Founder and CEO John McGeehan, LCSW was featured in a USA TODAY piece about how pop culture depicts mental health treatment on-screen, and how it affects the general public’s perception of therapy off-screen.
McGeehan starts by noting how therapy used to “look”: “The classic media picture of a therapy session involves two people sitting across from each other; the patient talking while the therapist sits quietly, listening and writing notes. Therapy today can look so many different ways.”
TV shows and movies often present absurd and unethical situations with mental health providers. In the new AppleTV+ show “Shrinking,” Jason Segel’s character is a therapist who, grieving the loss of his wife, starts to cross ethical lines. However in real life, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. “Licensed therapists are trained in a code of ethics and use that to navigate boundaries to avoid eroding trust,” explains McGeehan.
While the traditional “office” for therapy is changing with telemedicine and other therapeutic practices, sticking to those ethics sustains “the therapeutic relationship that has been built.”
Read the full USA Today piece here and to get in touch with an admissions specialist at The Dorm, visit our contact page.
