After watching the O.C this week, the topic was formed in my mind.

Ryan Atwood could use some form of therapy to deal with his anger issues, as well as the Trey matter, and why he feels so compelled to protect Marissa.

Marissa is also in need of therapy. I know she saw someone in S1, but she should go back to deal with her rape issues, as well as her father issues (Jimmy).

Other shows:

Jack Bauer has needed therapy from Day One. In fact, I'm surprised no one suggested it to him. His dead wife, traitorous ex, drug issues, responsibility for Paul's death, etc...

Bree Van de Kamp did go to therapy, but she will need more now that Dr. Goldfine is dead. Once she finds out about George, she will be devastated. Add the fact that her son and daughter seem to hate her, and yeah. She needs it.

And possibly a lot of the characters in amine, when you really think about it.

Anyone else?

Excellent thread!

Mr. Brady needed therapy once he finally realized having six kids didn't mean he wasn't gay.

Dan Conner needed therapy just because he was married to Roseanne. And I loved Roseanne.

Mr. and Mrs. Keaton could have used some time on the couch, simply to let them know the kids did NOT need to rule the roost. They were the parents.

Susan from Desperate Housewives for SURE. She's entirely too neurotic.

Ironically, the Crane Brothers from Fraiser. They seem to have worse issues that the people they treat. There's that Cane and Abel dynamic goin' on there.

The Barone Family from Everybody Loves Raymond, particularly Marie and Ray. There's some Oepidal shit happening there, mostly from the mother's side. And Debra needs it the most, too, seeing that she has to deal with the whole lot of them. Also, marriage counseling for her and Ray. Hell, and Robert needs to deal with inadequacy issues. (So much for "particularly")

Every character on every soap opera. With people coming back from the dead, lovers turning out to be relations, druggings-to-be-lured-into-bed-to-be-trapped-into-a-pregnancy, and sperm stealing *coughAshleyfromY&Rcough* its a pretty obvious choice.



I concur!

I think that Peggy from King Of The Hill definitely needs therapy but her know-it-all nature ( the reason she needs help ) is such that she'd never seek it -- and even if she did wind up seeing a thrapist to correct her obnoxiuos behavior ... it wouldn't take.

I know that nominating animated characters muddies the water a bit but King Of The Hill is the one cartoon show that could most likely be done live-action with the least changes to the show.

Every single person on Lost. They're all a bunch of loons. A bunch of hot loons. But loons nonetheless.

Sam and Dean from Supernatural probably need some therapy too. Between their mother's horrendous death, their abandonment issues with their father, and every supernatural thing that they see on a day-to-day basis, the poor guys could definitely log some time on a therapist's couch.

I second Peggy. And I'll add Dale for his paranoia and Bill for his low-self esteem. Boomhaur seems to have his head scewed on straight.

And her on-and-off alcohol issues, her flirtation with kleptomania, her penchant for being a drama queen victim over and over, and her sudden and disturbing aversion to wearing a much-needed bra...



So very true. Like so many other deluded, arrogant people (both TV characters and real life) she's so convinced that the problem always lies with others that therapy would be a complete waste of time. It must be nice to be that blissfully oblivious, though it's hell for the people around you!

I adore Pam from The Office, but she could definitely benefit from some therapy to explore why she's remaining in an endlessly long engagement with a semi-jerk guy who she's so clearly meh about while continuing to unsuccessfully deny her feelings for Jim.

Virtually everyone on Arrested Development is in desperate need of therapy, though they're probably all too narcissistic and deluded for it to be effective! The comparatively sane Michael, however, might be helped in figuring out why he has such a need to be the hero and saviour of his crazy family. And, while we're at it, cousins Maeby and George Michael could get some much-needed couples counseling to explore their forbidden relationship!

Oh, and my beloved Dr. Cox on Scrubs needs therapy because he's just insanely screwed-up and in a verbally abusive mess of a marriage...though that's part of what makes him such a delight to watch.

E.R.'s Robert Romano was screaming out for therapy after the initial helicopter accident.

Jack Bristow - paranoia, repressed emotions, occasional psychosis, probable Antisocial Personality Disorder.

Arvin Sloane - loss issues, occasional leanings towards supervillainy.

Kim Bauer - can therapy correct stupidity?

Reverend Camden - subconscious, pedophilic attraction to several of the children in his care.

Ooh, good one! He must read the "Pa Simpson Handbook." Or else Pa Simpson models himelf after Reverend Camden.

Grace on Will and Grace. Shockingly needly, co-dependent, demanding and high-strung. Also, she seems to obsessively induldge in food (even though she remains rail-thin). Good candidate for an eating disorder, certainly.

Buffy, especially from season six and on. She's depressed, arguably suicidal, apathetic towards pretty much everything and she's definately got a martyr complex.

Titus Pullo from Rome. He's got this teeny little rage problem, that sometimes causes him to violently kill people... Maybe he could use some help.

Meg Griffin from Family Guy. Maybe they could get to the root of her problems. Or at least shed light on why she sucks so much.

Christian Troy from Nip/Tuck fame, he was molested as a child, raped as an adult, rejected by his mother, son of a rapist, sex addict, etc. This guy needs help stat.

Bill O'Reilly: he's got some daddy issues.

Most of the muppets could benefit from some sort of counseling. The Cookie Monster for his oral fixation and Oscar for dealing with his anger issues.

And all of the characters in Winnie The Pooh. I often wonder if they're not simply manifestations of Christopher Robin's psychological disorders: Pooh has no impulse control, Rabbit has anger issues, Eeyore is depressed, Piglet could be medicated for his anxiety, and Tigger is seriously hyperactive. It's a wonder that there's not little chewable Ritaliln shaped like Tigger. Seriously.

The entire Gilmore family from Gilmore Girls. There's so much passive-aggressive behavior and inability for any of them to deal with any sort of conflict directly, it's disturbing. Lots of family therapy required for that bunch.

Every single character on Veronica Mars. Except maybe Deputy Sachs - and, actually, him too. There's got to be something wrong with him that made him think that mustache was a good idea.

Kirk from Gilmore Girls - He has some serious mommy issues

Willow from Buffy - Saw her girlfriend die then tried to destroy the world. A little time on the couch might be beneficial, dont you think?

Julie from Desperate Housewives - Although she is ok now, I imagine someday she is going to realize she had to parent her mother during her formitive years and is going to resent the hell out of it.

Luka from ER - I dont think he has ever dealt with the death of his wife and children, he drinks to excess and drives and he bounces from woman to woman without stopping to take a breath.

Masochistically watching reruns of Judging Amy this past week has reminded me how much each and every single one of the main characters needed major, long-term therapy. No, not the two to three sessions we saw some of them get over the years--continuous couch time. Amy herself impressed me as the most screwed up, with her control issues, egocentricity, love for codependent relationships and total social retardation. I did the living-at-home-as-an-adult thing, too, but not for six years. It doesn't make me or most people who must do it from time to time total losers in the game of life, but it isn't always a sign of mental health, either, and in the case of Amy Grey? It was obviously indicative of pathology. I can't believe that series was ever supposed to be entertaining.

Niki Parker from The Parkers. Her need to stalk Professor Olgelvee even though he refused her advances many times is borderline psychotic.

I hate mentioning a soap in this thread, considering that most of the characters on them could probably be diagnosed with many, many disturbing psychological conditions, but seriously? Sami Brady on Days? Needs close attention from a mental health professional for the rest of her life. A craven manipulator of the first order, the issues surrounding her remorseless, outright usage of absolutely every person around her are probably bottomless. Screw therapy; institutionalization would be more appropriate.

GOB Bluth from Arrested Develpment. The way his character evolved, he went from being a smooth, albeit slightly goofy, magician/prostitute-at-sea to reverting to a child that desperately needs love yet can't give it himself. In the process, he's lost his skeevy charm (in the world of the show... in reality, his character is even greater now because of it).

I know Gilmore Girls was mentioned but I thought I would specify who really needs couch time.

Lorelai Gilmore: She has an obsessive controlling mother (Emily) who needs to control and manipulate her daughter into having a relationship with her. Her father (Richard) is also controling, manipulative, distant and never satisfied with her actions. Her daughter's father (Christopher) consistantly comes back into her life to try to breathe life back into a dead relationship. A relationship that she had in Season 2 where she put an end to it, but he still comes back just so he can make her life harder, beg for forgiveness, act like an ass, blame her for most of his failures, only to leave all over again.

Emily and Richard Gilmore for reasons stated above and because they are the most narssicstic, selfishly absorbed people on the planet.

I second whoever said Buffy needed a shrink, a sixteen year old shouldn't have to save the world on a daily basis...that's not a mentally healthy situation right there.

And the entire cast of Lost...Castaway syndrome anyone? And they don't even have Wilson to keep them semi-sane.

What? No Dr. House? Like Cuddy once said the hospital would hold a bake sale if he agreed to therapy.

Yes, and preferably a counselor with some minimal legal knowledge, who can inform them that cousins can marry in California, as in most of the world, so their love isn't forbidden after all, and they can just go for it.

I was wondering when someone would mention him. I'd feel bad for the therapist though!

I agree with all of the above, but Lorelai isn't just a victim. She also totally obliterated a relationship with Max, and instead of being upfront with him about it, she somewhat blew him off and ran off on a road trip with her daughter. She was so afraid of being like her own mother that she went to the opposite end of the spectrum of child-raising and decided to be more of her daughter's BFF than a mother (which is just as bad, IMO, and is a big reason why Rory is a bit of a whiny ass now and rarely seems to actually respect her mother). And, although she seems to be getting better, her inability to communicate in anything less than pop-cultured filled diatribes that rarely specify what she's really feeling with her fiancee is somewhat ridiculous.

Oh, I so agree about Lorelai.

Come to think of it, poor Max migh do with some therapy too, after she ran off and left him at the alter without a single word of explanation or apology.

I really felt that most of SFU's cast could have also benefitted from psychotherapy for...the rest of their lives. It bugged the crap out of me that the intermittent counseling sessions we saw them get from time to time never seemed to feature the counselers getting to the point (well, aside from Brenda's first therapist, maybe) and we never saw the counseling get through to any of the characters.

Nate: I can't really choose just one issue, but if I had to--morbid, paralyzing fear of not just death, but aging, or dealing with any form of responsibility, commitment, or permanence. Brenda: I think Joe said it best when he declared that Brenda's real addiction was betrayal--something that resulted from her own self-hatred and subsequent inability to believe she deserved or could handle any relationship that was normal, healthy or satisfying. (And don't even get me started on the other Chenowiths.) Ruth: So obsessed with control and fears of being alone that she actively tried to keep her kids (who played along) from ever maturing and leaving her. David and Keith: Both struggling to be truly comfortable with their sexuality and its place in their professional, personal and familial worlds, a problem that kept them from resolving their subsequent problems with control and anger. Claire: I thought Claire's biggest problem was a crippling fear of abandonment, one extreme enough that it was preventing her from developing meaningful relationships of any variety, or living life (and made worse by a couple of stunning betrayals by her partners and friends which it seemed to me she had almost set herself up to endure, through the same kind of self-sabotage Brenda was prone to).

Yes, I understand that the finale appeared to suggest that many of the characters eventually overcame their disorders, but--I saw room to argue otherwise and even if they eventually recovered, that process could have been rapidly accelerated if they'd started the theraputic process before, you know, getting too far into the realm of adulthood. And because none of them truly got any form of the help they needed before that point, much of the focus of that series to me was about how severely they fucked up their lives and the lives of others because they'd neglected to fix their broken psyches. Some people view SFU as a tragicomedy. I think it's just a tragedy.

Hell, I'd be his therapist for free! :)

Word to the nominations of Buffy and the characters from Lost.

I'd like to re-nominate Christian Troy because it needs to be said more than once. He was beaten and molested as a foster child which he didn't admit to until he was about 40. He became a sexual addict. His throat was slashed and he was raped as an adult by the Carver. He was falsely arrested and accused of being the Carver himself. While in jail, he found out his birth mother (whom he believed was dead) was actully alive and that he had been the child of rape (from a vicious attacker who liked to cut off pieces of his victims of keepsakes). His mother had been only 14 at the time.

I'd also like to nominate Sean McNamara and his ex-wife Julia as well as Matt McNamara. They are all in desperate need of individual therapy. Sean is a borderline or functioning alcoholic who just last week was willing to join the witness protection program and never see his 10 year old daughter again. Matt is viscious and emotionally manipulative. He brutally beat up a transexual and had absolutely no remorse. In fact, the incident seemed top pump him up. Julia needs therapy because as much as she bitches about putting her life on hold because of Sean, she keeps him in her orbit by choosing somebody he works closely with to be her new lover. She claims he gave up her dreams for their family. Yet, she was the one who tricked him into marriage by claiming that she was pregnant with his child even though she knew there was a good possibility that the child wasn't his. The child in fact turned out to be Christian's. She didn't tell him this until Matt was 16. She's still trying to play the victim and she's just as much a willing villian as everybody else.

Finally, Anne McNamara needs therapy because there's no way she can turn out normal with a family like this. They might as well save the time and just get the professionals now.

Every single one of the Camdens on "Seventh Heaven." It shouldn't be true that the family that spys on each other, stays together.

Especially, Ruthie for her complete fixation on guys, to the exclusion of having no other interest. And speech therapy for the twins.

Also the Luthor family of "Smallville." Definite Narcissistic Personality Disorder for
Lionel.

I would select the entire town of Arlen, Texas for intensive psychotherapy. We got daddy issues [Hank, who passed them down to Bobby] self-esteem issues [Bobby, Bill] paranoia [Dale] anxiety [Peggy] and just being a rotten little bastard [Cotton]. I think University of Texas's psych department could write dozens of theses off the town.

Phoebe Halliwell from Charmed could definitely use a little therapy. She married her "soul mate" only to have him become the Source of all evil and she had to kill him. She got pregnant and "lost" the baby (even though it was evil...she was still happy until she found that out). She is alternately obsessed with getting pregnant and finding true love again...most of the time exclusive of one another.

Edith Bunker.

The entire Foreman family from That 70's Show. Especially Eric. Red is by far the worse, but Eric needs to be intercepted before he grows a pair and comes back with a chainsaw on Father's Day. Kitty has Edith Syndrome.

Dana Scully for being in denial long after seeing enough weirdness for herself that she should have had a more open mind. Fox Mulder for so many reasons... I've often wondered if how he get past the FBI's psych screening wasn't an X-file, itself.

Colonel Tigh from Battlestar Galactica, for alcoholism and Mrs. Tigh. A lot of others on that show, too, but the Tighs you can't even write off to PTSS or Cylons living in your brain.

If Phoebe could use some therapy, I think it's safe to say that Piper Halliwell could use some too. In her life, she's had her mother die, her father abandon the family on her birthday, found out she was a witch, her boyfriend of six months was a warlock hell-bent on killing her, her Grandmother died, her sister died, her husband left her, her future son died, and... well, those who have seen the previews for next week's Charmed will know that the therapy-inducing incidents are far from over.

I would think all of the above would be the result of the enviroment she lived in and I do agree that she should have gotten better at it as she got older but I give her a lot of slack so I don't know if my opinion counts for much. I agree that she does have many issues with communication but I think she does better than the rest of her family.
'Cause Emily? Severe issues. Mommy Dearest has nothing on Emily.

It was shown in the 3rd season that she did tell him before the wedding but she didn't really give a good explanation to him, I think.

Please don't think I'm like bashing or anything but I did wanted to point out that. :)

ETA: I wanted to add that Rory needs some serious therapy. Which according to spoilers she will be getting some soon. Rory on the couch...hopefully ASP will make it interesting unlike the April plothole.

Wait a minute. You mean that's not normal?

A couple of cartoon characters:
Eeyore, for his depression.
Moe Szyslak, for his failures in the span of two years (or however much time has actually passed on The Simpsons)
Rogue, for the abadonment issues mixed with being forced to seclude herself

Kim Bauer needs some therapy. She was probably already screwed up enough at the beginning of Day 1, but the fact that she continued to hang around with her kidnapper and treated the day like it was any other was kind of dumb.

And then the cougar thing ... the viewing public needed therapy following that

Ok, here's my list:

Lisa Simpson for having to suffer though being smart and invisible in a family of attenstion grabbers.

Apu N. (yeah, I'm not gonna try to spell it...) to deal with the emotions from an arranged marriage that resulted in octuplets.

Nellie Olsen for her control issues.

Rhoda Morgenstern to help sort out the issues involved with an over-controlling Jewish mother and poor self-image issues.

Jan Brady for her poor self image.

Blanche Deveroux sexual addiction and daddy issues.

Danny Tanner Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Anna Nicole Smith for... everything!

I'd nominate Gaius Baltar from Galactica, except I think that for even the best therapist there are some waters too deep to wade.

However I'm quite happy to nominate Lee Adama. Boy has daddy issues (quite rightly). Of course in reality everybody in the entire fleet could probably do with a shrink.

I'd like to elaborate on Sean. All we know about his family is that his father left when he was young, but somehow I feel that his mom didn't hold up her end of the good parenting deal either, since he never mentions her. Sean has very little self-awareness- one example, he said during his first season affair that he doesn't want to be like his dad and leave his family, but he was all too ready to join the WPP.
He also felt the need to mistakenly confess an affair to his 16 yr son before telling his wife- bad idea.
The guy has severely repressed emotions and anger issues that have come to fore since he's been shown drinking more. He was an overachiever in college and med school which has led to a superiority complex, but he's also been shown to have low self-esteem. He's got a hero complex and needs to be needed by a woman who is weaker than him- Julia (his unhappy housewife), Megan (cancer patient mistress), Kimber (unstable porn star), Nikki (single mom in Witness Protection).
I guess we can extend the hero complex to his relationship with Christian too.
I think Sean used to live vicariously through Christian's hedonistic lifestyle, but never passed up the chance to claim the moral high ground. But of course he would help dispose of a body or otherwise shed his ethics whenever Christian needed rescuing. Not to mention the underlying hoyay of the neverending Christian/Julia/Sean triangle.

Well, to play devil's advocate, the same could be said about Emily. There hasn't been much referenced about her mother, I don't think, but I am sure Emily didn't become the vapid, controlling, yet rather pathetic mother from birth. And based on what I remember of Richard's mom, she wasn't much better. I guess my perspective is at some point, the whole "result of the environment" is a cop-out. I agree that Lorelai is better at communication than Emily, but that's not saying much, IMO.

I think Gaius is beyond help at this point. But Lee needs help before he goes off the deep end and according to spoilers Lee will get shot, lost in space, want to die, find a past lover and possibly a daughter and hook up with many people along the way and his family has died except for his dad, with who he has issues, and his surrogate mother, Roslin, is dying and he is under extreme stress from being the CAG and fighting the cylons at every turn and he saw his dad get shot. Guy needs therapy. Plus he gets beat up nearly every week. I read he spends more time in the makeup chair than the majority of the girls because of that.

Yes, I totally agree that the 'result of the enviroment' is a cop-out. I think the enviroment plays a part in how we make our decsions but I think it mainly comes down to our choices. I didn't mean it to sound like Lorelai had no choice since she was raised that way but I do think it played into it, along with everything else. And I also agree that Emily didn't pop out that way so yes the same thing goes for her and Richard but I'm harder on Emily and Richard because they just never get it at least Lorelai tries. But again I give a lot of slack to Lorelai. :)

Nice thread!
I was hoping to elaborate on Christian Troy and Sean McNamara's issues, but y'all have been very thorough.

So how about Cheif O'Brien from ST: DS9? I think he's been tortured more than anyone else in Starfleet, plus his Hoyaytastic relationship with Dr. Bashir deserves further exploration: He loves his wife, but "likes Julian more." Hee.

Julian (my TV boyfriend during my teenage years) could benefit from some therapy too. Genetically engineered as a child, resulting in raging insecurity and self esteem issues; continues to obsess about only graduating second in his class because of the post/preganglionic question, held captive on Dominion prison asteroid for a month while replaced by a changeling, left longterm girlfriend behind on Earth in favor of his Starfleet career, put into a telepathic coma where he experienced rapid aging, Section 31's attempts to recruit him (abducted on the way to a medical conference and tested with a holographic simulation), sent back in time to a crappy part of Earth's 21st century, and of course; he should examine how he really feels about his buddy "plain, simple Garak." I'd think of more, but I'm too tired.

Now that I think about it, pretty much everyone on that show needed therapy. ;)

Add to Dr. Bashir's case history his long, hopeless, unrequited love for Jadzia Dax, a few short-term doomed relationships, and then, after Jadzia's death, the new 'host', Ezri, tells him "If it hadn't been Worf, it would have been you, Julian". I know he and Ezri get together by the end, but isn't that just a little too...? I mean, Freud would have had a field day with that relationship.

I can think of someone who could really use a good therapist. She is obviously desperate for approval from the strong male in her life and gets all her feelings of self-worth from him. My nomination: Robin McGraw.