Bert’s therapy/Session 13: Ordinary

So what do you want out of this therapy?

To get out of this therapy.

To not have to come.

Right.

I get that. .

But since you’re here today…

…answer me this:

If I could help you with one thing,

what would that be?

(pause)

Two things, actually.

To feel less lonely…

… and to be more in control.

(Therapist smiles.)

Why are you smiling?

That second one is actually

a line from a movie.

What movie?

Ordinary People, 1980. Depressed

kid says it to his therapist.

What does the therapist say?

“Control is a tough nut,” he says, and

that the kid better come twice a week..

Is it? A tough nut?

No. It’s an impossible nut.

Why impossible?

Because we can’t have it,

and we can’t stop wanting it.

Like an itch you can’t help scratching

when the scratching only makes it worse.

(Silence).

Yeah, I know.

You know?

I always want more control than I have.

I always have. I guess I always will.

What’s wrong with me?

You’re a control addict.

In other words, a normal human being.

An ordinary people?

Exactly.

Which, in a way, solves your

first problem.

Feeling lonely?

Correct.

Since you’re not so alone after all.

Welcome to the ordinary majority.