The Image of Psychotherapy and Mental Health Professionals in the Last two Decades of Iranian Cinema

The media, as one of the main pillars of awareness and culturing in today's societies, can be effective on the expectations of people in the society. Cinema is one of the most effective media that has a significant impact on shaping the general culture of the society and the mental frameworks of the people. Therefore, the aim of the current research is to determine the image of psychotherapy and mental health professionals in the last two decades of Iranian cinema. The research method was quantitative content analysis and the statistical population was movies of the eighties and nineties. The two main components for sample selection were having at least one character in the role of a mental health specialist or having a character with professional activity in this field, and face-to-face therapy sessions. In order to achieve the goal of the research, three questions were asked in three different sections and answered by examining 16 components. The results showed that the face drawn from psychotherapy is a male face, unique to psychiatry and psychology, and in most cases, Therapy is in individual format, and most of the clients were young women. The results indicate that the films do not pay attention to the principles of professional ethics in counseling and psychology. Thus, it can be concluded that the semblance presented by psychotherapy and mental health professionals is unprofessional and far from reality and can influence the cinema audience.