Authentic therapy in the series "In Treatment"?

I know this TV series isn´t based on real cases but I read some articles written by T:s that it reflects real therapy in a good way. I think it´s very interesting to watch and that you can recognise yourself in several situations during the sessions.

But I think, at least in my country, most T:s had left their clients long time ago if they behaved like several of the clients do in the series. I´m only into season 1 at the moment and there have already been clients asking very personal questions about the T:s sex life, showing up very late and first and foremost the clients are often rude, demanding and keep telling the T (Dr Paul) that he doesn´t do his job very well.

Perhaps T:s in the US have this way of conducting work, I think he shows very good qualities as a T, that is being very patient and letting the client speak very freely of themselves.

What´s your opinion? Those of you who have seen this show.

Paula have not seen the show but it sounds like a made for Hollywood version. Mentioning a t's sex life is a quick way to get a rebuff or reality check in real life!
I hope you enjoy the show but it sounds like it is more entertainment and less informational?
Sometimes I wish Hollywood would leave some things as sacred. They won't! LOL

Haven't seen the show but those things you say don't say anything about the therapists, just his clients being difficult. How does he handle them? Also what kind of therapy he practices? Just expect Hollywood to be inaccurate or sensationalize things sometimes, like Ally McBeal and lawyers or ER and doctors. They take some truth, some falseness, and some half-truths and mix them all up.

The therapist who writes the Jung at Heart blog did a series on In Treatment.
In Treatment-1 | Jung At Heart

I LOVE the show. It's a shame it hasn't been popular here. That's why, I think, they made only three seasons.

It doesn't exactly reflect the full reality of how therapists here normally practice, but many of the dynamics in the show reflect some fundamental challenges of therapy, mainly, the transference-countertransference dance and how difficult, nearly impossible for a therapist to handle it the "right" way.

The therapist, Paul Weston, is a fascinating character because he is a depiction of how someone who is pretty messed up and who hadn't been able to work through his own issues can still be very helpful to some clients and quite harmful to others. He is depicted as a REAL human being with his best qualities and his human weaknesses and vulnerabilities, who, as a professional, can do some brillant as well as some horroble things. I love the show mainly because it doesn't portray a contrieved image of a therapist as he is "supposed" to be, but a real person as he is.

As far as the accuracy of therapy, it's an idealistic version of what a therapy should be like :-), but this idealism doesn't make it any worse. I think, the way how they presented therapy with the number of diverse clients, is pretty much a symbolic fantasy of many real therapy clients of how they wish their own therapy was :-)

I haven't seen the show, but I think it is really common for T's to deal with angry clients, I have a friend who is a T and she talks of dealing with angry clients (she never terminates them). Also I have sent my T an email and a text saying she is not doing her job well, and that I am thinking of quitting, I have had encouragement from her to come in and talk about it and that therapy involves dealing with anger. I know you didn't get that response from your T, which is hard to comprehend. I'm in Scotland.

Funny, I thought Paul was not very good as a T...
I'm from Europe, my T can deal with personal questions, clients talking openly/expressing her negative attitude towards him/the job he's doing and much more (stuff I don't want to go into here) without terminating the client

It's very condensed with people getting over things in 7 weeks but I would fully expect it to be. No one wants to watch a year of people not saying anything lol I have enjoyed watching it. He seems to push at people to get answers.

I agree that in the show, Paul is portrayed as very good and effective with some clients. With others he is pretty disastrous and even unethical. We actually watched a scene from that show in my ethics class, as an example of how he was giving mixed romantic/sexual signals to a client, something no T should ever do, obviously. It's hardly instructional material about how a T should act, and they pack in more drama than would happen in real life, but it does make for great viewing. I thought it was a really well done show.

What I have found interesting is that while I despised Paul - both as a therapist and as a character, I loved Gina. I would have made a big u-turn out of Paul's office probably two minutes after meeting him as a client.

Yes the sessions with Gina are about my favourite. I enjoyed s1 more when he started seeing Gina.

I really agree to this, I´ve thought for several times that if the main character was "Gina" instead it would have been an even more interesting series. I think she´s that kind of woman that you quite soon would see as a mother figure, I even see similarities between her and my former female T. That kind of caring and low toned voice. I would love have such a therapist.

If anyone just wants to watch one specific episode of this series I think it should be episode 40 on season 1. It´s a therapy session between Paul and Gina which includes much of therapeutic interpretations that´s very interesting to watch. It´s also an emotional episode when them discussing their private lives, a real "must see".

Nice to see that several people in here has followed my "story" around my termination, I really appreciate this. I just get the impression that in my country there aren´t that openness to critique and testing T:s as it seems to be in many other countries. Perhaps it´s just me having had bad experiences myself.

I was offered a session but it was too late unfortunately. My T had already showed her contempt, her not wanting me in therapy anymore so that session, if it was meant as a termination session I don´t know, I felt was just a way for her to ensure she followed the book, the rules.

I recall reading that there was a bit of talk of doing a season with Gina as the main character, but the idea didn't really go anywhere. I guess there wasn't enough interest in the show to do much more than they did.

I'll post some YouTube links that I posted in another thread about this show. The show is based on an Israeli series, BeTipul, which only ran for two seasons. The first season of the American version matches the original quite closely, but there are some changes that were made because of cultural differences. There is an Israeli-born therapist currently living and practicing in the States that goes over some of the differences between the original and the modified American series, and the cultural reasons for the differences. Interesting if you're really into the show.

Here's a five-minute clip of some examples of what he's talking about.

Here's a 80-minute-ish talk he did about it, in front of an audience.

Thanks for the links. I've watched the short one so far. Fascinating! I am a first generation immigrant living in the US, and being from another culture I love to observe and analyze cultural differences and how mindlessly we judge people from other cultures by our own cultural standards that we feel should be the only standards to live by. In this regard, this video is so telling! And since I am very much into the show, I will certainly watch the other one too.

I remember seeing this thread and thinking I probably wouldn't watch the show. I watched a few clips on YouTube over the holidays before I found season 1 online. I'm hooked. I had never been in therapy before and my T. has said that most people come in and talk, talk, talk. I'm very guarded and quiet. So, I thought it would be interesting to watch others in therapy even if it's just a show.

I have gotten mad at my T. many times and at one point she told my husband in a joint session that she can't do anything right. Ooops. I also really like watching Paul and Gina's sessions.

....I can definitely be that way, and I do ask sexual questions (not anymore, but I used to.) The show seems a fair representation.

May I ask what you used to ask your T. and did they respond?

Lol no she never responded (old t's who were interns used to answer sometimes) id ask when they lost their virginity, how often they had sex, if their partners penis was big or little, if they had **** sex etc. Current t would never ever entertain those kinds of questions though lol

I just saw this post. Read a few of the t's posts on IT. They are very good, thanks for finding this! You are the queen of the internet!