If you’ve ever said, “These people need therapy” while watching “The Real Housewives of New York,” you’re in luck.
Dr. Tracy Thomas, a California psychologist and devout “RHONY” fan, spoke to Page Six about what’s behind the battles the women are facing, both this season and throughout their lives.
‘These people need help. We’re really looking at some people with serious mental health and addiction issues who really deserve to feel better and be healthier, “Thomas told us, based on her review of the show.
But part of the challenge in getting help is the stigma surrounding the treatment of substance abuse in the United States.
“[The ‘Housewives’] mostly white rehab as the last and last option and that is so unattractive to people that we constantly find them refusing to just say, ‘Yeah, I’m having trouble, and I’ll get help. Treatment should be considered as empowerment and a form of self-care. ”
Thomas, who has never treated any of the ‘Housewives’, believes that Sonja Morgan, whose drunken antics were set on fire by her castmates, “suffered from one level of PTSD.” ‘Part of the chronic tension she experiences is through the downfall of her marriage, that she seems endlessly sad. And I can see that she has not forgiven herself – that she is punishing herself – for it. ”
Sonja was married to John Adams Morgan, the founder and chairman of Morgan Joseph, from 1998 to 2006. The couple share one daughter, Quincy.
‘I think much of her grief and trauma comes from fear that she will never return to her same level of wealth and privilege, and that she can only deal with it while intoxicating herself with drugs. She may feel that time is running out and that nothing has landed, and that is very painful and frightening. “
Thomas thinks that Luann de Lesseps is also saddened by a failed marriage. ‘We all saw each other as Luann continued his relationship with Tom [D’Agostino]; the way she went through that relationship and marriage, despite her awareness of the problems that were there. And so she mourns not only over the divorce, but also over the loss of the idea of a love affair. By the time she is arrested and joins the police, the trauma and grief of it are on one level, but being a woman who went from literal royalty to rehab with ‘normal people’ lies on another. ‘
And while Lessep co-star Dorinda Medley may have given her a hard time rehearsing on a recent episode, Thomas thinks the cabaret star’s reaction was a sign of her growth.
‘When Dorinda said,’ I did not have to go to rehab, ‘and Luann said,’ Can’t you shame me for that? ‘I was very proud of Luann there. Her emotional development, as forced on her as it was, is truly admirable. ”
Despite her criticism, Dorinda is not without her own suffering. ‘Dorinda has lost this love of her life – Richard – and with it a truly loving, elegant life with a lot of depth and access. You can tell how cheat she has felt and feels through his death. When people go through that kind of loss, there’s a lot of fear that we can not do that again, we can not recreate that life. You can feel that she is afraid of that.
‘Part of grief is angry and scared, and she just so happens to be in a group of very intense, reactive women. If she was in a different setting, I think it would be easier for her to recover, but she’s right in the lions’ den. If you are sad and fearful of other people, it can really activate and compose your own. ”
While the conversation around mental health has become a storyline, Thomas feels that the language of treatment and therapy is being used as weapons.
‘Words like code addiction and addiction are thrown around and tied around people without anyone really asking what leads them into those relationships or patterns. ‘So-and-so is this to do’ – then someone will step in, ‘Oh that’s because they’re in a relationship with a narcissist.’ These women really reverse these conditions. I also think that almost everyone this season has accused each other of alcoholism; it is passed through like a hot potato.
‘We really need to think about how we deal with this. Saying ‘you need help’, or ‘you need rehab’, is hurtful, instead of saying, ” I see you wrestling and I see you want to be happy. ‘
Thomas’ diagnosis for “Housewives” is quite simple: “Their emotions are beyond their capacity for dealing with them. Emotional power and intelligence is a process and a muscle that needs to be developed, and for many of them, they become overwhelming. ”
‘If your emotional resources are below what the situation demands, you break down. People will make it more about your personality, but what we are seeing is pain that is overcome in different forms. ”
.
