Consortium for Defense Psychology

The portrayal of therapists in the media has always been fascinating to me. On one hand, I see it as a reflection of how well we, as behavioral health professionals, are (or aren't) marketing ourselves. When therapy is misunderstood or reduced to clichés, it signals that we still have work to do in advocating for our profession and communicating the true depth of what we offer. At the same time, media can be a surprising barometer for how far the field has come. I love when a character casually uses body-positive language, talks about self-compassion, or references exposure therapy—those buzzwords tell me that some writer probably had a good experience in the therapy room. It’s encouraging to see those moments woven into stories.

But then there’s the flip side- the absolute absurdity that Halloween can bring. This is the time of year when therapists in movies or shows become hilariously off-base: spooky, sinister, clueless, or completely terrifying. So in the spirit of spooky season, let's have a laugh, or a shiver, and take a look at four Halloween films and their portrayal of behavioral health providers. (And warning, there are spoilers included below!)

1. Casper (1995): The Ghost Therapist Who Got Too Close
Let’s kick things off with a beloved 90s Halloween classic: Casper. In this film, we meet Kat, a high school student whose mother has recently passed away. Her father, Dr. James Harvey, is a psychiatrist who—grief-stricken after his wife’s death—makes a rather dramatic pivot in his practice: he begins treating ghosts.

Dr. Harvey moves into a haunted mansion with his daughter and his new clients, the mischievous ghost trio: Stinky, Stretch, and Fatso. In the case of Dr. Harvey, there appear to be minimal boundaries. He dines with his ghostly patients. Lives with them, and even goes out drinking with spectors. Unsurprisingly, this all ends poorly; after a night of ghostly revelry, Dr. Harvey drunkenly stumbles into an open sewer hole and dies. Luckily, thanks to a resurrection machine, he’s brought back to life and reunited with Kat.

Whether or not he made therapeutic progress with his ghostly patients remains unclear—but he is rewarded with a fleeting, emotional visit from his deceased wife, who is now an angel.

2. Wednesday (2022): Therapy as Punishment?
Next up is the more recent TV show, Wednesday. After a particularly creative act of revenge involving a school bully and a pool full of piranhas, Wednesday Addams is expelled. The only school willing to accept her does so on one condition: she must attend therapy with Dr. Valerie Kinbott.

From their very first session, Dr. Kinbott and Wednesday are visually and emotionally at odds—Kinbott is dressed in pristine white, while Wednesday is, of course, clad in black. Rather than building rapport, their sessions become a battleground. Wednesday frequently escapes (or attempts to), and their interactions feel more like a power struggle than a therapeutic alliance. One exchange sums up their dynamic perfectly. When Dr. Kinbott encourages her to open up emotionally, Wednesday deadpans: “Emotions are a gateway trait. They lead to feelings, which lead to tears. I don’t do tears.”

Their relationship never evolves beyond this standoff. In a twist of dark irony, Wednesday later accuses Dr. Kinbott of being a werewolf—only for Kinbott to end up the victim of one herself.

3. Get Out (2017): The Therapist IS the Villian
In Get Out, the therapist, or psychiatrist in this case, is Missy Armitage, the mother of the protagonist's girlfriend—and she’s a chilling twist on therapy. Under the guise of offering help, she uses hypnosis not to heal, but to control, trapping her racially motivated victims in the terrifying "Sunken Place." Missy weaponizes therapeutic tools to strip people of their autonomy, turning the trust typically associated with mental health professionals into something sinister.

4. The Sixth Sense (1999): The Therapist Who Didn’t Know He Was Dead
Of course, no list would be complete without the ultimate spooky therapist: Dr. Malcolm Crowe from The Sixth Sense. This child psychologist dedicates himself to helping a troubled young boy, Cole, who claims to see dead people. Throughout the film, we watch Dr. Crowe try to determine whether Cole is experiencing severe mental illness or something more supernatural. In one of the most iconic plot twists in film history, we discover that Dr. Crowe is actually dead—and his patient Cole, has been helping him, Dr. Crowe, come to terms with his own death all along.

The opinions in CDP Staff Perspective blogs are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science or the Department of War.

Amanda McCabe, Psy.D., is a Military Mental Health Psychologist with the Consortium for Defense Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. In this capacity, she develops and presents trainings on a variety of evidence-based therapies. Prior to the CDP, Dr. McCabe served as a clinical psychologist in the Army from 2013 to 2024.

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PTSD is highly comorbid with substance use disorders. Intervening early is critical to preventing the onset or escalation of these conditions.

By Stefanie Araya 

As a social worker, I often use the phrase, “If you can name it, you can tame it.” I am a big proponent of clarity and clearly identifying both the behaviors we want to avoid and the behaviors we want to implement to promote wellness, and I have found that the three circles exercise does exactly that.

The three circles exercise was first introduced in Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA) as a recovery tool to define sobriety, identify boundaries, and promote recovery-oriented behaviors. While this worksheet was initially created for individuals experiencing sexual addiction, I have found in my work as a social worker that its principles translate well across many forms of addiction. 

It has proven to be a helpful tool for clients to clarify “bottom line behaviors” and identify ways to live a more meaningful and value-congruent life. 

Three Circles Exercise:

Outer Circle:
In the outer circle, clients identify the things that help them live a life that feels aligned with their values. It is a way for them to clearly outline what a life of recovery looks like for them. It may be spending time with family and friends, attending church, exercising, praying, listening to uplifting music, or meditation. The idea is for clients to list as many people, places, or things that uplift them and help them spark joy in their lives.

Middle Circle:
The middle circle are behaviors that lead to vulnerability. This may be people, places, or things that increase the likelihood of relapse but don’t necessarily cause relapse. This is essentially, a list of things that client’s need to have boundaries with. For some, it may be frequenting a specific restaurant, spending time with a person they use to drink with, social media, secret keeping, or isolating.

Inner Circle:
The inner circle is our abstinence list. This is the things that clients must stay away from to maintain sobriety. For some, this could be alcohol, prescription medications, pornography, bars, clubs, etc.

Putting it in Practice:
The three circles exercise can be a meaningful tool for clinicians to help clients clearly identify their recovery behaviors, boundaries, and what they are truly abstaining from. It allows us to name addiction and recovery with greater clarity, which can make the process of taming it feel more intentional and manageable.

The opinions in CDP Staff Perspective blogs are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science or the Department of War.

Stefanie Araya is a Licensed Independent Social Worker located in South Carolina and works as a Military Mental Health Social Worker at the Consortium for Defense Psychology (CDP). She is also a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist (CSAT) and a Certified Sex Offender Treatment Professional (CSOTP).

References:
Blevins, T. (2023, January 19). SAA three circles for addiction recovery. Oak Mountain Coaching
Miller, J. (2025). Recovery from sex and love addiction: An exploration of the lived experience of twelve-step affiliation in Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (Doctoral dissertation, Alliant International University). ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. https://www.proquest.com/openview/a4cd4bd0649cb1b34108e220825f59 1a/1