In Treatment

Any HBO show fans out there?

Having been devoted fans to multiple HBO TV shows (i.e. Entourage, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, John from Cincinatti, Sex in the City, etc.), a new show has emerged that has caught my attention: In Treatment.

In Treatment is pretty much what it sounds like, a show about patients coming to a pshyciatrist's office, Paul's office. Each episode is a half of an hour long, and the whole episode is just the session between the patient and the psychiatrist, Paul. He has four sessions with a beautiful woman who wants to have an affair with him, a pilot who murdered children in Iraq and fails to suffer guilt, an Olympic hopeful gymnast who got into an accident, and a couple who, after trying to get pregnant, finally succeeded and are torn whether to have it or not. Honestly, each of the sessions are intriguing to me in one way or another. Each case is so unique to today's problems that I find them interesting.



I love to psychoanalyze or try to help people with theiir problems, so seeing how psychiatrist's craft their responses and questions is fascinating to me. I like to hear people's problems so I could see how I would try to help this person. The dialogue is written so well too, it all seems so natural. At one point in my life, I did want to be a pscyhiatrist, so this is highly appealing to me. It's showing me how draining the job can be though, so maybe I made the right decision.

I like that it deals with the sexual tension between patient and psychiatrist. I understand why it's a policy to avoid that relationship, but it must be inevitable. Attraction is inevitable in any situation, especially when you pour your heart out to a person. I wonder how common it actually is. Does anyone know a statistic?

Other issues are obviously intriguing. Post-stress from Iraq. The stresses put on young, teenage girls to be perfect and thin (especially with gymnasts). Pressures during marriage. Childbirth. Etc. I am fascinated with seeing how people go through tough experiences. We can learn so much through our own and other's experiences, even if it is fictional. It's probably based on someone's experience somewhere, or it's interesting to see their reaction to true experiences that are common in our society. Yadda yadda.

Anyway, if you're looking for a good show, watch In Treatment on HBO. If you have HBO On Demand, all of the episodes are there. It's interesting--take my word for it.

If you have seen an episode or more, what do you think? Opinions? Personally, I can't stop watching it myself, but that's just me...