'Couples Therapy' puts real therapy on screen in a way that doesn't feel exploitative

The series invites you to share the intimate details of other people's relationships, and you'll be all the better for it. We swear.

Couples Therapy Source: distributor

Couples Therapy is back to unlock a hidden world: other people's relationships. It plants a camera crew in the weekly therapy sessions of four couples, and manages to steer clear of reality-show caricatures. 

Therapist Dr. Orna Guralnik deftly guides the couples through the minefield of honest confrontation with each other and with themselves; she calls them out when she needs to, and discloses her own concerns about the power she wields with other people's lives, in extraordinarily private moments behind closed doors.

The show centres around the question, “Can you film a therapy session without undermining the experience?" The answer is yes: You can film people at their most vulnerable, as their relationship is in crisis, and avoid making the experience exploitative, or something akin to Real Housewives with better production values.

(L-R): Josh, Orna Guralnik, PsyD and Molly in COUPLES THERAPY, 304. Photo credit: Courtesy of SHOWTIME. Source: Courtesy of Showtime

Let's not kid ourselves that there isn't an element of voyeurism in watching the participants go through the wringer about their sex lives, their childhoods, their traumas. But the process itself isn't set up to exploit their pain, and co-producers Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg manage to walk an ethical minefield, to achieve something truly remarkable. 

We see these couples weekly, and we see them put in the work for their partnerships. 

Couples Therapy seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming at SBS On Demand. Season 3 is airing weekly on SBS VICELAND  with double episodes Tuesdays from 9:30PM. Season 3 episodes 1-9 are now streaming at SBS On Demand, episodes 10-18 will be available to stream after airing on SBS VICELAND. Start here with season 1: