Psychological series: 20 TV series that every psychologist should watch.

The magic of fictional characters with personality.

If there is one concept that resonates with every movie production company in the world, it is " psychology of characters". Creating deep, three-dimensional characters, who feel and suffer truthfully, is the most difficult task a screenwriter has to face.

Creating complex character profiles is becoming more and more of a requirement, and more and more more and more what could be considered psychological series are appearing..

The 20 best psychological series that no psychologist should miss

In the past, when series were not in vogue and movies prevailed, it was easy to disguise the lack of expertise in character creation, with plots that left the characters in the background in pursuit of the action and the agile development of the and the agile development of events.

And in this sense, despite the pace demanded by feature films, the truth is that there are many films that are exquisite in their psychological treatment of the characters. exquisite films in terms of the psychological treatment of their characters.. You can check it out in this article:

• "10 movies about Psychology and mental disorders".

And, in addition, the knowledge that a good documentary on psychology can bring you is not negligible:

• "15 absolutely essential documentaries on psychology".

20 series with a psychological foundation

But now, with the rise of the series, screenwriters have to work harder to create complex characters that will last more than one season on screen. As a result, the TV series industry is at a fertile peak. fertile heyday for the emergence of 'psychological series' or, in other words, series of great interest to those who are dedicated to analyzing the behavior and mental processes of human beings.

Here are ten series that every psychology that every psychology lover should watch with the eyes of a psychologist.

1. Breaking Bad

Walter White (a character masterfully played by Bryan Cranston) has become a benchmark when it comes to acceptance of illness and preparation for death. Although many have criticized the series for being somewhat slow, the first season of Breaking Bad is a great class in psychology. Chapter by chapter, the scriptwriters managed to narrate in actions a transformation that was happening inside the character and whose outcome had more audience than the final of the Champions League.

I leave you the trailer of the first season of the series here, but if you don't want to get hooked on this magnificent series, don't watch it.

2. The Sopranos

Considered the best series in historyI personally believe that it should also be catalogued as "the number one psychological series ever broadcast". Tom Wolfe said of it that in a hundred years, The Sopranos will be studied in universities as Hamlet is studied. The therapy sessions between Tony Soprano and Dr. Melfi lasted seven seasons.

More than 4,300 minutes that served to develop the psychology of dozens of characters who, more than characters, were people.

3. In therapy

Tell a scriptwriter that he has to write twenty-minute chapters with two characters chatting in front of each other, without the viewer losing interest, and you'll see a screenwriter sweat. But if you also tell him that these chats will be psychological therapy sessions, you'll see him sweat and cling to his chair on the verge of collapse. In Therapy is not just a master class in dialogue. It's a master class in psychology. A series capable of penetrating into the psychology of the characters with words as the only resource.

4. Lie to me if you can

Based on the studies of the famous psychologist Paul Ekman, Lie to me if you can is a lesson in nonverbal language and how it can be used to detect lies. Although the psychology of its characters is not as deep as that of the other series on psychology that I have been mentioning, the scriptwriters of this series manage to keep us in suspense until the end of each chapter thanks to their wit and Ekman's famous book "How to Detect Lies". A book that, by the way, became a best-seller thanks to the overwhelming success of the series.

5. Six Feet Under

There are series endings that leave you stunned. Others don't reach their goal and disappoint their audience. But tear-jerking endings like the one in A Two Meters Under are hard to achieve if you can't get viewers to understand the psychology of the characters and, more than empathize, sympathize with them. Alan Ball managed to intertwine, within the Fisher family, four very different psychologies that loved, hated and loved each other like a good friend.

6. Dexter

Dexter could not miss. A member of the forensic police of the Miami police who in his spare time is dedicated to channeling his homicidal impulses killing criminals. This is the story of the private lives that inhabit each of us, and the different moralities that govern these areas of life to which no one but us has access. That is to say: the game between the public face of our person and the private face that we have reserved for our best friends... and enemies. Possibly its greatest virtue is to get the viewer to be forced to take a moral position with everything that is shown, without leaving the series out of sheer exhaustion.

To whet your appetite...

7. Hannibal

Possibly, the one that most deserves to be on the podium of psychological series. Not so much for its plot and its characters, which are already related to psychology (the main characters are Will Graham y Hannibal Lecterthat is, a specialist in criminal profiling and a cannibal psychiatrist), nor for its quality (which is very high) but for the parade of symbolism with which the series manages to connect with the viewer. Giving meaning to the sequences in which these symbols appear is an art, and much of the narrative weight of what is explained rests on these small appearances.

Here you can see one of the trailers of the series:

8. Les Revenants

Successful French series that mixes the drama genre with a plot about mystery and natural forces, in the style of Twin Peaks y Lost. The story begins when in a small village in the French Alps people who died years ago start to appear alive, with the appearance and clothes they wore just before they died and without being able to remember anything about their absence. Les Revenants can be considered a psychological series because of the importance it gives to the way in which families and neighbors try to adapt to this new situation, despite not knowing what is happening to them.despite not knowing what is happening to them and the difficulties of having to manage their feelings of attachment and irrational fear towards these "apparitions".

Here you can see a preview in Spanish:

9. Masters of Sex

Audiovisual fiction based on a book by Thomas Maier entitled Masters of Sex: The life and work of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the couple who taught America how to love.. Focuses on the lives and careers of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, two researchers of human sexuality who during the 1950s and 1960s changed the way the West understood sex and relationships..

This is one of their promotional videos:

10. My Mad Fat Diary

British series centered on the life of Raea young woman struggling to lead a normal life after being released from a psychiatric hospital where she was hospitalized for depression and eating disorders. When she gets back in touch with her friend Chloe, she hides from her the fact that she has been hospitalized and tries to show her best side in order to get along with others and start a new life. A highly recommended series not so much for its plot as for the honesty with which the facts are narrated and the verisimilitude of its characters..

This is its trailer in English:

11. Real Humans

In the Sweden of the future depicted in this series, human-like robots (hubots) have become a consumer good almost as common as refrigerators and washing machines. They can be designed and programmed to fulfill different functions: from domestic workers or chauffeurs to friends or even lovers.

Faced with the popularity of hubots, a political movement called Real Humans is calling for the need to eliminate the use of robots, which jeopardizes jobs and threatens to destroy the social fabric of the country. threatens to destroy the social fabric of the countryby tearing families apart and making humans more isolated. On the other hand, a group of robots that have been reprogrammed to be free fight for the liberation of their own from what they consider slavery.

12. La pecera de Eva (Eva's Fishbowl)

This Spanish series is about the relationship between a high school psychologist and the teenage students she deals with as part of her job. with whom she deals with as part of her job. This television fiction deals with issues such as social isolation, school failure, misbehavior or self-esteem problems, which are so frequent in adolescence.

13. El grupo

Another Spanish psychological series, although this one has only one season. It is about a group of very diverse people who, in order to treat different personal problems, jointly attend the consultation of a psychologist, They jointly attend the consultation of an experienced psychologist, under the condition that they do not relate to each other.The condition is that they do not relate to each other when they leave the sessions.

14. Westworld

One of the most recent psychological series made for HBO is Westworld, based on the 1973 film of the same name. It takes place in a theme park that recreates life in the American Old West, populated by fully human-looking androids who do not know they are human and who interact with human visitors in a specific role. However, some of them begin to discover clues that they are living in a lie that is played over and over again, after successive memory erasures.

15. Bates Motel

TV series conceived as a prequel to Alfred Hitchcock's famous film Psycho. It is a journey into the innermost part of Norman Bates' mind, and through its episodes we see how his facility to manipulate people is expressed. manipulate peoplehis ability to eat acts of crude violence without mercy and the way in which his relationship with his mother Norma Bates develops. his relationship with his mother Norma Bates.

16. Perception

In this television series, the federal government turns to the famed neuroscientist neuroscientist Daniel Pierce to help solve cases in which a crime has been committed. to solve cases in which a crime has been committed.. The main character understands human behavior as a direct product of the biochemical relationships between neurons and hormones.

17. Friday Night Lights

This series focuses on the lives of the members of an American soccer team and the community of family and neighbors that surrounds them. In it, both the coach and his wife play an important role as guides and facilitators of personal development. facilitators of personal development. Here they talk about coping skills in the face of defeat, insecurities, management of personal strengths, etc.

18. Criminal Minds

A series as popular as it has been criticized for giving an image of omnipotence on the part of the investigation teams linked to the FBI. However, by recounting the experiences of a group of criminal profilers, it serves to provide insight into many of the behavioral patterns of murderers, which can bewhich can be related to diagnostic labels of mental disorders.

19. Frasier

Dr. Frasier Crane, played by Kelsey Grammer, is a psychiatrist, a a psychiatrist who moves to Seattle after a divorce and a period of his life spent in Boston. Besides being one of the most famous sitcoms, it is a successful spin-off of the Cheers series, and has 11 seasons.

20. Mr. Robot

A television fiction about the life of Eliot Alderson, a computer security technician and hacker who suffers from depression and delusionswhich makes him feel socially isolated and alienated in his work. His life, marked by drugs, takes a turn when he comes into contact with a secret group of hackers who want to bring down the oligarchies that control the world.

So much for the selection of the best psychological series.. Remember that they are all there are, but they are not all there are, and there will always be a margin to discover new fascinating audiovisual fictions from the point of view of psychology. If you think we have left out any good series that deserve to appear in this list, do not hesitate to write us a comment.