Thus
far on this blog, we have looked at the role of psychologists in fictional TV
shows. This week, I am going to briefly discuss how psychologists are portrayed
in reality TV shows in general. In recent years, the number of reality shows on
TV has increased dramatically. Sometimes, these mental health workers are
peripheral characters that appear sporadically during a series. In other cases,
the reality show is based specifically around mental health treatment.
I
would like to discuss the latter first. Dr. Drew offers his therapeutic
services mostly to celebrities, but has become just as well known as many of
his clients because of his presence on TV. In 2008, Dr. Drew’s show Celebrity
Rehab with Dr. Drew
premiered on VH1. It has run 5 seasons to date. The show features “celebrities”
with substance abuse problems (mostly C- or D-list celebs whose claim to fame
is other reality shows, but also some bigger-name celebrities who have fallen
out of the spotlight) and documents their journey through rehab for their
various addictions. This includes recording their therapy sessions with Dr.
Drew. In a spin-off of Celebrity Rehab, VH1 aired one season of Sex Rehab
with Dr. Drew.
As you might gather from the name, the show used the same premise and
principles but applied them specifically to minor-celebrity clients with sex
addictions. Dr. Drew is actually an MD who is board-certified in internal
medicine and as an addiction medicine specialist. His shows often showed him
engaged in one-on-one conversations with the clients, like therapy, where he
would usually offer very basic advice or rules and some support for the client
at best. At worst, he would often push clients to talk about traumatic events
in their background. While it can be argued that this might be a “scripted
reality” show, and that the patients’ therapy sessions are exaggerated or
staged, if we are to assume that there was actually a degree of reality to
these shows, such treatment could potentially re-traumatize patients. Even if
the celebrity patients engaged in this knowing full-well what was in store for
them and completely consenting to have their private therapy sessions
televised, it is unethical to take advantage of someone who is already in a
difficult situation (addiction recovery) and exploit them by offering them
money or a second chance to be on TV if they agree to go through this very
private process publicly. Dr. Drew’s VH1 rehab shows are no longer on the air,
although the last season of Celebrity Rehab just aired last year.
Dr. Drew has received a great deal of criticism about the show from other
professionals and even from those outside the field of mental health. He has
been criticized for the treatment that he is providing to clients on the shows,
which is often inadequate, as well as for exploiting the celebrities he is
claiming to help. Even outside of these shows, Dr. Drew has a media presence on
radio shows and as an author. He has received further criticism for offering
unsolicited opinions on other troubled celebrities (like Lindsey Lohan) with
regards to their psychological functioning. All of this is unfortunate, and
because of his title and the way he portrays himself, Dr. Drew has come to be a
representative of the mental health field when in actuality, he is a trained
medical doctor with very specific certification in substance abuse treatment
(which he apparently does not even do well) but has taken it upon himself to
offer his impressions of others’ psychological functioning.
There
seems to be a tendency amongst the Real Housewives (a Bravo franchise spanning
multiple seasons from at least five different cities) to seek therapy, whether
it is individual therapy for personal issues or couples’ counseling to address
marital problems. These women are televised on their own shows season after
season because they are wealthy socialites, and deemed interesting enough for
people to keep watching them week after week. As evidenced by the success of
the franchise, it seems that people are, in fact, watching. Because of that, I
think that it is great that these women publicize the fact that they are going
to therapy. Several women have admitted during the show to their friends that
they are seeing a therapist for marriage counseling or to deal with changes in
their life, etc. They are usually received well by their friends and are
supported for seeking help for their problems, which could help change some of
the stigma surrounding therapy. On one episode of the Real Housewives of
Beverly Hills, one woman mentions at a dinner party that she and her husband
have been going to couples’ counseling. Most of the women support her, but one
woman’s husband dismisses therapy and invalidates her choice to get help. A
central part of these two individuals’ later interactions is revisiting this argument
and helping the husband to see that even if he doesn’t necessarily want to be
in therapy, it is still a valid choice for other people. I thought that the
show’s characters addressed this point well.
There
are occasions during the Real Housewives franchise, as well as multiple other
reality shows, where they will actually show a person in session with their
therapist. For the show, it is a convenient plot device, because the individual
can talk about all of their problems, emotions, etc, while maintaining a sense
of ‘reality.’ However, the ethics of televising a therapy session ever, even
when it has been consented to, should be questioned.
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