Two Psych Doctors Spill the Tea on Mental Health Concepts & Presentations Shown in your Fave RealiTV Shows!
Ever find yourself wanting to debrief that reality tv episode with your therapist? Or maybe you've wanted to ask them questions about something you've learned from the reality tv interactions, castmates, or news cycle?
Come debrief with two licensed psychologists as they explore what we can all learn about ourselves, our relationships, and our society from our fave reality television shows on Netflix, Peacock, Bachelor Nation, Bravo, and beyond! Dr.s Kay & Ray inspire discussion about psychological and sociopolitical aspects of reality TV, offering rough draft thoughts and ideas for us to continue thinking about, while highlighting the power dynamics, sociohistorical context, and intersecting forms of oppression and privilege that are present. After all, reality television ultimately provides an engaging format for learning about our behavior, mental health, and sociopolitical systems—let’s learn together!
Why REALITY TEST? We ALL reality test when testing a given thought, emotion, or interaction against "objective" (or shared) reality--did I see that right? Was that really sexist? Dr.s Kay & Ray spill all the tea on how the producer antics and castmate claims about mental health stack up against "objective" reality off-screen and the field of clinical psychology that they have learned about as practicing psychotherapists and research psychologists.
What are you talking ABOUT? Reality Test has a general focus on relationships, social privilege, and mental health. Dr.s Kay & Ray also acknowledge their sociopolitical identities and lenses through which they view reality television, as feminist, bi+, white allies. So, if you've been itching to discuss how that episode was brimming with misogyny, heterosexism, &/or white privilege (from a white, ever-dedicated-to-developing-their-antiracism, perspective), or to critically assess how the producers portrayed a given scenario or interaction, while celebrating the hope & empowerment that can be found, you've come to the right place!
DISCLAIMER: In the context of this podcast, Dr.s Kay & Ray are not acting as therapists, neither for you nor for the reality castmates they discuss. They are, instead, bringing in their whole human selves, supplemented by mental health and psychology knowledge. They cannot ethically diagnose castmates or speak with certainty about their dynamics without conducting formal psychological assessments. Thus, their opinions will be merely (easily erroneous) opinions, informed by their biased perspectives, and while they may discuss diagnoses, they will avoid assigning them to castmates.
Two Psych Doctors Spill the Tea on Mental Health Concepts & Presentations Shown in your Fave RealiTV Shows!
Ever find yourself wanting to debrief that reality tv episode with your therapist? Or maybe you've wanted to ask them questions about something you've learned from the reality tv interactions, castmates, or news cycle?
Come debrief with two licensed psychologists as they explore what we can all learn about ourselves, our relationships, and our society from our fave reality television shows on Netflix, Peacock, Bachelor Nation, Bravo, and beyond! Dr.s Kay & Ray inspire discussion about psychological and sociopolitical aspects of reality TV, offering rough draft thoughts and ideas for us to continue thinking about, while highlighting the power dynamics, sociohistorical context, and intersecting forms of oppression and privilege that are present. After all, reality television ultimately provides an engaging format for learning about our behavior, mental health, and sociopolitical systems—let’s learn together!
Why REALITY TEST? We ALL reality test when testing a given thought, emotion, or interaction against "objective" (or shared) reality--did I see that right? Was that really sexist? Dr.s Kay & Ray spill all the tea on how the producer antics and castmate claims about mental health stack up against "objective" reality off-screen and the field of clinical psychology that they have learned about as practicing psychotherapists and research psychologists.
What are you talking ABOUT? Reality Test has a general focus on relationships, social privilege, and mental health. Dr.s Kay & Ray also acknowledge their sociopolitical identities and lenses through which they view reality television, as feminist, bi+, white allies. So, if you've been itching to discuss how that episode was brimming with misogyny, heterosexism, &/or white privilege (from a white, ever-dedicated-to-developing-their-antiracism, perspective), or to critically assess how the producers portrayed a given scenario or interaction, while celebrating the hope & empowerment that can be found, you've come to the right place!
DISCLAIMER: In the context of this podcast, Dr.s Kay & Ray are not acting as therapists, neither for you nor for the reality castmates they discuss. They are, instead, bringing in their whole human selves, supplemented by mental health and psychology knowledge. They cannot ethically diagnose castmates or speak with certainty about their dynamics without conducting formal psychological assessments. Thus, their opinions will be merely (easily erroneous) opinions, informed by their biased perspectives, and while they may discuss diagnoses, they will avoid assigning them to castmates.
Selling Sunset Pivot! Doctors Kay & Ray spill the mental health tea boiling over the top of the season 9 reunion! There is so much tea in this particular reunion, that they only got halfway through in this first hour. Dr.s Kay & Ray use their standard 6 psychology-related segments to unpack the first half of the reunion, talking about what producers would have done differently if they were psychologists, and what they would want to work on in therapy with a given castmate.
Themes include unresolved trauma + traumatic loss, image management + elitism, cocaine accusations, homophobia + cissexism, MAGA + slurs, and pronoun use. Whew! Look at all that sociopolitical discussion fodder! Bi+ icon (bicon) Crishell’s relational conflicts--some due to her relational boundary-setting around MAGA beliefs, given her bi+ identity and non-binary partner--seem to predominate the reunion, which Dr.s Kay & Ray dive deep into (and will again next episode!).
To add to the fun, Dr. Ray has seen the season and every season prior, whereas Dr. Kay hasn’t watched since season 3; so, Dr. Kay is unaware of the recent dynamics fueling the various conflicts, but better able to make connections to the early seasons, whereas Dr. Ray is able to offer context and suggestions for what else to prioritize watching in season 9 (like the pink bathroom!).
Reality Check! Where Dr.s Kay & Ray discuss psychological studies of interest to you–or, at least, to them! :) This week, they discuss the “burying your gays” concept being applied to reality TV and feminist institutional analysis of rape culture & sexual violence!
What do you think: Is "MAGA" a slur?
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Listeners! Come visit the Patreon for free at patreon.com/RealityTest (or search on Patreon with “@RealityTest”) & check out some of the benefits of a free membership (early access to the audio episodes!) & the paid tier! For only a MEASLY $5/month, you get the bonus features, including Mental Health Check-Up episodes, the VIDEO episodes, the full audio episode archive, and bonus & behind-the-scenes video content!
The first 10 paying members will get shoutouts on the pod & 5 randomly selected members will get a free year of membership after joining! What are you waiting for? Come watch our video episodes, & join us in learning a little something about psych & mental health from our examinations of your favorite reality TV shows, castmates, and tea!
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Reality testing is when we check an emotion or thought we’re having against objective reality.
So, here in Reality Test, we’re going to be testing the thoughts, emotions, interactions, and producer antics of reality television against what we know, as licensed psychologists, about objective reality.
Come with us, let’s Reality Test!
Hosts: Dr. Kay & Dr. Ray
Thank you to our sound extraordinaire, Connor!
Patreon: patreon.com/RealityTest
Linkt.ree/@RealityTest
Instagram: @realitytestpodcast
TikTok: @realitytestpod
YouTube Channel: @realitytestpod
Facebook Page: Reality Test Pod
Email: realitycheckpodding@gmail.com
Dr. Kay: @drkaypods (Insta) & @dr.realitv (TikTok)
Dr. Ray: @drraypods (Insta)
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