may be more useful that way since he's one of their designated assassins himself.

* Parodied in one issue of Marvel's ''[[What If]]?'', where [[Daredevil]] murdered the Kingpin and went insane with guilt. While he's running around, he bumps into [[Nineties Anti-Hero|the Punisher.]] When he sees just how broken Daredevil's become, Castle actually recommends a psychiatrist and offers to take him there personally.

* Therapists would be really, ''really'' useful in ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers]] Academy''. The central concept of the series is that the kids are in the Academy because they're all traumatized or otherwise disturbed, and the Avengers want to mold them into superheroes before they turn into supervillains. The only psychologist they see is Moonstone - whom they visit in prison because she's an evil psychopath. The students do seem to be encouraged to confide in their instructors, with the conceit being that since their instructors are all especially troubled Avengers and associated, they are better able to guide them. But the trope applies just as much to the adults. When Tigra realizes that her brutal beating at the hands of the Hood and the public humiliation it caused her are still affecting her, she doesn't see a professional about it, but instead goes on a talk show to get if off her chest.

== Fan Works ==

 

** Also, there are no therapists for the kind of brain trauma the fic itself will inflict on ''you''.

* Justified in one of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'''s fanfictions. Pilots are specially kept in isolation, because normal relations with other people makes it impossible to pilot Evas (whose minds are totally inhuman). Potential pilots who become friends are sent away, because a) bad things will happen since they have a normal relationship with each oher b) there is a threat they may befriend Rei, Asuka and Shinji, causing the whole project to collapse.

{{quote|"Sometimes I wonder whether it would be easier if I just had Shizuru see a psychologist. The problem being, how does she say "I have a huge guilt complex over killing scores of people with my summoned demon named after the legendary Kiyohime" without being put in an asylum? Perhaps the First District has specilised psychologists. Oh, wait. She blew them up. That's what she's guilty about."}}

* ''[[Oh God Not Again]]'' makes fun of this trope (as it does with the whole [[Harry Potter]] universe) mentioning that Cho only got better after years of therapy, and she needed to edit her story, because all therapists are Muggles.

** ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5409165/1/Its_For_a_Good_Cause_I_Swear It's for a Good Cause I Swear]'' by the same author explains this for the Naruto series. All the therapists are civilians and pretty much everything a ninja would need therapy for would either be confidential or scar the therapists. The reason Sasuke never got therapy was because clan policy at the time stated that "Uchiha are above such plebeian things as therapy."

* In ''[[All You Need Is Love]]'' [[Alone with the Psycho|After surviving the LABB Murder Cases]], [[Super Dickery|L refused to help pay]] for Naomi Misora's therapy. Later in the story Light's parents ''attempt'' to make him seek help from a therapist when his mental issues begin to become obvious after blatantly stalking an older woman and her fiance, crashing at their place, and refusing to leave. Light's parents concede that their son ''MIGHT'' just have a problem and should probably get help. Naomi notes that it's [[Axe Crazy|a couple]] [[Serial Killer Killer|of years]] [[Person of Mass Destruction|too late.]]

 

== Films ==

** I'd call it somewhat [[Justified Trope|justified]] in that they had a decade or so in Narnia to grow up and adjust to their roles as warriors. The dialogue makes it clear that not only do they ''remember'' being adults, but they are ''used'' to it, more to the point, used to having power and authority.

* Hello ''[[Star Wars]]''? While it certainly may serve the needs of the plot and even fit somewhat with some of the [[Space Opera|seemingly ignorant/primitive aspects of the setting]], you'd think that you might want to have somebody have a friendly chat with your [[Chosen One]] every so often, just to make sure he doesn't go [[Ax Crazy]] or otherwise have any glaringly obvious psychological hangups.

**** [[Sarcasm Mode|Absolutely shocking]] that Anakin went crazy and turned on them. After all they did for him too: separating him from his mother, not allowing him to rescue his mother, forbidding him to openly date Padme, telling him that being attached to ''anything'' is of [[The Dark Side]], etc.

** Poor psychological treatment is ''very'' common in the Jedi Order: just look at Juhani in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]''.

* ''[[Animorphs]]'': The need for secrecy prevents any of the characters in this from seeking help, but the psychological ramifications of being in the sort of fight they're in are explored. The Animorphs have very interesting nightmares, and will do so for the rest of their lives. Cassie tries to act as a sort-of therapeutic substitute, but her success is limited.

** In one book, Marco [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] the impossibilities of telling a professional therapist about their problems: "Hello, Doctor Freud? My dad's thinking about remarrying. See, he thinks my mom is dead, but she's not. She's actually a slave to an alien race trying to take over the planet. And did I mention that I'm fighting this alien invasion myself? That I do it by turning into animals? Say what? [[Go Among Mad People|What size straitjacket do I wear]]?"

** Everybody failed to see the warning signs that Tom Riddle was a deranged sociopath who would eventually become Voldemort. They were blatant when he was a child before he entered Hogwarts, and then he did everything he could to hide said warning signs. But Dumbledore should have known better than to go "Oh, he seems so different, I'll just hope for the best."

*** On the other hand, Voldemort went to school from 1938 to 1945. Would good psychiatric help have been provided very widely even in non-magic schools then? Or would people recognize the signs of sociopathy?

** Smaller scale of course, but Cho Chang gets a lot of flack for using Harry to feel closer to Cedric, when anyone can see what the girl seriously needs is some grief counseling. She lost her boyfriend in a way that no one wants to talk about, and since Hogwarts doesn't believe in helpful things like counselors, Harry's the only game in town.

** And Ginny, of course. Apparently, when you are possessed by the evil overlord, ''not punishing you'' for what he made you do is already being the best guy in this world (Dumbledore).

** Also Luna Lovegood. We don't know the details, but when she was nine she saw her mother die and she apparently got no help. Plus, she was continually harassed and bullied for at least her first four years at Hogwarts and was so isolated socially that when Harry and company finally befriended her she painted portraits of them all on her ceiling linked by the word "friends".

** How about the endless list of students that Snape and Umbridge terrorise? Snape openly derides students in front of other teachers and shows blatant favouritism while Umbridge's detentions are literal torture. Then again implied gang-rape by centaurs was probably good closure for her students.

* ''[[BattleTech]]'' example: While the trope does not (one hopes) hold true for the setting in general, one could easily come away from reading the ''Legend of the Jade Phoenix'' trilogy with the impression that it explains ''so much'' about the Clans. It's easier to name the characters from these three books that ''don't'' have major issues than the ones who do.

* Justified ''very'' thinly by [[The Masquerade]], but ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' would have been at least one volume shorter - and probably a much better series - if someone with the right training had been around to help Edward work through the underlying self-esteem issues thrown up by his growing relationship with Bella.

** ''New Moon'' would have had a totally different plot if someone had noticed Bella's erratic behavior after Edward leaves her as extremely similar to [[Unfortunate Implications|clinical depression]], and reacted accordingly.

** Charlie ''tried'' to get Bella to see a therapist in ''New Moon''. She refused, on the grounds that she couldn't tell a therapist about how the Cullens were vampires and thus decided that therapy wouldn't work if she wasn't 100% truthful.

* Though there are "healers" in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', counselors don't seem to exist. Odd, seeing as the elves have had millenia to figure out health care; doubly odd considering how many of the characters came out of the trip with some serious psychological scarring.

* Since the main characters are all wild cats, there are obviously none in the [[Warrior Cats]] series. It's a shame, because if there were, half of all the unfortunate character breakdowns ( {{spoiler|Ashfur, Hollyleaf, anyone?}}) would have never happened, and most of the villains could have been stopped before they rose to evil. In other words, the series' [[Dysfunction Junction]] would be nearly nonexistent. Then it would be a big happy family of cats. [[True Art Is Angsty|And that would be boring]].

* There really should have been a therapist for each of the boys in ''[[The Outsiders]]''. Especially Johnny, who was abused by his parents and later beaten up by Socs to the point he was a nervous wreck. Sort of justified that the greasers don't live in the best part of town and they probably couldn't even afford seeing one if they wanted to.

 

== Live Action TV ==

** Even for this rare case where there's actually a designated therapist, there are times Troi is strangely absent. In "Homeward", Vorin, suffering from shock caused by the complete shattering of his worldview, is left to stew alone in a cabin. ''He kills himself.''

** In "The Bonding", the child Jeremy has just lost his mother, his only surviving parent. He's also left alone in a cabin to do nothing but look over pictures of his dead parents. Also overlaps with [[Social Services Does Not Exist]]; despite there being families on the Enterprise, he's not placed with foster parents.

** He ''is,'' just [[Badass|awesomely]] so.

* Gareth Blackstock on ''Chef!'' has [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|big-time anger issues, no known people skills]], and no libido to speak of. You'd think his wife would nudge him into therapy.

* [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in ''[[Firefly]]'', where brain-damaged River Tam ''can't'' go see a therapist because she's a fugitive, and no one on the ship is a trained psychologist. Not that that would help, as she suffers from a combination of rampant, uncontrolled [[Psychic Powers]], [[Mind Rape|direct physical damage to her brain's ability to process and control emotions, a wide range of damaging and traumatizing government secrets, and spending three formative years of her life being brutally experimented upon]] and trained into being a [[Super Soldier|living weapon.]]

* On ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', Niki actually ''does'' go to a therapist to help deal with her murderous split-personality Jessica. It doesn't help (the therapist manages to survive for about half an episode...).

* In ''[[Deep Love]]'' had Ayu had a therapist to deal with her abusive step-father and {{spoiler|her mother's suicide}} she wouldn't have become the emotionally stunted girl she did.

* In ''[[Stargate Universe]]'', TJ in addition to being a medic, took some psychology classes which automatically makes her the most qualified therapist among the ad hoc crew. She tries her best, with mixed results. The crew also tries to deal with the stress by venting their concerns to a Kino. Or ''[[Is That What They're Calling It Now?|reading]]''.

* It's funny how ''[[The Shield]]'' might have turned differently if Shane Vendrell and Vic Mackey could have had a heart-to-heart talk about Shane's feelings of guilt over the murder of Terry Crowley, seeing as his series-long nervous breakdown/descent into murder-murder-suicide was kickstarted by way of Vic ordering him to repress all feelings of guilt over the murder and demanding he pretend it never happened.

** But hardly impossible for this show. It's hardly implausible that the ''therapists'' suffered trauma-inducing experiences at some point, and they couldn't handle it.

** Starbuck is obviously voicing [[Unreliable Narrator|her own personal opinion]] on therapists, rather than reflecting reality in the Fleet (given how screwed up Starbuck is, her previous encounters with therapists were undoubtedly unsuccessful). The main characters seem to prefer friends or religious counsellors anyway.

* Pretty much all the hunters in ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' have deep-seated psychological issues which go addressed apart from the occasional monster induced psychologically-convenient dreamscape. If it weren't obvious why, the reason they can't seek aid is nicely demonstrated by the episode "Sam, Interrupted" where they do go to a therapist and try to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3deHzi6y9Y explain their problems]. Shortly after they start into ''why'' they have these issues they get committed. (Which was the plan.) In season seven, this trope is justified for {{spoiler|Sam, since doctors can't fix being crushed by memories of [[Mind Rape|Lucifer torturing his soul]] for a century and a half.}}

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', so, so much. Listing all the traumatic things that happen to all the cast members would be longer than this page, but Buffy herself has to deal with being expelled from school (twice), having her father walk out on her, her mother {{spoiler|dying}}, having to {{spoiler|kill her boyfriend}}, then she herself {{spoiler|dies and is resurrected}} and spends a year suffering from crippling depression as a result. At no time does anyone think to have her talk to someone qualified to help her cope with any of this. Granted, it's somewhat justified as any talk of vampires and demons would lead your average therapist to recommend commitment. But you'd think that the Watchers Council, with all their resources, could have sprung for a supernaturally-attuned councilor, though they always did view the Slayers as disposable. As it is, the only thing remotely like therapy Buffy ever gets is from a psych-student vampire who she ends up killing at the end of the episode.

** At one point, due to magic, she does hallucinate that she has gone into therapy...unfortunately this involves murdering all her 'imaginary' friends.

** Well, to be fair, she sees a school counselor for one episode. He's actually pretty good at his job. Then something eats him. Sigh.

* None of the ''[[Charmed]]'' ones bother seeing a therapist though in this case it's a little more justified since Phoebe herself ends up getting a degree in psychology and gets a job as an advice columnist. Finally subverted in season 5 where Phoebe and Paige get sick of Piper and Leo's bickering and send them to couples' therapy. Later episodes imply they keep attending regular sessions.

* This is zig-zagged on ''[[Breakout Kings]]''. Loyd is a highly trained psychologist but he lost his medical license due to misconduct. A number of the escaped convicts saw therapists while in prison but they were ineffective and in one case Loyd considers the therapist to have made the situation much worse. When {{spoiler|Charlie is killed}} the team is offered the services of a therapist to handle the trauma but they refuse since they do not want an outsider to know their identities.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* Both ''[[Old World of Darkness]]'' and ''[[New World of Darkness]]'' are Earth, so there are therapists. However...

** Vampires in either setting can't see a shrink without breaking The [[Masquerade]] unless they are ''extraordinarily'' careful, nor can they take antidepressants because drugs don't affect the undead, so insane vampires (and eventually, they're all at least slightly insane) are screwed.

*** This was part of a [[Hand Wave]] in the original ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' to keep people from tampering with the Malkavians, who more or less run on crazy, mystically speaking.

** In ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'' Tradition mages could work out psychological issues through their [[Soul Fragment|Avatar]], usually during a [[Dream Land|Seeking]]. The science-oriented Technocracy greatly values therapy, psychology and psychiatry, but it's also exploited by the [[Extra-Strength Masquerade|New]] [[One World Order|World]] [[Secret Police|Order]] faction to [[Brainwashing|indoctrinate]] the other factions to keep them in line. Part of the reason the Void Engineers have such autonomy compared to other Conventions is their own psychiatric branch, ostensibly specialized in dealing with the [[Cosmic Horror]] of outer space, that also removes NWO programming from its own agents.

** ''[[New World of Darkness]]'':

*** ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]'' (also affectionately known as Abuse Victim: The Therapy) is all about characters who are very much in need of help. Fortunately, not only is it quite possible to work with a therapist as long as you ensorcell the mortal into never breaking [[The Masquerade]], changelings can also use dream manipulation as a form of psychotherapy. Or anti-therapy, if they are so inclined.

** ''[[New World of Darkness]]'' fan games:

* The ''[[Don't Rest Your Head]]'' supplement (mostly for players) "Don't Lose Your Mind" (all about madness and madness powers) features suggestions on how to get rid of permanent madness. Therapy makes the list, which is fair enough, except that the therapists it advises you to see are [[Nightmare Fuel|Nightmares]] who will gladly, and literally, {{spoiler|fuck}} your brain out to get a better look. Needless to say there's a fair chance you'll come out madder than when you entered.

** Sort of mentioned, however, in one of the [[Ciaphas Cain]] books: after an [[Escort Mission]] goes wrong and the squad has to shoot PDF who are only doing their job, a few of them talk to the regimental chaplain, which seems to help.

* In Magic: The Gathering, at least two of the protagonists from the novels need quite a bit of therapy. Jodah, the Archmage who accidentally made himself functionally immortal when a youth, and Gerrard Capashen, the result of genetics tampering and one who kept managing to survive while everyone around him kept dying. Massive Survivor's Guilt? Nah, not here!

 

== Video Games ==

** This also plays a major factor with the Beauty and the Beast Corps. The reason why nobody bothered to treat the severe mental trauma these women suffered was because it made them effective and easily manipulated tools for the [[Big Bad]](s). They were actually promised that if they killed Snake, all of their mental anguish would be cured (of course, they believed it!)

** In the fourth game, Snake has an actual professional therapist as one of his codec contacts, who'll give advice to Snake on keeping his cool on the battlefield and avoiding stress. Although it's a bit of a minus point that the therapist in MGS4 is the exact same person whose ''job'' it was to ''deliberately'' drive you insane ''during the mission'' in MGS2.

* [[Final Fantasy VI]] counts too. ''Every'' member of the cast suffers from some kind of unresolved past and/or current trauma (usually, but not always, thanks to the [[Evil Empire|Gestahlian Empire]]). Possibly even the [[Optional Party Member|moogle, mime, and yeti]]. It's just not explicit because they don't talk much. Justified because the setting is one that would predate therapy.

* In ''[[Condemned]] 2'', where Ethan Thomas is an alcoholic, homeless wreck after his traumatic experiences bashing in hundreds of Rage-crazed hobo skulls in ''Condemned''.

** The fact that he was {{spoiler|granted a boon by the Chaos God, Khorne (the reason why he's a [[One-Man Army]])}} doesn't help.

** It also explained that their own caste is kept in check by the Greater Good, and that Kais was fighting an internal battle to reconcile what he became with the Greater Good. His superior ''explains'' it to two of his peers that they are never far from being berserkers.

** Godot {{spoiler|the whole story of how he went from Diego Armando to Godot, especially where Mia died, and he wasn't there to save her.}}

** Truth be told, one could go on forever about characters in Ace Attorney who need some sort of mental help. It's mind-blowing how many of them have so much hidden baggage.

* Played straight with both {{spoiler|Aribeth}} and {{spoiler|Bastila}} in ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' and in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]''. Then again, the first was the perfect paladin and the second was the perfect Jedi, at least on the outside, so nobody really had any cause to worry.

** Jolee and Juhani in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' both have reasons in their backstories as to why they ought to have had some counseling, but neither mentions it. Also, Mission after the escape from Taris probably ought to talk to someone.

** Why is it that in [[BioWare]] games the player always ends up being the only sympathetic ear/psychiatrist for any of these people?

* One would think that characters in ''[[Gears of War]]'' would be deeply disturbed and unfit for combat, between seeing pretty much all of their friends and family being killed, as well as the own brutalities they have committed during the war. Then again, the COG is taking anyone they can...

* [[Metroid|Samus Aran]] is in ''desperate'' need of therapy, as displayed by her innumerable psychoses and disorders in [[Metroid: Other M]] (post traumatic stress disorder, dependency issues regarding authority figures despite circumstances necessitating independent action, more survivor's guilt than is typically humanly possible) and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the series. This gets particularly egregrious when a phobia-induced panic attack causes her to pass out during battle, nearly getting her squadmate killed, yet nobody tries to rotate her out of combat.

* The closest thing poor [[Ciem Webcomic Series|Candi Flippo]] is afforded is a lawyer and an eccentric minister. And a poor excuse for a mentor who [[Squishy Wizard|dies easily]] and waits until she's near-dead before he does anything to help. Jackrabbit's [[I'm a Man, I Can't Help It|selfish motives]], exploiting Candi's [[You Killed My Father|already]]-[[Sex Is Evil and I Am Horny|disturbed]] [[Determined Widow|emotional state]], don't help matters any. Then again, therapists in her world are [[Second Law of Metafictional Thermodynamics|as prone]] as [[Anyone Can Die|anyone else]] [[Off with His Head|to]] [[Made of Plasticine|short]] [[Made of Explodium|life]] [[Sorting Algorithm of Mortality|expectancy]].

** With all the beheadings, fiery deaths, and mutilation, depicted and subtext; this story is just a few [[Sexy Discretion Shot|graphic sex]] and [[Gosh Dang It to Heck|foul language]] depictions shy of earning the webcomic equivalent of an R rating. According to Mod [[The Sims]], that is.

* ''[[Dominic Deegan]]''. You'd think that after the first dozen times or so that Luna broke down and cried over something minor, Dominic would've gone looking for a counselor. After what she'd been through all her life, she really could've used one.

** This is probably because Dominic has taken the responsibility upon himself. While Luna has improved, he's arguably done a pretty bad job of it. This is justified by the fact that he could really use some therapy as well. One has to wonder if he ever received therapy after seeing an evil necromancer attack his family and ''infect his little brother with a plague of undeath when he was a kid''.

* ''[[Misfile]]'': [[Ret-Gone|From his point of view]], Ash's father just got back from a convention to find his [[Gender Bender|daughter]] has taken to [http://www.misfile.com/index.php?page=91 declaring she is a boy], exhibited sudden and severe personality changes, and has moved her (obviously fake) Canadian boyfriend in [http://www.misfile.com/index.php?page=408 under the flimsiest of pretenses]. Despite being a highly respected doctor he makes no attempt to get her any professional help. Even worse is the character of Kamikaze Kate who, as a teenager, saw her elder sister murdered in a brutal vehicular homicide yet apparently received zero psychological help.

** Somewhat justified in that he takes a very "hands off" approach with his daughter, largely due to how his wife left him. He knows Ash well enough (girl Ash's [[Retcon]] personality isn't ''that'' different from boy Ash) to know that (s)he would not respond well to the suggestion of psychiatric help and is likely hesitant to risk driving a wedge between them.

* In ''[[Megatokyo]]'', Erika was allowed to throw away a promising career as a voice actress/pop idol after her boyfriend broke up with her. You'd think the studio would hire a therapist to talk her out of it right? Wrong!

** Later, Kimiko nearly did the same thing after getting into a fight with Piro. They made up eventually, but a relationship counselor would have probably made the process a lot easier.

** More recent plots might have played out quite differently if Vaarsuvius had been treated for PTSD after the fall of Azure City... assuming s/he would have accepted help, that is.

* Hell, Ansem picked the cast members of ''[[Ansem Retort]]'' BECAUSE of their psychological/drug problems, why would there be a therapist?

** Mild subversion in Karkat's case in that Karkat is a film buff like John, only where John is into cheesy monster flicks, Karkat prefers romantic comedies-and his species defines four different relationships as forms of romance. So all his relationship advice is coming from his movie-watching habits rather than his tendency to psychoanalyze, and is thus dubious at best.

*** Some fans have even speculated that due to said romance system, trolls might regard professional therapy as a form of ''prostitution''.

* Zig-zagged in [[A Loonatics Tale]]. There ''are'', in fact, therapists, they're even major characters in the comic, but they have a whole host of psychological issues all their own which may or may not prevent them from actually doing their patients any good (at least one is too apathetic to do his job, so he just medicates them into oblivion). On top of that, most of them reckon that, since they're therapists, they're immune to psychological disorders, and wouldn't need help even if they weren't.

* Averting this is the basic premise of [[Level 30 Psychiatry]] but played weirdly for Dr. Gardevoir herself. {{spoiler|She tries giving herself therapy and it backfires.}}

 

== Web Original ==

* If we ever need even more evidence that the ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' Autobot High Command is made up of jerks, it's the fact that Ratchet has rather obvious but ignored PTSD. Then again, {{spoiler|most of his trauma comes from things that were either directly or indirectly ''their fault''.}}

** Not to mention Sentinel and Optimus' trauma after Elita-1 was killed by giant spiders when taking her to the planet in the first place was Sentinel's fault and leaving her behind was Optimus' fault. Sentinel might have turned out slightly less of a [[Jerkass]].

** Gosalyn, after having her [[Parental Abandonment|parents die]] and her grandfather murdered, seeing the father-figure she just bonded with [[No One Could Survive That|apparently die]], and being kidnapped and nearly killed ''twice'' herself, really should have gotten some therapy rather than being returned to the orphanage like it was business-as-usual and encouraged to "show a prospective parent a little more spirit."

* Then there's ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'', though that's more of a "[[Social Services Does Not Exist|no Social Services]]" than "no therapists" situation. You've got five teens, the oldest of which is 18-19 and the youngest about twelve, living together in a T-shaped tower playing video games all day, never going to school, and putting their lives in danger on an almost daily basis, all without any sort of adult supervision. Scratch that, they had a "mother" in one episode, but she turned out to be a three-eyed monster that was brainwashing them using demonic pie. Then there's Raven, who grew up {{spoiler|thinking that she would act as a portal for her evil, demonic father to take over the world when she turned sixteen no matter what she did to prevent it}} and having to constantly suppress her emotions to keep her powers from going out of control; Cyborg, who never finished high school because of the accident that caused him to become what he is; Robin, who lived with Batman for a long time before becoming a Titan and having a lot of trouble not obsessing over, well, ''everything''; and Beast Boy, who lived with the Doom Patrol before he was a Titan and doesn't seem to have ever been to school. Starfire doesn't ''seem'' to have any serious issues beyond being somewhat airheaded, but then again, she never got her own story arc, so who knows? And let's not even get into Terra....

*** And don't even try to get into how screwed up the comic versions ''everyone who's ever been in the [[Doom Patrol]]'' is. When the trained psychologists on the team are the [[Magnificent Bastard]] that engineered most of the original team's tragic "accidents" or the telepath that [[Mind Rape|MindRaped]] his wife for years? It's pretty shocking how functional Beast Boy is, all things considered...

** The origin episode of the series shows that Starfire escaped to Earth after she was essentially being sold into slavery by an alien race, an experience which introduces her in a rabid, screaming, and violent form rarely seen otherwise. It is also implied that she didn't have a happy upbringing since her planet didn't have a word for "nice" (considering it synonymous with "weak"). Oh, and she later finds herself nearly forcefully married to another alien after her sister takes control of her home planet.

** Wang Fire does his best when Aang is having nightmares, but somehow it's not the same as a proper safety net.

* Played with in an episode of ''[[Winx Club]]'': The show's villainesses are sent to a place where they are supposed to be reformed, but only manages to tick them off even more.

** Two episodes after Schooled, and Superboy has a throwaway line, telling Aqualad about the technique he just used to beat him. "Black Canary taught me that." Just the way he says it shows that even the limited ammount of attention she can give him during traing helps a lot. Aww...

*** And completely averted a few episodes later which featured all the main cast in therapy.

** Pinkie Pie descends into severe depression and psychosis when she thinks people don't like her. Even ''[[Shrinking Violet|Fluttershy]]'' becomes a terrifying [[Stalker with a Crush]] when animals reject her love.

*** The breakdowns usually happen when their purpose in life (as symbolized by the pictures on their butts) is called into question somehow (Fluttershy and the animals, Pinkie Pie and her parties, etc.). Thus, the fandom has dubbed it "Cutie Mark Failure Insanity Syndrome" or CMFIS. Rolls off the tongue, dunnit?

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Hollywood Psych]]

[[Category:Madness Tropes]]

[[Category:Psychology Tropes]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]