In Treatment 3x14

Frances is an entirely different animal from the previous session when she stormed out in anger because Paul refused to help her read her lines. She was terrified the preview would turn out a disaster. Now she is dejected yet resigned, although she’s had a great week on stage to laud applause. She has every reason to feel satisfied, yet she is quiet, reluctant to talk about anything, and still insecure about herself. She keeps talking about what other people think of her – her mother, her sister, her daughter, her ex-husband, even Paul – and how she feels she has disappointed them all in her life. She always felt inadequate around Russell and his intellectual friends. She apologized to Patricia for discouraging her from pursuing an acting career, but was hurt that her sister said she is glad she led a “real life.” Frances admits she stopped visiting her mother in her last days, feeling guilty Isabel came all the way to New York in her state to attend her premiere. She has been trying to live up to everyone’s expectations, putting up a performance her whole life, that she has no idea how to judge herself. The problem with her is that she is so passive-aggressively manipulative that it is impossible to know when she is telling the truth. Paul is aware that she contradicts herself every session, but makes no bones about it. Instead, he emphasizes that her feeling of inadequacy and disappointment comes from within, and that she needs to consider her own self-worth. Frances didn’t speak about her breast cancer test, but at the end of the session we learn she got the results, but hasn’t opened them yet.