Therapy Voyeurism Really Might Be Doing Some Good

I watched the entirety of Couples Therapy from my childhood bedroom while visiting my parents in July. It was as apt a time and place as any for entertaining some heavy psychoanalytic ideas that would, no doubt, cause me to reflect on my life. The Showtime docuseries follows Orna Guralnik, a real-life psychologist in New York, as she works with couples over the course of several months. Deep into the second season, Guralnik challenges one woman to consider that the bursts of anger she feels toward her husband aren’t actually about him, but are instead motivated by anxiety inherited from a demanding mother who considered herself a failure. “Anxiety tells you something about your parents’ unhappiness, and your being recruited to do something about it,” Guralnik tells the woman.

At this point, I had to close my laptop and stare at the wall for a few minutes. Had I been running emotional errands for the two people down the hall without realizing?