Two of my favorite things: Therapy and Comedy

Even before I decided to go to graduate school to become a psychologist, I loved Dr. Katz, the cartoon that was on Comedy Central till 1999. Recently, season one was released on DVD and Slate wrote an article about it,

" Its humor is relentlessly wry, droll, and self-conscious, and it grows out of mild domestic drama: playful living-room banter between a psychologist and his unemployed son, the son's inept flirting with his father's crabby secretary. In one episode, the son ruins his father's car by driving all day with the emergency brake on then justifies it by saying that everyone has a different sense of "emergency.""
That pretty good description of the show but another highlight are all of the patients that come to see Dr. Katz. They are comics and actors, like Mitch Hedburg, one of my favorite comics (up there with Dane Cook) His humor I think goes perfectly with the shows, its subtle and simple.


Doing therapy with patients, sometimes you really do want to laugh. Sometimes the person is trying to be funny, but more often than not they aren't. As much as I have learned to have unconditional regard and empathy for my clients and to help them express and explore their feelings, I have also learned the art of swallowing a yawn and suppressing a laugh. I even recovered quickly after my leg fell asleep and I almost collapsed to the ground when I got up to walk a patient out. Its all about the appearance of professionalism. Well that's at least one of the my priorities as a grad student and first time therapist.

So while stand up comedy and therapy may be two vastly different situations, I think when it comes down to it, both are places where the comic/client gets to say whatever they want, they get to be heard and appreciated and get feedback.
So why not combine the two in a cartoon? At least then you don't have to stifle the laughs!