Eavesdropping: the Psychotherapist in Film and Television

What can depictions of psychotherapy on screen teach us about ourselves? In Eavesdropping, a selection of contributions from internationally-based film consultants, practicing psychotherapists and interdisciplinary scholars investigate the curious dynamics that occur when films and television programmes attempt to portray the psychotherapist, and the complexities of psychotherapy, for popular audiences. The book evaluates the potential mismatch between the onscreen psychotherapist, whose raison d'etre is to entertain and engage global audiences, and the professional, real-life counterpart, who becomes intimately involved with the dramas of their patients. While several contributors conclude that actual psychotherapy, and the way psychotherapists and their clients grapple with notions of fantasy and reality, would make a rather poor show, Eavesdropping demonstrates the importance of psychotherapy and psychotherapists on-screen in assisting us to wrestle with the discomfort - and humour - of our lives.Offering a unique insight into perceptions of psychotherapy, Eavesdropping will be essential and insightful reading for analytical psychologists, psychoanalysts, academics and students of depth psychology, film and television studies, media studies and literature, as well as filmmakers.

Lucy Huskinson, PhD, is a senior lecturer in the School of Philosophy and Religion at Bangor University, UK. She is coeditor in chief of the International Journal of Jungian Studies and author and editor of numerous books and articles, including Dreaming the Myth Onwards: New Interpretations of Jungian Therapy and Thought (Routledge, 2009). Terrie Waddell, PhD, is associate professor of Media: Screen and Sound at La Trobe University, Australia. She researches and publishes on the relationships among screen media, myth, literature, gender, popular culture, and analytical psychology. Wild/lives: Trickster, Place and Liminality on Screen (Routledge, 2010) is her most recent monograph.

'There is a lack in psychoanalytic criticism as remarkably it has overlooked the figure of the therapist. This fascinating book redresses that situation. Looking at both fictional therapy and fictional therapists, and with a global view, the essays weave in and out of the consulting room. In so doing each contributor casts light on the representation of the therapist and therapy itself. This is a wonderful collection that offers a range of fresh perspectives - a much needed and insightful addition to psychoanalytic criticism that makes for compelling reading.' - Dr Luke Hockley, Professor of Media Analysis and Psychotherapist, University of Bedfordshire, UK