Letters to the Editor
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Paradox...
I am a psychologist who has had psychoanalytic training. I had to move past it in order to truly help people. I love/live for the show because it captures the paradox that doomed analysis so perfectly:
Your training says to divorce yourself from human reactions and emotions. Once you get into the trenches, you discover that your patients hit a wall they cannot pass until you become a real, emotional creature.
Has anyone else noticed that the only real breakthroughs that Paul's patients achieve is when his reserve cracks- when he becomes real to them? Think of Alex, seeing Paul in the role of his distant, emotion-proof father. Only when Paul showed genuine anger could Alex take the next step. It's called the therapeutic paradox- doing the right thing, for the wrong reason!
See you at 9:30 EST...