Frédéric Pierrot is Philippe Dayan and Mélanie Thierry is Ariane in the series -

Carole Bethuel

  • In therapy

    , French remake of the Israeli series

    BeTipul

    , was initiated by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache.

  • It stages the sessions, the day after the attacks of November 13, of a psychoanalyst who receives four days during a different patient, before Friday, to go himself to his therapist.

  • In therapy

    shows with great intelligence the unconscious emotional states that arise in the course of the analysis, namely the transference and the countertransference.

The shrinks are not machines and the excellent series

In therapy

broadcast since February 4 on Arte, shows it well.

It stages sessions in almost real time of a psychoanalyst, Philippe Dayan (Frédéric Pierrot), who sees one patient per day in his office in the 11th arrondissement of Paris before going himself to his controller Esther (Carole Bouquet ).

Throughout these 35 episodes, we see him struggle with his humanity made up of doubts and mixed feelings for some patients.

The human face gradually makes one forget the mask of the psychoanalyst to bring out the reality of the therapeutic process.

Obviously, the series takes some liberties with the reality of a real session to keep the viewer in suspense.

It is rare to see shrinks so interventionist in session or patients being so aggressive with their therapist.

Likewise, analysands rarely bring so much material to their analyst.

But

In therapy

has the merit of describing with great realism the emotional ping-pong that takes place between the patient and his therapist.

Because, what is played out within the framework of the treatment, it is always the "transfero-counter-transferal relation", namely the transference of the analysand and the countertransference of the analyst.

Learned terms to talk about the feelings that cross both the shrink and his patient.

"We necessarily experience things by listening to our patients"

The most spectacular transfer is obviously that of Ariane (Mélanie Thierry).

The young surgeon declares her love for Philippe Dayan after having experienced the attack at Bataclan.

"Transference is a process, in principle unconscious, during which feelings or desires are projected onto the therapist," explains Françoise Hirsch, clinical psychologist, co-founder of HirschBarfety Conseil, a consulting agency in character psychology.

In the analytical work, feelings, desires or emotions are projected onto the analyst, a staging of previous undeniable suffering.

Installed in the place of people who have counted in our life, it causes this so-called transference love.

"

Ariadne's case highlights the central role of the analyst in the life of a patient.

She is caught up in a dependency on Philippe Dayan who lets himself be overtaken.

Caught in his own story which resonates in the relationship with Ariadne, he resists Esther's analysis.

“The countertransference is the way of responding to the patient's transference, insists Corinne Ehrenberg, psychoanalyst.

We do not respond to "the" transfer, but we respond to "the" transfer.

We necessarily experience things by listening to our patients, it being up to us to do something for the good of the treatment and the analytical process ”.

All the affective reactions of the analyst towards his patient come under this phenomenon.

It is not limited to romantic feelings.

Far from there.

It can take various forms, such as boredom, drowsiness, annoyance, dedication… We see it also appear in most of Philippe Dayan's sessions.

He arises through his uncontrollable annoyance for the couple formed by Damien (Pio Marmaï) and Léonora (Clémence Poésy), through his confusion at the indiscretions of the BRI policeman Adel Chibane (Reda Kateb) and, obviously through his attraction to Ariane.

Credible control sessions

“It happens that the shrink falls asleep or loses the thread”, describes Françoise Hirsch.

It is up to the therapist to analyze this sensation: what makes the shrink bored;

why is the patient trying to annoy him?

Philippe Dayan, on the contrary, remains stuck to what Ariane tells him.

"She is pretty, intelligent and, at one point, he is completely overwhelmed by her emotions", notes the clinical psychologist.

Worse, he comes out of his role by sitting on the couch next to her (and more if affinities).

However, he had a good reflex when he returned to see his controller.

"Esther tries to help Philippe Dayan to decode his responses to Ariadne's transference and to understand the affects which circulate between him and his patient", specifies François Hirsch.

But for Corinne Ehrenberg, the control sessions are not very credible.

“The authors have complicated the matter.

Not only was her supervisor a friend of hers, she was married to both of their master, she notes.

They are like brothers and sisters except that she was in a relationship with her father, if we make of the master a kind of representation of the paternal image.

".

Originally, the controller rather concerned psychoanalysts in training.

They follow supervision sessions in parallel to their practice but thereafter, there is no longer any obligation.

“It is not uncommon that after thirty years of practice, we call a friend to talk about a case that puts us in difficulty,” says Corinne Ehrenberg.

It is very important to hear yourself speak in order to work out what you feel in your work as an analyst ”.

But it happens that the therapist is overwhelmed by his emotions, positive as well as negative, like Philippe Dayan.

A transgression

“I find it difficult to work with certain patients,” recognizes Françoise Hirsch.

Rather than having a countertransference that will complicate the relationship, it is better to refer the patient to someone else ”.

It is also a track envisaged by Philippe Dayan which again ended in failure.

For Françoise Hirsch, “the meeting in reality cannot take place.

Something is pitching for each of them precisely because it is not a feeling of real love ”.

By forcing the line, we could speak of incestuous feelings.

In a transfer, the patient generally projects on his shrink one of the two parental figures.

Ariane is in an extremely fragile situation and re-enacts, in an unconscious repetition, events of the past.

In a caricature, one could say that Philippe Dayan takes the role of the father and, by considering responding favorably to Ariane's proposal, he crosses a limit.

"It is a transgression, one could say an abuse of transfer", admits Corinne Ehrenberg.

Finally,

In therapy

is almost a practical case of all the mistakes to avoid in analysis.

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