There’s an old saying that “every therapist needs a therapist.” Even back when therapy was just starting out, Sigmund Freud said all psychoanalysts should “submit” to being analyzed themselves. Recent movies have really picked up on this painfully endless cycle. In films like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Mary Bronstein’s dreamlike movie starring Rose Byrne as a therapist and struggling mother caught in a downward spiral, or 2022’s Smile, where a psychiatrist (Sosie Bacon) is chased by a dark metaphor for her own mental health issues, therapists are just as vulnerable to their traumas as anyone else.
Instead of being stuck in supporting roles, like they were for years in everything from Good Will Hunting (1997) to The Sopranos, film is finally giving therapists their turn on the couch. Within just a month in UK cinemas, two more therapists are taking center stage. In Backrooms, Renate Reinsve completely falls apart—going from a stable, calm psychiatrist and self-help author (though she lives alone and survives on bland ready meals) to a nervous wreck trying to find her way through the strange corridors of her own mind. Meanwhile, in Rebecca Zlotowski’s A Private Life, a French-speaking Jodie Foster plays a therapist turned detective, deciding to investigate the death of a former client without realizing she’s trying to make up for her own failures as a spouse and parent.
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Navigating the strange corridors of her own mind … Renate Reinsve (Mary) in Backrooms
The reason behind this new wave of struggling therapist protagonists on screen is pretty clear: more people are going to therapy than ever before. A 2026 survey found that 37% of adults in the UK were seeking therapy, a 2% increase from the previous year. Even though it was stigmatized just a few years ago, therapy is now being called “sexy.” The rise of therapy influencers, or “TherapyTok,” has let these professionals and their jargon move beyond the therapist’s office and into mainstream culture. Several podcasts have focused on the topic, from pop-psychotherapist Esther Perel’s Where Should We Begin? to the true-crime-meets-therapy podcast The Shrink Next Door, which may have inspired Zlotowski. Then reality TV started happily breaking client confidentiality, with shows like Couples Therapy helping push therapy to the center of our collective awareness.
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A therapist with flaws … Jodie Foster (Lilian Steiner) and Virginie Efira (Paula Cohen-Solal) in A Private Life. Photograph: Altitude Film Distribution/PA
Even so-called therapy-speak has made its way into movies. Critic Billie Walker points out the questionable use of this language in psychiatric spinoffs of franchises, like the Nicolas Cage vampire film Renfield (2023), where the title sidekick realizes he has an unhealthy, co-dependent relationship with Dracula. But beyond gimmicky character diagnoses, the cinematic reputation of therapists themselves has been steadily getting worse for years. In Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island (2010), the creepy staff at an asylum may or may not be plotting against the honest detective Teddy (Leonardo DiCaprio). Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley (2021) showed a therapist straight out of hell, Dr. Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett), who blackmails her wealthy clients and secretly records her sessions. And in Beau Is Afraid (2023), a fragile man-child’s therapist turns out to be one of his many enemies.
Maybe this trend of the villainous therapist has evolved into a more well-rounded, realistic portrayal of these professionals. Filmmakers have realized that therapists aren’t, as Bronstein notes, “perfect,” impossibly self-sacrificing people like Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting. Instead, they’re flawed human beings—their career choice of holis…This makes them even more interesting. As a carer for her daughter, Byrne’s character Linda is at her breaking point, unable to look after her own needs, let alone her patients’. But her own therapist (and boss), a stressed-out Conan O’Brien, is dealing with his own life and flaws, so he can’t be there for Linda the way she wants. This creates an endless cycle of frustrated therapists.
[Image: An endless cycle of frustrated therapists … Conan O’Brien and Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. Photograph: Logan White/If I Had Legs LLC]
What these new on-screen therapists have in common is that they exist in the world of horror. The supernatural settings these filmmakers create are meant to reflect the spiraling negative thoughts of their main characters. Whether it’s a maze of altered memories in Backrooms, a magical hole filled with asbestos in the ceiling in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, a trauma-hungry demon in Smile, or a sinister hypnosis session in A Private Life, the otherworldly elements in these stories heighten a sense of claustrophobia, panic, and dread. While there have been a few recent comedy versions of therapist characters, like in Shrinking, these fictional shrinks mostly live in a world of terror.
More than the villainous therapist trope—which suggests our shrinks are out to get us—these new therapists tap into a deeper fear. Since everyone is flawed in their own way and carries their own baggage, how well can any therapist really handle someone else’s problems? It’s telling that in each of these films, the real dread kicks in when a therapist who seemed in control loses their cool. With ongoing doubts about therapy as a perfect solution to our problems, it’s no surprise we’re seeing these unsettling anxieties play out on screen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs about the trend of horror movies targeting mental health professionals written in a natural conversational tone with clear answers
BeginnerLevel Questions
1 What does Therapists on the edge mean in horror movies
It refers to a specific trope where the main character is a psychologist psychiatrist or counselor who becomes the target of a killer a patient or a supernatural force The movie uses their profession to create tensionoften by showing how their knowledge of the mind fails to protect them
2 Why are horror movies suddenly focusing on therapists
Its not totally new but its become more common because therapists are seen as safe authority figures Horror loves to break down what feels secure Plus a therapists office is a private vulnerable spaceperfect for psychological terror
3 Can you give me a simple example of a movie like this
The Invisible Man is a great example The main character Cecilia is not a therapist but her sister is a psychologist who doesnt believe her The horror comes from the professional gaslighting A clearer example is The Empty Man where a former detective turned counselor gets dragged into a cult case
4 Is this just about scary patients
Not always Sometimes the therapist is the threat Other times the therapist is a wellmeaning person who gets in over their head and the horror comes from their own sanity unraveling
5 Are these movies realistic about mental health
Usually no They exaggerate for entertainment Therapists breaking confidentiality treating dangerous patients alone or having no supervision are common plot holes Real therapists have strict ethical codes and safety protocols
IntermediateLevel Questions
6 Whats the difference between a therapist as victim and a therapist as villain trope
Victim The therapist is a good person but their empathy or curiosity makes them vulnerable Example Dr Loomis in Halloween is a therapist who tries to help but ends up chasing Michael Myers
