Dr. Akopian is probably my favorite side character. She genuinely wants to help and puts up with a looooot. Plus, the actress is hilarious and a great singer!
I really enjoyed the song as she was saying what so many mental health professionals think at times. I felt it shows just how much professionals think about their patients outside of sessions
Early on she jokes about it being unethical to take money from someone who doesn’t listen to her advice, but importantly she keeps the line of communication open for years. It may seem like a waste of time, but it means when Rebecca is ready to ask for help she’s a trusted confidante. Also, I remember trying to figure out where I’d seen Dr. Akopian, and then I noticed the distinctive chin mole and realized she was in The Wire.
I love this show. It really uses songs in such an amazing way. Because the songs are Rebeccas imagination, which gives us insight into her mind in a way they couldn't have done without the songs. With every song you question "ok, what does this tell us about Rebecca?" and you as a viewer are rewarded for paying attention to the small details. In this song we can see how euphoric Rebecca is, and she imagines Dr. Akopian being really excited and proud of her. Which shows us that Rebecca probably feels guilty about not being a "good enough" patient, since we have seen her being an overachiever several times in the show at this point. Which of course relates back to her father abandoning her and her mother being overly critical of her, so growing up she always felt the need to prove herself. The show also uses the songs in a very clever way. It's not just that we get songs to tell the story in the episode, not to be heard ever again. Instead they use the songs to clue us in to how Rebecca is feeling. A few notes of "you stupid bitch" let's us know exactly the kinds of self-destructive and hateful thoughts that are going through her head. Oh my god, this show is an absolute masterpiece. I really hope that you'll go back and watch from the beginning. Just watching snippets here and there, out of order, is just not giving this show any of the credit that it deserves. The show is such a ride and I'm sure you would have a lot of fun analysing it.
I don’t think this song is Rebecca’s imagination. Most of the songs are, but a handful are from other people’s perspective. I think this is supposed to be Akopian’s genuine thoughts. It could be that she is adopting Rebecca’s coping technique of “imagine I’m in a musical” without even noticing.
Me as a client going into therapy having done some homework, ready to share my insights... then me getting there and not being able to communicate like I want to lol. Enjoy your videos so much, and thank you for the subtitles, they're fantastic!
Here's a bananas fact about private psychiatry in the USA: individual therapy, couples therapy, and family therapy use different billing codes and are reimbursed at different rates. According to my therapist, individual therapy gets reimbursed at the best rate even though she finds it to be the 'easiest', so her clinic no longer deals with couples and families. This is how I ended up going through three incredibly awful couples therapists, because nobody wants to do more work for less money.
All the songs in CEX are from Rebecca's point of view (think this is addressed later on in a kind of throwaway mention and easily missed), so this particular song is countertransference'ing hard enough to injure. Another very informative analysis! :)
Was going to say this. The songs also make Rebecca all the more interesting, really demonstrating how intelligent, funny and insightful she is as a person.
Well some songs are about things Rebecca isn’t seeing or knowing about so it’s not necessarily all from Rebeccas point of view (Fit Hot Guys Have Problems Too is one example off the top of my head), but we do have to take what’s said in the songs with a grain of salt
@@HonorWillow but those songs are probably how she imagines a situation to be rather than what those characters are actually thinking or doing. It’s her opinion and imagination. They’re not coming up with those songs themselves! It’s all Rebecca.
@@lizziewalker7844 I don't buy that, at least not for all. Like would Rebecca think Nathaniel goes to the zoo when upset? Also there was that episode where Nathaniel saw life as a musical like Rebecca and she was shocked when he said something after
@@HonorWillow who is to say she wouldn’t? Or maybe he told her at some point. She says she imagines musical numbers to help process things so it’s entirely possible this is her trying to work out what others are thinking or feeling. OR she inspires others to get creative and this is what other songs are. Either way, many of them are her imagination or how she perceives people/situations, there is no denying this.
I used to attend therapy but stopped when I realized the therapist was trying to tell me how she thought I should feel rather than listening to how I actually feel. I tried explaining this to her, but she just brushed me off with a few rather condescending handwaves and dismissive remarks. On the day I thanked her and said I wouldn't be coming back, she went from Dr. Jekyll to Ms. Hyde and proceeded to tell me how much I needed her. It was awkward. BTW: I suspect Dr. E loves his karaoke and has a very great singing voice. I can see him belting out some big showtunes. 🤩😘
That bit about chronic illness, and improving the quality of life in the meantime, really hits because I have PTSD. Sometimes I struggle with despair because I know that it won’t ever go away. This helps me remember that having PTSD forever doesn’t mean it has to feel the way it does right now forever. It can get better.
Love your reaction and your work, all your points are so valid in a professional perspective, I just want to put in context for you the "i've been burn so many times by a girl who committed so many burn crimes" That there is a reoccuring joke on the show that Rebecca (the patient) leaved a bunch of anonymous bad comments and ratings on Dr. Akopian's yelp reviews. So the lyrics a referecing that, but it doesnt make the point that you made less valid too.
As someone who is about to start a private practice…thank you for this video. I took lots of notes on what you were speaking about. Hopefully I will be constantly and consistently self evaluating my own behaviors so I can genuinely help my clients.
I freakin' love Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. It's such a brilliant show. Plus, it shines a light on mental health issues without judgment and is accurate in its depictions
Huh. This video made me question why I became tense when you said "love you" to "me" (actually the general public). Yay for acknowledging maladaptive tendencies to interpret affection as predation.
Your defining of what doctors do for chronic illness was a bit depressing as someone with a chronic autoimmune disorder. Like damn, I know I'm never recovering, but like... it ain't that depressing. When I first got diagnosed, I wrote a (cringey) poem about the rythm of taking my meds and how it builds a tempo for a tango between me in my chronic illness.
I love my therapist so much that I don't want to stop therapy. I'm definitely not at a point where I don't need it, but I also can't really see my life without her. She's like an awesome sister that I can tell everything too.
I've had patients tell me similar things, usually when we get towards the end of our work together. I take it as an opportunity to identify what is it that I bring to them in addition to the therapeutic process, and whether it's missing in their life (usually it's something along the line of a relationship with someone non judgmental that they can trust). If so, it becomes one of our last goals together to help them look for it in their personnal life. I'm guessing it would probably be interesting and constructive at some point to express to your therapist how you feel.
I'm dumbfounded with how spot on everything you said!!! Everything I say from now on will be a spoiler for the show, but in the finale it becames very clear that the song numbers are happening in Rachel's head, so that's probably how she thought Dr. Akopian felt with her. I'd never realised that about this particular song until your video, so thanks!!!
No. Where I live, psychiatrists are for diagnosing and medication. They don't have time due to the insanely long waitlists to do any counselling. There is limited publicly funded therapy some of the time but beyond that you have to pay for it yourself. I live in Canada.
Definitely! The show even delves into that by having a male character who basically does everything that Rebecca does in terms of being a “crazy-ex” and they have alot of discussion on how gender changes the perspective of this “crazy-ex” concept
You could say the same how there is more abusive ex boyfriends or husbands more than girlfriends or wives in television or movies. Or there's more portrayal of male predators than female.
In my experience, if someone has a "crazy ex-boyfriend," they don't want to talk about them, because the stories aren't ultimately benign, and they're often still in danger
I feel like the crazy ex boyfriend is more likely to be called "psycho" ex boyfriend, because men are perceived to be more dangerous (and statistically are indeed more dangerous to their partners). So it would be hard to make something funny around that. Also, I believe that many of the guys who would have the potential to become crazy ex boyfriends never get girlfriends. They become the "nice guys" who are totally unhinged on dating sites.
Thank you, Dr Elliott. I've already sent the link to my psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and a couple of friends. You are a very charming and always hopeful life saver. For the benefit of us Yanks, can you explain what a junior doctor is?
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Dr. Akopian is probably my favorite side character. She genuinely wants to help and puts up with a looooot. Plus, the actress is hilarious and a great singer!
I really enjoyed the song as she was saying what so many mental health professionals think at times. I felt it shows just how much professionals think about their patients outside of sessions
Early on she jokes about it being unethical to take money from someone who doesn’t listen to her advice, but importantly she keeps the line of communication open for years. It may seem like a waste of time, but it means when Rebecca is ready to ask for help she’s a trusted confidante.
Also, I remember trying to figure out where I’d seen Dr. Akopian, and then I noticed the distinctive chin mole and realized she was in The Wire.
The burn crimes are literal - arson is sort of her last ditch attempt at control and she doesn't tend to think through how fires spread.
Love the subtitles/captions - they are easy to read and much prettier than the youtube ones
Glad they help
I love this show. It really uses songs in such an amazing way. Because the songs are Rebeccas imagination, which gives us insight into her mind in a way they couldn't have done without the songs. With every song you question "ok, what does this tell us about Rebecca?" and you as a viewer are rewarded for paying attention to the small details. In this song we can see how euphoric Rebecca is, and she imagines Dr. Akopian being really excited and proud of her. Which shows us that Rebecca probably feels guilty about not being a "good enough" patient, since we have seen her being an overachiever several times in the show at this point. Which of course relates back to her father abandoning her and her mother being overly critical of her, so growing up she always felt the need to prove herself.
The show also uses the songs in a very clever way. It's not just that we get songs to tell the story in the episode, not to be heard ever again. Instead they use the songs to clue us in to how Rebecca is feeling. A few notes of "you stupid bitch" let's us know exactly the kinds of self-destructive and hateful thoughts that are going through her head.
Oh my god, this show is an absolute masterpiece. I really hope that you'll go back and watch from the beginning. Just watching snippets here and there, out of order, is just not giving this show any of the credit that it deserves. The show is such a ride and I'm sure you would have a lot of fun analysing it.
I don’t think this song is Rebecca’s imagination. Most of the songs are, but a handful are from other people’s perspective. I think this is supposed to be Akopian’s genuine thoughts. It could be that she is adopting Rebecca’s coping technique of “imagine I’m in a musical” without even noticing.
Me as a client going into therapy having done some homework, ready to share my insights... then me getting there and not being able to communicate like I want to lol. Enjoy your videos so much, and thank you for the subtitles, they're fantastic!
Here's a bananas fact about private psychiatry in the USA: individual therapy, couples therapy, and family therapy use different billing codes and are reimbursed at different rates. According to my therapist, individual therapy gets reimbursed at the best rate even though she finds it to be the 'easiest', so her clinic no longer deals with couples and families.
This is how I ended up going through three incredibly awful couples therapists, because nobody wants to do more work for less money.
All the songs in CEX are from Rebecca's point of view (think this is addressed later on in a kind of throwaway mention and easily missed), so this particular song is countertransference'ing hard enough to injure. Another very informative analysis! :)
Was going to say this. The songs also make Rebecca all the more interesting, really demonstrating how intelligent, funny and insightful she is as a person.
Well some songs are about things Rebecca isn’t seeing or knowing about so it’s not necessarily all from Rebeccas point of view (Fit Hot Guys Have Problems Too is one example off the top of my head), but we do have to take what’s said in the songs with a grain of salt
@@HonorWillow but those songs are probably how she imagines a situation to be rather than what those characters are actually thinking or doing. It’s her opinion and imagination. They’re not coming up with those songs themselves! It’s all Rebecca.
@@lizziewalker7844 I don't buy that, at least not for all. Like would Rebecca think Nathaniel goes to the zoo when upset? Also there was that episode where Nathaniel saw life as a musical like Rebecca and she was shocked when he said something after
@@HonorWillow who is to say she wouldn’t? Or maybe he told her at some point. She says she imagines musical numbers to help process things so it’s entirely possible this is her trying to work out what others are thinking or feeling. OR she inspires others to get creative and this is what other songs are. Either way, many of them are her imagination or how she perceives people/situations, there is no denying this.
I used to attend therapy but stopped when I realized the therapist was trying to tell me how she thought I should feel rather than listening to how I actually feel. I tried explaining this to her, but she just brushed me off with a few rather condescending handwaves and dismissive remarks. On the day I thanked her and said I wouldn't be coming back, she went from Dr. Jekyll to Ms. Hyde and proceeded to tell me how much I needed her. It was awkward.
BTW: I suspect Dr. E loves his karaoke and has a very great singing voice. I can see him belting out some big showtunes. 🤩😘
Oof. I hope you find a better therapist!
Sounds like a therapy story worthy of the Very Bad Therapy podcast (real podcast btw, I'm a big fan lol). I'm so sorry you went through that!
I love your Crazy Ex Girlfriend reactions!
That bit about chronic illness, and improving the quality of life in the meantime, really hits because I have PTSD. Sometimes I struggle with despair because I know that it won’t ever go away. This helps me remember that having PTSD forever doesn’t mean it has to feel the way it does right now forever. It can get better.
Rebecca does put Dr Akopes through a lot like breaking into her house to steal her prescription pad and basically stalking her
Rebecca actually has done arson more than once. It’s not projection
Love your reaction and your work, all your points are so valid in a professional perspective, I just want to put in context for you the "i've been burn so many times by a girl who committed so many burn crimes" That there is a reoccuring joke on the show that Rebecca (the patient) leaved a bunch of anonymous bad comments and ratings on Dr. Akopian's yelp reviews. So the lyrics a referecing that, but it doesnt make the point that you made less valid too.
OooOooOoo I loved your subtitles! The blue background was really nice!
I agree!! They're pretty great!
Ooh ive never been so early before, love your channel dr elliot
As someone who is about to start a private practice…thank you for this video. I took lots of notes on what you were speaking about. Hopefully I will be constantly and consistently self evaluating my own behaviors so I can genuinely help my clients.
I freakin' love Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. It's such a brilliant show. Plus, it shines a light on mental health issues without judgment and is accurate in its depictions
Ditto. I also love the way Rebecca inspires change in the people around her.
Huh. This video made me question why I became tense when you said "love you" to "me" (actually the general public). Yay for acknowledging maladaptive tendencies to interpret affection as predation.
Your defining of what doctors do for chronic illness was a bit depressing as someone with a chronic autoimmune disorder. Like damn, I know I'm never recovering, but like... it ain't that depressing. When I first got diagnosed, I wrote a (cringey) poem about the rythm of taking my meds and how it builds a tempo for a tango between me in my chronic illness.
I love my therapist so much that I don't want to stop therapy. I'm definitely not at a point where I don't need it, but I also can't really see my life without her. She's like an awesome sister that I can tell everything too.
I've had patients tell me similar things, usually when we get towards the end of our work together. I take it as an opportunity to identify what is it that I bring to them in addition to the therapeutic process, and whether it's missing in their life (usually it's something along the line of a relationship with someone non judgmental that they can trust). If so, it becomes one of our last goals together to help them look for it in their personnal life.
I'm guessing it would probably be interesting and constructive at some point to express to your therapist how you feel.
@@randomname24680 this comment just gave me a lightbulb moment 😂🎉
@@ebbidibebbidiboo2640 oh well glad I could help ^^
I'm dumbfounded with how spot on everything you said!!! Everything I say from now on will be a spoiler for the show, but in the finale it becames very clear that the song numbers are happening in Rachel's head, so that's probably how she thought Dr. Akopian felt with her.
I'd never realised that about this particular song until your video, so thanks!!!
Michael Hyatt, the actress playing Dr Akopian is so good in so many things!! All around great performer!
No. Where I live, psychiatrists are for diagnosing and medication. They don't have time due to the insanely long waitlists to do any counselling. There is limited publicly funded therapy some of the time but beyond that you have to pay for it yourself. I live in Canada.
I love how fed-up Dr. Akopian is, true icon
Such a great song and i love your analysis!
Don't let the smooth taste fool ya baby!
Is it just me or is it a cultural thing that there is more focus on "crazy ex-girlfriends" than there is "crazy ex-boyfriends"?
Definitely! The show even delves into that by having a male character who basically does everything that Rebecca does in terms of being a “crazy-ex” and they have alot of discussion on how gender changes the perspective of this “crazy-ex” concept
You could say the same how there is more abusive ex boyfriends or husbands more than girlfriends or wives in television or movies. Or there's more portrayal of male predators than female.
In my experience, if someone has a "crazy ex-boyfriend," they don't want to talk about them, because the stories aren't ultimately benign, and they're often still in danger
I feel like the crazy ex boyfriend is more likely to be called "psycho" ex boyfriend, because men are perceived to be more dangerous (and statistically are indeed more dangerous to their partners). So it would be hard to make something funny around that.
Also, I believe that many of the guys who would have the potential to become crazy ex boyfriends never get girlfriends. They become the "nice guys" who are totally unhinged on dating sites.
There's a stand up bit by Donald Glover about that
Thank you, Dr Elliott. I've already sent the link to my psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and a couple of friends. You are a very charming and always hopeful life saver. For the benefit of us Yanks, can you explain what a junior doctor is?
Thank you for introducing me to this show :)
It is sooooo good. I'm on my second watch.
250 dollars per hour for a therapy is crazy !
Doc. Have you reacted to the David / Patrick story line in Schitt's Creek?
Not on my channel but its so wholesome and lovely
Is that icon Symone in the background????
Is “intellectualization” similar to impostor syndrome?
💖