Of all psychological diseases, PTSD might be the one which TV has the toughest time getting proper.
The Good Doctor Season 4 Episode 6 took a stab at it with a Lim-centered story that drew a transparent parallel between Lim’s points now that probably the most intense interval of the COVID pandemic had handed and a affected person who has extreme PTSD after getting back from Afghanistan.
If something, the comparability was a bit too on the nostril, however at the least for as soon as, we averted stereotypes.
The best way The Good Physician confirmed Lim’s wrestle was correct, however at instances it was complicated.
When Lim was within the throes of traumatic reminiscence, it was laborious to inform whether or not she was having a flashback to the previous or just strolling round dissociated within the current.
There have been a number of instances when she went right into a close to trance, strolling slowly across the hospital, and I assumed she was flashing again to the COVID pandemic, but it surely turned out she wasn’t.
The scenes had been efficient in what they got down to do, demonstrating Lim’s viewpoint as an individual affected by unacknowledged and undiagnosed PTSD in a method that’s not often proven on TV. However sharing Lim’s disorientation made me uncertain of what was happening.
And what the hell was that cliffhanger?
If this had been a unique kind of present, I might assume this was some type of Sixth Sense send-up the place Lim had really died in the course of the first bike trip, and the remaining was all a dream.
However Rose’s empathic qualities is about so far as The Good Physician is prone to get with paranormal stuff, Christina Chang is not leaving, and it could suck in the event that they killed Lim off so quickly after Melendez’s demise.
The ultimate scene did counsel Lim was having some type of out-of-body expertise, although she additionally might need simply realized what an in depth name she simply had. However all these audio flashbacks of “time of demise” suggests she’s not in good condition.
My guess is that she’ll hover between life and demise and, when she wakes up, lastly resolve to get some assist.
Leaving that weirdness apart, I assumed this was a strong depiction of the alternative ways PTSD can manifest.
Most individuals are conscious of PTSD-related flashbacks and that victims typically dissociate, however there’s a lot extra to this dysfunction than that.
Claire: What do you consider Asher?
Lim: He is superb.
Claire: Too superb if you happen to ask me.
Lim: I haven’t got time for too superb.
Claire: He is strolling round like he did not simply lose a affected person.
Lim: Good, smiling releases serotonin even if you happen to really feel depressing.
Claire: Denial is not wholesome.
Lim: Neither is dwelling on issues you possibly can’t change.
Lim’s quick mood and insistence on simply “getting over it” in order that she may do her job had been traditional PTSD signs that many viewers might not have related to the illness.
I additionally liked that they addressed the truth that this challenge is partially physiological. PTSD impacts an individual’s neurology, not simply their psychology. All psychological problems do — on one stage, psychotherapy and different therapies are about altering mind chemistry — but it surely’s very true for PTSD.
The traumatic incident or incidents disrupts the mind’s regular reminiscence encoding course of, which is what causes flashbacks.
Anyway, I used to be glad Claire informed Lim that this wasn’t only a psychological dysfunction, but additionally a physiological one and that PTSD was related to an overactive amygdala.
It will have been attention-grabbing had they gone the route of radical pharmacological therapies, although.
Some analysis reveals that psychedelic medicine and MDMA (Ecstacy) might assist alleviate PTSD signs; nonetheless, since these are illicit medicine at the moment labeled as having no medicinal goal, it could be laborious — and doubtless unlawful — to deal with a affected person utilizing this protocol.
That may have made for some fascinating drama which may have lasted just a few episodes reasonably than the surgical procedure being finished so rapidly.
However I actually cannot complain. The Good Physician’s delicate depiction of PTSD was miles forward of most different tv collection, to allow them to’t be faulted for lacking an alternate storyline.
Andrews: Asking a resident to do a process she would not really feel snug with is dangerous type.
Lim: Oh my God, is there anybody who would not have an opinion on who ought to do that abortion?
Lim’s impatience with the residents led to some notably good drama, too.
The Jordan storyline introduced up whether or not a doctor-in-training needs to be compelled to do procedures that go towards their non secular beliefs.
Jordan wasn’t demanding the hospital not do abortions in any respect however did not wish to be concerned. Presumably, since she’s uncomfortable with the process, she will not be going into follow in an space the place she should do it.
So since that is the case, ought to Lim have allowed Olivia to do the D & C as an alternative?
It is a robust name. The purpose of residency is to discover ways to do all kinds of procedures that the physician might by no means do as soon as they’re absolutely licensed. Many procedures make individuals uncomfortable for a wide range of causes.
And Lim was proper that studying to place your private emotions apart to assist sufferers is significant.
But Jordan’s discomfort did no person any good, and Lim ended up doing the process herself whereas having to reassure a nervous affected person that all the pieces was okay.
So Andrews might need had some extent when he instructed that forcing a resident to desert her non secular beliefs to do a process she was uncomfortable with was a nasty concept.
After all, it turned out that Jordan had had an abortion herself, which was taking part in into her discomfort. Good twist that made her extra empathetic, however the level nonetheless stands.
Lim wasn’t the one one coping with issues she would reasonably neglect. Jordan’s abortion was one instance, and Asher’s difficulties after his affected person’s demise was one other.
I liked how Lim inspired Asher to attempt to transfer ahead as a physician though her “recover from it for the sake of the job” recommendation wasn’t wholesome.
Asher: How do you get previous it?
Lim: Trigger that is the job. You’ll all the time keep in mind it, however ultimately you’ll cease reliving it.
Asher: How are you going to be so positive?
Lim: As a result of you need to or you possibly can’t be a surgeon. And I am fairly positive that you are a surgeon. Now get again to work.
Lim is at her greatest when she is mentoring the residents reasonably than snapping at them, and hopefully, she will be able to get again to that after she heals some.
If the hour had one weak point, it was that Rose’s case was a facet story.
Her claims that her signs had been all as a result of different individuals’s emotional states was attention-grabbing, and the story had dramatic potential since Park believed Rose and Lim thought this empath enterprise was nonsense.
I might have favored to have extra of a deal with making an attempt to deal with her, and the medical doctors disagreeing on tips on how to proceed as a result of they did not see eye-to-eye on whether or not her signs had been bodily or psychological in origin.
As a facet notice, it was SO good to have a complete hour with none ridiculous Shaun/Lea drama. Certain, there was a throughline about how Shaun needed to purchase Lea a gift, however that was minimal, and we did not should undergo by way of any silly arguments or misunderstandings.
And Morgan solely appeared for 2 seconds to make a drive-by criticism and disappear once more. Double superior!
Your flip, The Good Physician fanatics! What did you consider the Lim-centered episode? Hit that huge, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and tell us.
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The Good Physician airs on ABC on Mondays at 10 PM EST/PST.
Jack Ori is a senior employees author for TV Fanatic. His debut younger grownup novel, Reinventing Hannah, is out there on Amazon. Comply with him on Twitter.