TV episodes win for couching therapy in realism

By Karen S. Peterson

The psychiatrist in HBO's The Sopranos is slipping. The high school counselor in HBO's Six Feet Under is promising. But the official honors go to NBC's Law & Order and ABC's Once and Again for their portrayals of mental health professionals.

The American Psychological Association (APA) gave its annual media award Sunday to specific episodes of the two network shows, which included portrayals of anorexia and a teen school shooting. "People get their ideas about what therapy is like from television and the movies," says Baltimore psychologist Shirley Glass, co-chairman of APA's media watch committee. And the APA abhors portrayals of the incompetent, the unprincipled, the unethical and the sex-obsessed who get horizontal with clients.

[snip to O&A mention] Officials with both honored shows are pleased. Edward Zwick, executive producer of Once and Again, says he lets his work speak for itself, although "there is an agenda in what we do. And certainly the value of therapy and the need to talk openly about difficult topics is part of that agenda." The series won for two episodes involving treatment for anorexia. [rest of article snipped] __ USA Today (August 26, 2001)