From ‘Talking Cure’ to ‘Bedlam’: A study of the factors impacting on the construction of UK factual psychotherapy programming 1999 to 2013. by Lesley Blaker Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Salford School of Arts & Media 2017 Table of Contents Table of Figures .............................................................................................................. iv Abstract ........................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ vii Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Factual Psychotherapy Programming: An Overview .............................................. 2 1.2 Research Questions & Study Aims ......................................................................... 4 1.3 Existing Research & Study Contribution ................................................................ 4 1.4 Terminology & Definitions ..................................................................................... 6 1.5 Research Ethics ....................................................................................................... 8 1.6 Thesis Structure ....................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 2: Literature Review ...................................................................................... 12 2.1 Therapeutic Culture ............................................................................................... 12 2.2 Psychotherapeutic Expertise ................................................................................. 15 2.3 Psychotherapy on Television ................................................................................ 18 2.4 Therapy Talk ......................................................................................................... 19 2.5 Life Experiments & Transformation ..................................................................... 24 2.6 Representations of the Psychotherapeutic Process ............................................... 27 Chapter 3: Methodology ............................................................................................... 32 3.1 Terminology .......................................................................................................... 33 3.2 The Sample & Other Primary Data ....................................................................... 35 3.3 Research Questionnaire ......................................................................................... 40 3.4 Research Ethics ..................................................................................................... 42 3.5 Content Analysis ................................................................................................... 43 3.6 Production Analysis .............................................................................................. 45 3.7 Narrative Analysis ................................................................................................. 46 3.8 Textual Analysis .................................................................................................... 47 3.9 Case Study ............................................................................................................. 49 Chapter 4: Contexts ...................................................................................................... 51 4.1 Television Contexts ............................................................................................... 51 4.2 Psychotherapeutic Contexts .................................................................................. 62 4.3 Factual Psychotherapy Programming - A Content Analysis ................................. 65 i Chapter 5: The Programmes........................................................................................ 75 5.1 Subjects: Problems & People ................................................................................ 78 5.2 Setting: Constructing Psychotherapeutic Space .................................................... 90 5.2.1 The Institutional Setting ................................................................................. 91 5.2.2 The Non-Institutional Setting ....................................................................... 100 5.3 Expertise: Constructing Experts & Expert Practice ............................................ 108 5.3.1 The Psychotherapeutic Expert ...................................................................... 108 5.3.2 Expert Psychotherapeutic Practice................................................................ 115 5.4 Endings & Outcomes .......................................................................................... 132 Chapter 6: Case Studies ............................................................................................. 139 6.1 House of Agoraphobics (Channel 4, 2006) ......................................................... 139 6.2 The Panic Room (BBC Three, 2007) .................................................................. 155 6.3 The Hoarder Next Door (Channel 4, 2012-2013) ............................................... 168 Chapter 7: Conclusions .............................................................................................. 181 7.1 Limitations .......................................................................................................... 184 7.2 The Findings........................................................................................................ 186 7.3 Contribution to the Field ..................................................................................... 188 Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 191 List of Programmes ..................................................................................................... 207 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................. 209 Appendix A: Research Ethics Approval Form .......................................................... 210 Appendix B: Research Sample Raw Data ................................................................. 220 Appendix C: Gender Data ......................................................................................... 223 Appendix D: Research Participant Information Sheet .............................................. 224 Appendix E: Research Questionnaire ....................................................................... 226 Appendix RQ1: Research Questionnaire RQ1 .......................................................... 229 Appendix RQ2: Research Questionnaire RQ2 .......................................................... 231 Appendix RQ3: Research Questionnaire RQ3 .......................................................... 233 Appendix RQ4: Research Questionnaire RQ4 .......................................................... 235 Appendix RQ5: Research Questionnaire RQ5 .......................................................... 238 Appendix RQ6: Research Questionnaire RQ6 .......................................................... 241 Appendix RQ7: Research Questionnaire RQ7 .......................................................... 243 Appendix RQ8: Research Questionnaire RQ8 .......................................................... 245 ii Appendix RQ9: Research Questionnaire RQ9 .......................................................... 247 Appendix RQ10: Research Questionnaire RQ10 ...................................................... 250 iii Table of Figures Figure 1 Sampled Programmes by Year of Broadcast .................................................... 65 Figure 2 Sampled Programmes by Broadcast Channel ................................................... 67 Figure 3 Sampled Programmes By Year of Broadcast and Channel .............................. 68 Figure 4 Programmes by Year of Broadcast & Single/Episode Classification ............... 69 Figure 5 Programmes by Day of Broadcast .................................................................... 71 Figure 6 Programmes by Broadcast Slot ......................................................................... 71 Figure 7 Year of Broadcast & Institutional/Non-Institutional Classification ................. 73 Figure 8 Talking Cure (BBC Two, 1999) ....................................................................... 77 Figure 9 The House of Obsessive Compulsives (Channel 4, 2005) ................................ 82 Figure 10 Sectioned (Channel 4, 2010) ........................................................................... 83 Figure 11 The Madness in Me (BBC One, 2005)............................................................ 84 Figure 12 World of Compulsive Hoarders (Channel 4, 2007) ........................................ 86 Figure 13 Too Ugly For Love (BBC Three, 2006).......................................................... 88 Figure 14 Help Me Help My Child (Channel 4, 2006) .................................................... 93 Figure 15 Talking Cure (BBC Two, 1999) / I Hate Mum (BBC One, 2010) ................. 94 Figure 16 Sectioned (BBC Four, 2010) .........................................................................