Thursday, October 28, 2010

In Treatment: Adele



Week 1: Sunil - Frances - Jesse - Adele
Week 2: Sunil - Frances - Jesse/Adele
Week 3: Sunil - Frances - Jesse - Adele

Week 4: Sunil - Frances - Jesse - Adele
Week 5: Sunil - Frances - Jesse - Adele

Paul goes to a new psychiatrist because he wants a prescription for Ambien. He ran out three days ago and it's 5PM on Friday and he can't wait until Monday when he's scheduled to see a neurologist. The new shrink, we learn from her diploma on the wall, has an M.D., a Ph.D. and she's a psychoanalyst. By my count, that makes her about 80, but Paul is quick to repeatedly comment on how young she is. "I'm sure whatever grade you're in, you've learned to write."

Paul wants a script, that's it. And he came to a psychoanalyst for it? He's hostile, irritable, angry, and condescending. He gets annoyed when she asks him what dose. He's kept awake by a dream, but he's been analyzed by Gina and he knows what everything is about and he won't tell her the dream, only that it relates to his patients, his frustration with his work (...being with a patient is like being two mice trapped in a glue trap), and his certainty that he has Parkinson's Disease. Oh, but when you hear how he takes extra Ambien in the middle of the night, it's kind of got me wondering if he hasn't misdiagnosed himself and isn't in withdrawal during the day, ...but I suppose we'll find that out next week. My guess is that Paul's tremor is psychogenic...but again. Oh, yes, ClinkShrink reminds me he is a TV character and not a real person.

Gina, his old analyst whom he used to fight with miserably, has written a novel and Paul has brought it with him. Got it in a book store on the way to the appointment and he wishes he'd asked for a bag. He gets defensive when Adele questions his treatment with Gina: she was your teacher, your supervisor, your analyst, and your couples therapist? He is offended, after all what does this newbie pipsqueak know? Adele apologizes. Twice. And she's extremely tolerant of Paul's patronizing and demanding demeanor regarding the Ambien prescription. He's clearly not a patient, not interested in being evaluated or getting treatment recommendations (ah, he knows it all, there's nothing anyone can offer)...he's here to purchase a prescription and he's not even going to play the game of being polite.

Paul predictably softens as the episode goes on and talks a little about himself. Adele ends the session by telling him the door is always open to him -- something Gina said she 'should' say but wouldn't. He comments on what a difficult patient he is and Adele says she hadn't notices, but alas, Adele is lying.

4 comments:

Sarebear said...

Adele sucks; starting a therapeutic relationship with a lie, one of the worst things you can do, but hell, the whole thing is full of flaws. Other than that it sounds like she "handled" him ok, sort of, unless he walked out of there with a script, which it sort of sounds like he did . . .

Anonymous said...

Okay, Dinah. So even though you know, and I know, and ClinkShrink knows that Paul is a TV character, I can't help but thinking that Paul's insomnia is really way more than due to a bad dream. Let us ponder this (shall we?): Gina mentioned to Paul that Paul's mother had bipolar disorder. She hanged herself at Christmas time when Paul was a teen! Should't Adele have asked Paul about a family hx of mental illness? Granted, he admitted to being 57 years of age and this couldn't be a late onset mood disorder--but he did say that he's ALWAYS had trouble sleeping.

These are just my thoughts on the new season. My own prescription bottle of Ambien has probably expired by now (the pills, not the Rx) but a mere phone call to my shrink could get me more. Oh, and did Paul say he used to live in Baltimore or Philly?

tracy said...

Just wondering why you're writing about a tv show...that's all..........bang!

Roy said...

I have no idea. Talk to Dinah.