This season, the HBO series, In Treatment, features a character, Frances, who has recently been tested for a BRCA mutation. The basic premise of the show is to show actual, albeit fictionalized, psychotherapy, in "real time". Each episode of the series features a different patient who is in therapy with Paul, a psychotherapist played by Gabriel Byrne. Frances is an famous actress who is having trouble remembering her lines in a new play. She also has a sister who is dying of breast cancer, which also killed Frances's mother.
So far, the show has not focused that much on the BRCA angle, other than to explore Frances's guilt over her mother's death and her sister's illness. However, this week's episode ended with Frances announcing to Paul that she "has her results" (of her BRCA test). The preview of next week's episode shows her handing the envelope to Paul and asking him to open it and tell her what it says.
Will she be positive leading to a rich fodder of material on the inevitably agonizing decisions that must follow?
Or will she be negative leading to a vast gold mine of survivor's guilt for having escaped the family curse that brutally killed her mother and is currently killing her sister?
Either way, the dramatic possibilities are tantalizing.
I'm guessing negative - pure mental anguish is probably more appealing for a show like this than an exploration of the far more complex psychological aspects of managing a BRCA mutation.
On the other hand, a positive result, leading Frances to cancer-free previvorship, would also induce a healthy dose of survivor's guilt.
Your thoughts?
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