I’ve often written about how positive images of mental health appear in odd places in pop culture, and this week’s topic, the USA show Necessary Roughness, is one of those places. USA is known as a lightweight network, where all of the shows have a certain soap opera aspect to them, and Necessary Roughness is no different. It also has something interesting to say underneath it though.
Just starting its third season, the show is about psychologist Dr. Danielle “Dani” Santino, who is hired by the New York Hawks football team to help their star receiver, Terrence King. Through her work with T.K. and the Hawks, she is suddenly in demand with other sports figures, celebrities and politicians. The show is split between her long term work with T.K. and the case of the week stories. In addition, the show follows Dani’s personal life, which includes dating after a messy divorce and raising two teenagers. She’s involved with one of the Hawk’s trainers, Matt Donnally, and drawn to the team’s mysterious fixer, Nico Careles.
I started watching Necessary Roughness more because I like sports than because of the psychology, but the way the show handles the therapy is amazing. The audience can see how both short term and long term therapy can affect people, by juxtaposing T.K. and the case of the week. How Dani handles the cases differs, which makes each episode more individual. In some cases, she diagnoses the patient quickly, and their time together is focused on getting through the next game or show. Other times, it takes longer to figure out the issue, and that’s the focus of their work. T.K. doesn’t have a mental health condition; rather, Dani is helping him figure out how to handle the enormous pressure being a star receiver in the NFL. The show even does a great job of showing her as a fallible person, making mistakes with patients, and their effect on her.
The show is focused on Dani and her work as a therapist, but it also takes for granted something that is often not shown; the idea that everyone can recover. All of Dani’s patients learn they can recover from their issues, or at least mitigate them. In one episode, she diagnoses a baseball player with narcissistic personality disorder. When he asks if he can be cured, she tells him that he can learn to manage it. The expectations are realistic, as are the challenges faced by the characters. It’s great to see her be tough, but also very caring for her patients. The therapeutic relationship is a strong one with her patients, and she respects them as people. Often, the final result is that the patient knows what’s wrong, and the show never backs down from letting us know that there’s more work to be done.
In many respects, the show has a Pollyanna view of therapy. Everyone who sees Dani is rich and powerful, and none of them have debilitating mental health conditions. She makes tons of money and lives in a huge house, even though most therapists don’t. She doesn’t have to deal with insurance providers or individuals unable to pay. In fact, how she gets paid is mostly unaddressed. Many of the problems with the mental health system in this country aren’t addressed at all, which is disappointing. However, the way mental health and substance use conditions are dealt with makes up for that. The people Dani sees are people with mental health conditions, and their illnesses don’t define them. That positivity is a good thing.
I really love Necessary Roughness. The way psychology is treated on the show is realistic, and the people who get help are the sort of people who aren’t supposed to get mental health conditions. The deft touch and the respect everyone on the show is treated with is a step in the right direction. With 5.85 million viewers each week, it’s really 5.85 million steps in the right direction.
Next week, we’ll take a look at TNT’s Perception, where schizophrenia and investigation intersect. Do you watch Necessary Roughness? What do you think?
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