Sometimes when patients walk into psychiatrist Glen Gabbard's office, they're surprised that all he wants to do is sit down and talk to them. It's hardly surprising that so many people expect such treatment. After all, when you see therapists in the movies, that's what they do. Just like doctors, journalists, lawyers and almost every other profession, the psychotherapists we see in the movies bear little resemblance to real life. Gabbard, who has documented the portrayal of therapists in American movies in the book Psychiatry and the Cinema , says it's easy to understand why.
Real therapy is boring.
This is the latest film foray into the world of mental health. But there's something very charming about it. The psychologist does cross boundaries, but he does it kicking and screaming. Not, she says, like Barbra Streisand's character in The Prince of Tides . Therapists seethe when they talk about that one.