An old adage holds that every therapist needs a therapist. Sigmund Freud himself insisted that all psychoanalysts should submit to being analysed. Recent cinema has seized on this painfully unbreakable cycle, portraying therapists as deeply flawed individuals caught in their own downward spirals. In Mary Bronstein's hallucinatory film If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, Rose Byrne plays Linda, a therapist and struggling mother who unravels as she juggles her patients' needs and her own. Similarly, in the 2022 hit Smile, a psychiatrist played by Sosie Bacon is pursued by a malignant metaphor for her deteriorating mental health. These films mark a shift from the traditional role of therapists as supporting characters—as seen in Good Will Hunting (1997) or The Sopranos—to protagonists whose own traumas take center stage.
A New Wave of Unraveling Therapists
Within a month in UK cinemas, two more films feature therapists as leads. In Backrooms, Renate Reinsve portrays a once-composed psychiatrist and self-help author who lives alone and subsists on lackluster ready meals, only to descend into a nervous wreck navigating the uncanny corridors of her own mind. Meanwhile, Rebecca Zlotowski's A Private Life stars Jodie Foster as a Francophone shrink-turned-sleuth who investigates a former client's death, unaware that she is compensating for her own shortcomings as a spouse and parent.
Why Therapists Are Now Protagonists
The trigger behind this onscreen parade of ailing therapists is clear: more people are having therapy than ever before. A 2026 survey found that 37% of UK adults sought therapy, a 2% increase from the previous year. Once stigmatized, therapy is now branded “sexy.” The rise of therapy influencers on platforms like TikTok, known as “TherapyTok,” has brought professional jargon into mainstream culture. Podcasts such as Esther Perel's Where Should We Begin? and the true-crime therapy series The Shrink Next Door have further pushed the practice into the collective consciousness. Reality TV shows like Couples Therapy have also broken confidentiality norms, making therapy a central topic of discussion.
The Deteriorating Reputation of Therapists
Even therapy-speak has infiltrated cinema. Critic Billie Walker points to dubious use of psychological lingo in films like the Nicolas Cage vampire flick Renfield (2023), where the sidekick realizes he has an unhealthy co-dependent relationship with Dracula. Beyond such gimmicks, the cinematic reputation of therapists has been steadily declining. In Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island (2010), asylum staffers may be conspiring against the protagonist. Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley (2021) features Dr. Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett), a therapist who extorts and blackmails her clients. In Beau Is Afraid (2023), the protagonist's therapist is revealed to be one of his many nemeses.
Flawed Humans, Not Saints
This trope of the villainous therapist has evolved into more rounded portrayals. Filmmakers now recognize that therapists are not perfect, self-sacrificing figures like Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting, but flawed human beings. As Bronstein notes, therapists are not “perfect.” In If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, Linda is at the end of her tether caring for her daughter, unable to attend to her own needs, let alone those of her patients. Her own analyst, a vexed Conan O'Brien, also has his own life and defects, creating an infinite chain of frustrated therapists.
Horror as a Mirror for Mental Anguish
What these erring therapists share is that they exist in the realm of horror. The supernatural worlds in these films mirror the spiraling negative thought patterns of their protagonists. Whether it's a labyrinth of augmented memory in Backrooms, a magical asbestos-filled hole in the ceiling in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, a trauma-hungry demon in Smile, or a sinister hypnosis trip in A Private Life, the otherworldly elements enhance an atmosphere of claustrophobia, panic, and dread. While rare comedy equivalents exist, such as the TV show Shrinking, these fictional shrinks live in a landscape of terror.
Tapping into a Deeper Fear
More than the villainous therapist trope, these new portrayals tap into a greater fear: since all people are flawed and weighed down by personal baggage, how equipped can any therapist be to handle another person's issues? The real dread sets in when a previously self-possessed therapist loses their cool. With skepticism enduring about therapy as an infallible cure, it's unsurprising that such anxieties are projected onto the screen.
