Cameras flashed, reporters reported, crowds lined up all the way back to the lobby of the Waldorf in anticipation of the entrance of Lorraine Bracco, the beautiful actress nominated for Oscar and Golden Globe awards. With so much energy in the air, it might come as a surprise that the award ceremony we were witnessing was being held at the American Psychoanalytic Association's Fall Meeting.
Anybody who watches the Emmy-winning HBO series “The Sopranos” knows that psychoanalytic thinking continues to influence contemporary society and has been integrated into the very fabric of our culture. Could Freud have imagined a TV series as popular as “The Sopranos,” which seriously portrays psychoanalytically informed psychotherapy between an anxiety-ridden Mob boss and his psychiatrist? Sexuality, aggression, anxiety, dream analysis, mother-son relationships, early childhood memories, transference and countertransference are part of what makes “The Sopranos” a show that we analysts and our patients cannot seem to get enough of.
It is no wonder the Empire Room was packed late on that Saturday afternoon a few days before Christmas. There was a mixture of excitement, fun, and serious discussion about the important role therapy plays behind the scene and in front of the camera. We psychoanalysts, who have become used to being ignored or worse, were delighted to find the press amongst us. In her very positive article in the New York Times, “Therapists Go Crazy for One in Sopranos” (December 29, 2001), Sarah Boxer wrote, “It's a crazy circle. The psychoanalysts give awards to a fictional analyst and the writers who create her. Meanwhile the writers are consulting psychiatrists. … The psychiatrists occasionally turn to television for answers.”
Photo by Michael P. Ricrdan Celebrity Photos
I chaired and moderated the event. The first speaker was Glen Gabbard, who is currently writing a book on “The Sopranos.” He set the tone by showing video clips of the series. One of the scenes we viewed was a poignant therapy session in which Dr. Jennifer Melfi, after having been raped, works with her own therapist on a nightmare she had that was rich with imagery.
Sharon Zalusky, Ph.D., is in private practice in Los Angeles. She is on the faculty of the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute and Society.
Gabbard explained that one reason we love “The Sopranos” is that we are used to seeing our image distorted in film and on television. The series portrays, in a serious manner, a female psychiatrist doing her best with her most difficult patient, Mob boss Tony Soprano. She is dedicated to his treatment, but she sometimes begins to unravel from the stress of it all — as any of us can appreciate.
Instead of acting out, however, she does something we have never seen in the movies or on television. She gets help for herself so that she can continue to be effective with her patient. Gabbard, an expert on boundary violations, is impressed by her treatment of Tony's erotic transference. He noted, “She tiptoes along the brink of the abyss and never falls in.”
The Emmy-winning writers and executive producers of “The Sopranos,” Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess, were appreciative though surprised to have won an award both from the Western Regional Psychoanalytic Conference on Psychoanalysis' Influence on the Twentieth Century and from the American Psychoanalytic Association. Robin Green tried to downplay their empathic understanding of psychotherapy by reminding us, “We just make the stuff up.” However, as she elaborated, it is not all from the imagination. Almost every creative member of “The Sopranos” team has been in therapy and has benefited from it.
Ron Green, the psychiatric consultant to “The Sopranos” (and Robin Green's brother), is a serious academic. He is a professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth Medical School, where he directs the psychiatry residency. He told in a very humorous way how he consults and the pleasure he gets from being connected to the series.
The star of the evening was Bracco. When Robin Green told her that they were receiving an award from the American Psychoanalytic Association, Braceo responded, “What, are they crazy?” That remark seemed characteristic of the star's great sense of humor.
Braceo was warm, gracious, funny yet very serious about her role as Dr. Melfi and the role that psychotherapy has played in her real life. She talked openly about her own therapists and how they have served as inspirations for her portrayal of Melfi. She seemed at ease in engaging with the audience. At times she moved into character. She certainly could have been one of us.
We can be proud of the influence our field has had in shaping how people think about unconscious motivations. We need to show that our way of thinking has been so integrated into contemporary thought that it has been taken for granted. Evenings like this one prove that psychoanalysis is very much alive in popular culture.