Any psychologists here?

Call up your cousin. She can give you a lot of the particulars, and hell, lead you through the process for that character.


Related to your question, it depends on what kind of psychologist the character is seeing and why. They can go for 1 on 1 therapy sessions for months on end, or a quick session with a psychiatrist to get prescribed drugs, or go to group therapy for a short to long time.
Why is your character going for?

I've had therapy, what do you want to know? LOL

What brings you in here?

That's the first question. The patient doesn't usually answer directly - but it's an opening.

There's a terrific series called "In Treatment" - just riveting. Some of the best acting on television bar none.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0835434/combined

If you can watch a few episodes, you'll see pretty much what it's like in a private practice setting.

The approach will vary depending on the patient AND the particular psychologists practice. That actually becomes an issue in that series.

Sometimes insurance will only cover a certain number of sessions. And so the sessions stop when the money runs out.

Honestly, best to talk to your cousin. Unless you're going to deal with the actual sessions themselves ... in detail, you will just need a rough outline.

They will mirror back at you things you say, or what you say, they may mirror a similar sentence back to you in a differnt way, so as to make you realize what you just said. Of course, i'm sure it depends on what your character's problem is. mine was just life stressors and average neuroses!

Typical therapy involves assessing the situation and approaching it to better understand what is wrong.

Now, I ask you again. What is your character going for?

Most therapist try to show the patient what may be wrong. They understand what is wrong and how to solve it, but its the job to make the patient reveal that and find a way to solve it. Lets say a person had control issues, that they constantly want to be in control of others. The therapist will speak with the person, not trying to focus on a subject, but just understand the person better. They will raise certain question based on observation. Like the patient walked into the room and told the therapist to close the door quickly before the chill would come in. The therapist would ask, "Why did you tell me to close the door?" The patient: "Well, you we're closing it fast enough." "I was about to close it. And, either way, it took more time to tell me to close it and have me figure it out and finally do it." "Well, yes but--" "What do think I'm feeling when you're telling me that?" "I don't know." "No, what do you think I'm feeling when you order me around?" "Ah... angry. Whatever, can we get on--" "If I get angry, do you think I like being ordered around?" "No." "Would you like being ordered around in the same way?" "No." "So why order people around like that?"

A therapist takes several different methods to have the person understand what is going on. The above, I used simple reflection from a different point of view and mirrored it back. You want the person to talk about something that is bothering them, and from your neutral point of view, bring them something that they can look into and figure out. You want to lead the individual down a path, but not direct them, but give them clues.

Typical therapy takes a long time. It's not about walking in and getting that mental problem fixed. It's about constant support, understanding, assessing and evaluating.


I don't think one on one therapy is good for a book in a realistic stand point. But I wouldn't know, I had no damn clue what therapy your character needs. So tell me.

There's a huge range of possible responses here, depending mostly on the therapist and what school of thought/theory/approach he or she is operating under, adheres to, believes will benefit the patient, etc.

It also depends on when this is taking place - the 'what brings you here' type of conversation is usually an intake conversation at an intake appointment, though if it's private practice that someone random makes an appointment at, it's an initial consultation or initial appointment.

A lot also depends on your character. Does she want to see a psychologist? Oh, also some things will likely be different depending on whether you're talking about a psychologist, psychiatrist, MA therapist/counselor, social worker, whatever, though there's overlap. Anyway, if she doesn't, is she going to be hostile? Is she just going to sit for 50 minutes and not say a word? Her reactions and responses will determine some of the theraputic approach, depending on theory.

Wasn't that so clarifying?

breaking_burgundy said:

She's going in for attempted murder (it's a prison-type setting). But the people involved (including the therapist) already know that her past involved an instance of physical abuse, dead or absent parents, and having to hide a magical power.

Click to expand...

And why is she seeing a therapist?

You could have her see, either a court appointed psychologist or a prison counselor, but I still have no idea if she's in prison and what she's seeing a therapist for. Why is she seeing one? What do you want to happen?

Breaking, I'm not going to steal you million dollar idea. Tell me what is going on, maybe I or someone else can help.

In all cases, I don't see a big need for a long schedule of sessions, but maybe a few that leads up to one. And that last one, you could drop into and capture just a snapshot of the scene. If you're not writing the entire story around the session (which, you really shouldn't because you're not an expert on the subject. No offense, I wouldn't write a story about a veterinarian, ya get it?) just grab a tidbit.

breaking_burgundy said:

She's going in for attempted murder (it's a prison-type setting). But the people involved (including the therapist) already know that her past involved an instance of physical abuse, dead or absent parents, and having to hide a magical power.

Click to expand...

What kind of prison is this? Has she agreed to participate in therapy to get into it? That's a different animal.

Then you're also, again sort of, into what kind of therapy you're talking about as that setting has multiple built-in options.

... BA in psych. Not much of a recommendation ;-)
Based on that I think it'd help to get a Psych 101 book. Libraries have them.
There are a lot of forms of therapy. You could get an overview and choose the one
that suits your story best. Then take it from there.

breaking_burgundy said:

One of my characters in the portal fantasy novel is forced to see a psychologist. However, since my only knowledge of how a therapy session works comes from There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom, I thought I should learn something about what these sessions look like in the real world.

I do have a cousin who is a psychologist, but I don't think she knows I'm a writer, and I'm somewhat embarrassed to ask what a therapy session with my fictional character would look like.

Is there anyone here who could give me advice?

Click to expand...

Have a look at this lady: psychologist for profiling fictional characters Kaufman has a doctorate in clinical psychology and helps authors with their fictional characters.

She will talk privately to you and help with these kind of issues. She also has a novel on out for authors attempting to profile/assess fictional disorders etc

I've used her for a psychological profile for one of my chracters in a psychological thriller novel and she was bloody good.

A better question to ask than 'why is she seeing the therapist' would seem to be 'what's the point, in story terms, of this whole episode'? Do you actually need it, or is it only there because it seems like the situation implies it?

Call your cousin and explain exactly whayt you are looking for. You probably will get more information than you need. If you have any old or distant friends who are in the psych business, then ask them also. I know several people in that business, and they are not very busy, so they are glad to talk, if you get them started.

My master's is in marriage and family therapy. I could walk you through a possible therapy session with your character. Feel free to send me a PM if you are still looking for help.

I have my BA in psychology and I've been in therapy a lot.

It depends on the therapist, the patient, and all that jazz whether the therapist will say observations outright or ask questions. I've learned I tend to work best with people who let me talk through things, asking non-direct questions, until I arrive at the end result. Therapists tend to ask questions like, "How does that make you feel?" "What does that situation remind you of?" "What do you think you could do to help yourself deal with that?" That sort of thing. The intense, do you realize you are this way, gotcha style therapy only happens in the movies.

Family or couples therapists might ask patients to act out scenarios or whatever, but I don't think it happens much in individual therapy.

mayqueen said:

I have my BA in psychology and I've been in therapy a lot.

It depends on the therapist, the patient, and all that jazz whether the therapist will say observations outright or ask questions. I've learned I tend to work best with people who let me talk through things, asking non-direct questions, until I arrive at the end result. Therapists tend to ask questions like, "How does that make you feel?" "What does that situation remind you of?" "What do you think you could do to help yourself deal with that?" That sort of thing. The intense, do you realize you are this way, gotcha style therapy only happens in the movies.

Family or couples therapists might ask patients to act out scenarios or whatever, but I don't think it happens much in individual therapy.

Click to expand...

Au contraire. There are a number of methods that have the psychologist do everything from simply direct the therapy, ask questions and give advice as to what to do, to confronting the client and holding him or her accountable.

Some group therapy sessions can also be quite directed and tend toward the antagonistic, which is encouraged. Some group therapy is set up to promote confrontation and antagonism among the members, etc.

Depends on who, what they're looking for, etc.

breaking_burgundy said:

And do they actually make you re-enact traumatic events or ask you to have imaginary conversations with people?

Click to expand...

There is a form of treatment called EMDR--Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing--where you relive your trauma. You don't act anything out, you just remember the trauma in detail and describe it to your therapist. It gets extremely intense, but the idea is that traumatic memories don't get processed by the brain and stored with long-term memories, where they can fade with time like they're supposed to. They remain in your short-term memory, where they're always fresh and vivid, which is why they cause problems. If you can relive the memories while simulating REM, you can trick your brain into processing those memories into the long-term storage part of the brain. The trauma fades and you can start healing.

It gets very overwhelming, so it's not something you want to do every week. You're reliving your trauma, so you need time off to recover in between sessions.

Also, I second the recommendation for The Writer's Guide to Psychology. It's a terrific book that helps you figure out which mental illness your character might have and how to portray it accurately. I used it to diagnose one of my characters with Antisocial Personality Disorder. It fit the symptoms I wanted him to have, and it fit his personal history. Once I knew what was wrong with him, I was able to give him a more realistic personality. Made a huge difference in my novel!

I'm a psychologist, but I specialize more in school teaching than actual therapy. The methods vary a lot, but most will try to help the patient realize things on their own (hence the mirroring) rather than "eureka, your problem is...".

I see a therapist - and this is at least what the setting is like:

She is soft voiced and calm. Has soft classical in the background and is personable without being my friend. She encourages me to go further with my thoughts but never pushes me. In my first appointment we set up ground rules. (No religion. I don't have, nor will I have children. etc.) And sometimes I bring those subjects up, and she just goes with it - which is incredibly respectful.

Of course if you're looking for a bitch of a therapist I can give you some examples there too!