There Are No Therapists: Difference between revisions

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.

* ''[[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.

* 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!

** 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?

** 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.

 

== 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."}}

* ''[[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.

** 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]]'':

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

*** ''[[Genius: The Transgression]]'' only makes the situation worse. [[Mad Scientist|Geniuses]] are all somewhat insane by definition, though [[The Mad Hatter|many are aware of it]]. Talking to a therapist tends to [[Brown Note|turn the therapist]] [[Go Mad From the Revelation|just as crazy]]... if they weren't one in the first place. Yes, there's an entire branch of Mad Psychology, specialising in [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulation]] and straight-out [[Mind Control]]. Note that the book begins with a retired Genius talking to a therapist...

* 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.

* There are many crazed people in ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'', but since that may be due to [[The Corruption|Chaos]] influence of which there's really nothing to do about it aside from shooting them, there's a ''lot'' of them, it's seen as a sign of weakness - no one generally cares enough to do anything about it save for shooting them when they snap.

 

== 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.

** 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''.

** 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''.

* 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.