by
Maud Delahaye
Clinical psychologist; PhD student at ED-450, Teaching and Research Fellow Psychoanalytic Studies, IHSS, Université Paris Cité, CRPMS Laboratory, Paris, France
and
Elise Pestre
Psychoanalyst; Clinical psychologist ; Professor
Psychoanalytic Studies, IHSS, Université Paris Cité, CRPMS Laboratory, Paris, France
Abstract:
The success in France of the television series En thérapie directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano – and inspired by the Israeli series BeTipul and its American incarnation In Treatment – is striking. Unlike much contemporary television it stands out for a number of reasons: its apparently slow pace, its depiction of what is not usually shown on screen, and its presentation of the analytical process. Here, we will look at the place of the psychoanalyst in contemporary society and analyse the narrative-of-the-self on screen. This article will decipher the enthusiasm of viewers and examines how the psychoanalytic process is ‘told’ and put into images. The television series is envisioned as a transitional space reflecting the ‘[contemporary] malaise in culture’, while showing what is invisible and ineffable in the analytical process.
Keywords:
image; unconscious; psychoanalysis; spectacle; scopic drive
To cite as: Delahaye, M. and Pestre, E. (2026), “En thérapie: What We Can Learn from a Television Adaptation Depicting a Contemporary Psychoanalytic Practice, and How This Relates to Today’s ‘Malaise In Culture’,” PsyArt 30, pp.1-28.