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Answerman - Why Don't Anime Characters Go To Therapy?

This isn't to say the US doesn't have massive issues with dealing with mental health or providing services, but you're obfuscating the main point, which is how mental illness is viewed and dealt with in Japan. The reality is that mental health services in Japan are very much behind other countries. Possibly as a byproduct of therapy not being a real option for most people--and apparently, many of those services being poor to begin with--you don't see it presented in anime.

I'm going to be really unpopular with some when I say this, but I do think that Japan is woefully behind the times on attitudes, treatments, and acceptance for the mentally ill, disabled, so on. With any culture, there are issues and problems. The West could learn a thing or two about how community works from the values of Japan and the wider area of Asia. Similarly, Japan and other countries could learn about accepting and helping the disabled and mentally ill among others from the West.

I feel like a lot of people who talk about what happens during therapy have never been in it, and just base it on these media portrayals/stereotypes. I've seen several therapists, though none as long as my current one. There's no lying on a couch while being fed direct questions. It's very collaborative and often can be emotionally tiring. A couple sessions doesn't make the problems outside therapy go away.

katscradle wrote:

One anime I do remember showing counseling was Loveless. Ritsuka and other characters in that sure need it.

Loveless is such an odd case. It features therapy, as most series won't, but also makes the therapist lust after her 12 year old patient. It was more a passing line in the manga iirc but the anime really upped it.

That was an interesting question, and an interesting reply.

But there's also that seeing an anime character going to therapy wouldn't necessarily make for a very good story. How many "lie on the couch and tell me about your mother" episodes could there be? I'd rather watch Endless Eight again.

I think it could be really clever. Imagine your typical high school anime insanity but one protagonist breaks down the events in therapy?

I think Justin's stat of one out of every three seek help is VERY high.

However, the significantly post-Christian West today is now offering suicide via the phrase euthanasia for people with depression as a bogus 'health-care' option.

Less of a reliance on paid friendships to magically make all your problems go away doesn't make Japan "behind." We don't call them shrinks for nothing.

Personally, I've never benefited from therapy. Even if they're professionals, I don't want other people knowing about my problems. I solve or regulate them myself, and I don't use them as an excuse. The whole "special snowflake" entitlement culture which has arisen from normalizing mental illness is even worse than bottling it up.

I had to laugh at this one, anime characters don't see therapists because therapy solves nothing. My daughter saw a therapist for two years, zero change. People help themselves, therapists at best are good advisors which helps if you take it to heart and are effectively as good as good (non-professional) friends. Actually that's how my daughter "got better", she found a good friend and that helped more than the therapist. At worst they cause you more problems, though that could make for a good drama.

I had to laugh at this one, anime characters don't see therapists because therapy solves nothing. My daughter saw a therapist for two years, zero change. People help themselves, therapists at best are good advisors which helps if you take it to heart and are effectively as good as good (non-professional) friends. Actually that's how my daughter "got better", she found a good friend and that helped more than the therapist. At worst they cause you more problems, though that could make for a good drama.

There's also the fact that "therapy" and "going to therapy" is not a Western but a purely American habit. I am French and there are very few therapists here, typically only used for severe traumas and mostly court-ordered. Europeans, just like Asians, Africans, South Americans or Oceanians don't share the Americans interest in mental health - and note that it's note a judgement, just a fact, I understand how helpful it can be and how a lot of people are missing on that even in my family.

That was an interesting question, and an interesting reply.

But there's also that seeing an anime character going to therapy wouldn't necessarily make for a very good story. How many "lie on the couch and tell me about your mother" episodes could there be? I'd rather watch Endless Eight again.