After months of trying to find a therapist within her price range, 35-year-old Lindsey Berger found the perfect solution – working through her issues with a framed photo of Holland Taylor.
“My insurance doesn’t cover therapy, so I thought, why not tell my problems to a picture of a beloved TV veteran?” said Berger, who had to replace the first photo after making it too wet with her own tears. “She’s pithy and quick like her character on Two And A Half Men, but she’s also someone whose approval I seek, like from her professor character in Legally Blonde.”
With this innovation, Berger feels she’s finally found the type of counseling that works for her and her needs.
“Sometimes we just sit in silence together, which I think is really healing,” Berger said. “My last therapist always muddied up our sessions with ‘feedback’ and ‘advice’ or ‘deep concern for my behavior’. This relationship feels much more manageable for me.”
Although Berger is aware that the photo isn’t actually Holland Taylor, she still tries to treat her therapy sessions with the same seriousness she would with a real human therapist.
“It would be great if the real Holland Taylor was my therapist, but she’s probably too busy acting as a tough but fair judge, or playing the role of someone’s intimidating mother-in-law,” Berger explained. “I try to add as much normalcy as I can to our sessions. When our 50 minutes is up on the clock, I turn the framed photo toward the wall until our next appointment the following week.”
Berger trusts that her weekly sessions with the framed picture of the actress are producing positive results, and can feel that she’s making real progress.
“I think I’ve had some serious breakthroughs. I really look up to Holland. I mean, I physically look up to her because I hung the photo a little too high,” Berger said. “We’re talking about a picture of a woman who’s a Primetime Emmy Winner and Tony Nominee. I feel like that’s basically the equivalent of having a therapist with an MFT license. And because she’s a photo and not a physical person, I feel very confident that she’ll uphold the conditions of our confidentiality agreement.”
During press time, Berger went on to say that she’s considering replacing her physical therapist with a life size promotional cutout of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
