Reality Test
Psychologists talk RealiTV!
Two licensed psychologists look at what we can learn about culture, societal oppression, social privilege, and ourselves from reality television. Grounded in their sociopolitical positions as relational, anti-racist, feminists, Dr.s Kay & Ray address the power dynamics; social (in)justice; intersecting oppressions, marginalizations, and privileges; and sociohistorical context present in numerous, popular reality television shows, while also celebrating the hope and empowerment that can be found.
At the end of some of our first episodes (3, 4, & 8), and now as separate episodes, “Mental Health Check-Up” segments explore brief mental health interventions, self-help tips, or other concepts from psychology for us all to further noodle on!
We hope to inspire further discussion about psychological and sociocultural aspects of our favorite reality tv shows, offering rough draft thoughts and ideas for us all to continue thinking about. After all, reality television ultimately provides an engaging format for learning about human behavior, mental health, and sociopolitical systems—let’s learn together!
DISCLAIMER: In the context of this podcast, we are not acting as therapists, neither for you nor for the reality castmates we discuss. We are, instead, bringing in our whole human selves, supplemented by mental health and psychology knowledge. We both adhere to social constructionism, such that we believe all knowledge is co-constructed in the context of relationships and we all have our own reality, informed by our own biased memories and subjectivities.
Despite realiTV making us all believe we know the castmates, we clearly do not, and we cannot ethically diagnose them or speak with certainty about their dynamics without conducting formal psychological assessments. Thus, our opinions will be merely (easily erroneous) opinions, informed by our biased perspectives, and while we may discuss diagnoses, we will avoid assigning them to castmates. We've spent years developing our professional roles as psychotherapists, professors, supervisors, and consultants, but we are new to podcasting--as you'll notice! Thank you in advance for your patience and feedback :) This will be an imperfect, but growth-fostering process, and we appreciate your engagement with it and with us! Thanks, y’all.
Reality Test
Love Island US, ep.s 9-15 & Bridgerton, ep.s 1-4 | Tell me you’ve been to therapy without telling me…
For the “we spotted therapy” segment, Dr.s Kay & Ray discuss castmates whose behavior and language suggested they may have had therapy in the past. For example, in Love Island, JaNa’s use of “acting out” in a non-pejorative manner and her (self-)awareness around emotional expression may suggest prior therapy. What and who else?
Dr. Kay & Dr. Ray discuss episodes 9-15 of season 6 of Love Island, as well as the first 4 episodes of Season 3 of Bridgerton! Dr.s Kay & Ray discuss the mental health concerns that reality television castmates may face when returning from recording a show, ranging from diagnoses, such as depression and obsessive compulsive disorder, to daily concerns, such as embarrassment and (in)visibility.
They also discuss how Bridgerton identifies and challenges social oppression regarding size, race, gender, and ability status, raising some topics discussed in the Mental Health Check-Up (MHCU) episodes (e.g., MHCU 7 on the Central Relational Paradox & Love!).
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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 Reality Test with us!
Hosts: Dr. Kay & Dr. Ray
Thank you to our sound extraordinaire, Connor!
Instagram: @drkaypods @drraypods
TikTok: @dr.realitv
Facebook Page: Reality Test Pod
YouTube Channel: @RealityTestPod
Email: realitycheckpodding@gmail.com
