History Main / CriticalPsychoanalysisFailure

**** Although, in her defense, she does occasionally show that she knows what she's talking about when it comes to psychiatry. In a certain Catwoman arc, she actually helps Catwoman work through some of her latent guilt and worries about Selina's younger sister, Maggie.

** In the United States, many universities advertise psychology and sociology as "sciences", despite being among the easiest degrees to earn. If psychology can be considered a science (it's not), the clout and status given to tried and true scientific research somehow carries over to psychologists. That and a combination of willingness to help people is apparently a very powerful motivator for many students to enter the field.

** In the United States, many universities advertise psychology and sociology as "sciences", despite being among the easiest degrees to earn.

* Cruelly yet hilariously subverted in [[RayBradbury]]'s short story ''The Earth Men''. [[spoiler:Thinking you're from Earth turns out to be a common psychological disorder on Mars, where delusions can actually manifest physically due to the Martians' psychic abilities, so the demonstrable existence of your spaceship and crew is more of an expected symptom than a proof of sanity. Upon making contact with the natives, the titular spacefarers are eventually directed to a psychiatrist who ends up forcefully euthanizing them as an incurable case - and when the ship and their bodies fail to vanish, he concludes to his horror that he's been infected with this trope and shoots himself.]]

* Played with in the second and third ''{{Terminator}}'' films. [[spoiler:Neither the patient [Sarah Connor] nor the therapist is crazy. The therapist just prefers to ''think'' he is insane than to accept that her story could be correct.]]

** Almost all of the Doctors in those tapes meet a fate like this. [[spoiler: Dr Young is horrified to learn she's been working for the Joker (though what she was working ''on'' proves she wasn't all that sane anyway); Dr Cassidy gets transferred from Zsasz once she finds out he knows where she lives (he later shows up at her house, although she survived[[hottip:*:She's the redhead in the Medical wing, in case you missed the connection]]); Dr Westler is informed by Killer Croc that she's on his meal list; and Dr Murphy is drugged by Scarecrow in their first interview session (Scarecrow tries it on Dr Kellerman, and then everyone in Arkham, but Batman stops him). Quincy Sharp was driven crazy when he failed to cure his wifes killer, and murdered him in turn.]] Arkham Asylum is a bad place to work.

** Almost all of the Doctors in those tapes meet a fate like this. [[spoiler: Dr Young is horrified to learn she's been working for the Joker (though what she was working ''on'' proves she was'nt all that sane anyway); Dr Cassidy gets transferred from Zsasz once she finds out he knows where she lives (he later shows up at her house, although she survived[[hottip:*:She's the redhead in the Medical wing, in case you missed the connection]]); Dr Westler is informed by Killer Croc that she's on his meal list; and Dr Murphy is drugged by Scarecrow in their first interview session (Scarecrow tries it on Dr Kellerman, and then everyone in Arkham, but Batman stops him). Quincy Sharp was driven crazy when he failed to cure his wifes killer, and murdered him in turn.]] Arkham Asylum is a bad place to work.

** Psychoanalyzing TheScarecrow is possibly even more hazardous than a session with Joker, since Scarecrow's in the habit of sneaking in some fear toxin and taking a quiet, academic interest in why the therapist is suddenly scratching out his own eyes. Doesn't help that he's an actual psychologist himself either.

** Psychoanalyzing TheScarecrow is possibly even more hazardous than a session with Joker, since Scarecrow's in the habit of sneaking in some fear toxin and taking a quiet, academic interest in why the therapist is suddenly scratching out his own eyes. Does'nt help that he's an actual psychologist himself either.

* Amadeus Arkham in ''Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth''.

* Inverted in CallOfCthulhu, where a fumble on a psychoanalysist roll makes the ''patient'' lose SAN points. Although there's nothing keeping the sadistic GM from also inflicting SAN loss for psychoanalysising the minds of those touched by the Cthulhu Mythos...

** Almost all of the Doctors in those tapes meet a fate like this. [[spoiler: Dr Young is horrified to learn she's been working for the Joker (though what she was working ''on'' proves she was'nt all that sane anyway); Dr Cassidy gets transferred from Zsasz once she finds out he knows where she lives (he later shows up, and probably killed her); Dr Westler is informed by Killer Croc that she's on his meal list; and Dr Murphy is drugged by Scarecrow in their first interview session (Scarecrow tries it on Dr Kellerman, and then everyone in Arkham, but Batman stops him). Quincy Sharp was driven crazy when he failed to cure his wifes killer, and murdered him in turn.]] Arkham Asylum is a bad place to work.

* Likewise, an episode of ''PerfectStraNgers'' had a reporter for the ''Chicago Sun'' be talked out of jumping after reporting on [[HumansAreBastards human bastardy]] made him depressed.

* Likewise, an episode of ''PerfectStragers'' had a reporter for the ''Chicago Sun'' be talked out of jumping after reporting on [[HumansAreBastards human bastardy]] made him depressed.

* In the "R. Tam Sessions," one of the tie-ins to the ''{{Firefly}}'' movie ''Serenity'', River is undergoing prolonged interviews with a counselor/interrogator while [[MindRape being experimented on.]] While in most cases, CriticalPsychoanalysisFailure results in mere mental damage, this one ended up far worse; the interrogator, not realizing just how dangerously mentally unstable River is becoming, eventually ends up making the ''extreme'' mistake of giving River a pen when she says she needs to write something down. [[ThePenIsMightier Stab.]]

* Mental health workers tend to have a higher instance of mental illnesses, especially mood disorders (depression, bipolar disorder, and the like). Whether the mentally ill are drawn to psychology or it's this trop in action is up for debate (although it's probably a combination).

** The Joker tends to do this a lot, actually.

** Almost all of the Doctors in those tapes meet a fate like this. [[spoiler: Dr Young is horrified to learn she's been working for the Joker (though what she was working ''on'' proves she was'nt all that sane anyway); Dr Cassidy gets transferred from Zsasz once she finds out he knows where she lives (he later shows up, and probably killed her); Dr Westler is informed by Killer Croc that she's on his meal list; and Dr Murphy is druged by Scarecrow in their first interview session(Scarecrow tries it on Dr Kellerman, and then everyone in Arkham, but Batman stops him). Quincy Sharp was driven crazy when he failed to cure his wifes killer, and murdered him in turn.]] Arkham Asylum is a bad place to work.

** Psychoanalyzing TheScarecrow is possibly even more hazardous than a session with Joker, since Scarecrow's in the habit of sneaking in some fear toxin and taking a quiet, academic interest in why the therapist is suddenly scratching out his own eyes.

* In ElfQuest, the healer Leetah tries to cure the AntiVillain Two-Edge, a half-elf-half-troll ChessMaster who spends a lot of time cackling insanely from behind walls. It goes pretty well until she starts calling him "son", pretending to be a comforting mother figure to him. The result: Two-Edge runs off, only half cured and becoming ''much'' more dangerous, and Leetah ends up guilt-ridden over her mistake. She's also very thoroughly squicked by the madness and mixed heritage she felt inside him while using her magic.

* In {{Good Will Hunting}}, Will goes through quite a few therapists.

* Any story by Philip K Dick that has a psychiatrist in it will end up being one of three things: 1) this trope played completely straight (where the psychiatrist will break down into a psychotic reality along with the protagonist), 2) this trope heavily inverted (where the psychiatrist is in on the nature of reality and pulls the protagonist further down into insanity), or 3) a total aversion of this trope (to the point where the psychiatrist accepts different altered states of reality and acts as sort of a benevolent guide to the protagonist). Example? VALIS (number 3). - (btw, this trope also applies to any character that interviews, tries to help, or tries to reason with an 'apparently' insane character).

* An episode of TheFactsOfLife had a youth guidance counselor have to be talked out of jumping off a building.
* Likewise, an episode of PerfectStragers had a reporter for the ''Chicago Sun'' be talked out of jumping after reporting on [[HumansAreBastards human bastardy]] made him depressed.

** Also appears in HunterTheVigil, particularly with Slashers of the Genius and Maniac variety. Extended conversation with them allows them to create derangements, alter your morality, predict your every move, and otherwise screw with your head. Fitting, since they're based on Hannibal Lecter, The Joker, and others.

* Somewhat implied in the UnknownArmies supplement Post Modern Magick, which mentions that trying to treat adepts (insane magicians) in an mental institution is risky. The corebook, however, doesn't use this trope in the normal rules for curing madness (but GM can certainly inflict madness checks on the therapist if he feels it appropriate).

** In the doctor's defense, Poison Ivy is capable of manipulating pheromones and manipulate the emotions of men (and women). It's not one of her more well known abilities either.

* While not dangerous to the psychologist, ''Don Juan DeMarco'' is clearly a case where the analyst was affected more than the patient.

* IssacAsimov's super computer Multivac becomes suicidal from having to help countless humans with their psychological problems.