The Psychiatrist

By Chris Kleckner, Mark Opasinski, Andrea James

October, 2010

Present Day. Chicago, Illinois. Night. Dr. ALDOUS ANDERSON sits in a downtown Chicago police station with an ill-lit interrogation room. His demeanor seems calmer than a man in his situation should be. His well-coordinated outfit including a sweater vest, suit jacket and khaki pants, all sized appropriately for his stature indicates he being a smart, well-kept man. Det. BRAD BRASS, a well-built, street tough detective is briefed on the other side of the two-way mirror. He enters the interrogation room in a confident, dominating manner, though the doctor does not feel threatened. The two share a back and forth dialogue which ultimately determines their distaste for the other. The detective wastes no time in asking the doctor to recall why he thinks he is there. The doctor doesn’t flinch as he replays each on of his patients whom he used to manipulate. The doctor begins recalling the first patient, HENRY, and the immoral, unethical therapy he used on him. Henry suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder and was thrown into a damp, dungeon-esque room with rats and disease, thus forcing him to endure what he is afraid of. Interrogation room. The detective and doctor share a back and forth discussion on the ethical repercussions of what the doctor did. The doctor has his reasons as to why he did it in this way, and the detective is trying to figure out exactly what is wrong with the doctor. The doctor then begins to discuss his second patient/victim, KATIE. Katie is put into a hypnotic state in which she is certain her worst fears and demons are all around her though they are not and the doctor is the only one who can snap her out of it.

The detective grows more and more angry with the doctor as he continues to tell his patients stories, almost to the point of him getting violent with the doctor. The doctor remains calm and collected because he knows he is getting into the detectives head. The doctor then begins recalling his third patient/victims name, ERIN. Erin in the Detective’s manic depressive mother. The detective becomes enraged to the point of insanity, based on what the doctor discusses with him. Erin is his mother. Other policemen barge in and must force the detective to leave the room. We see the doctor sitting in the interrogation room just as he was in the beginning, but even more content with his social experiments. The detective is even more distraught and upset than he was before. We see the Det. in a mental hospital, not the strong, determined, thick-headed detective he once was. The doctor is carted off to jail, as he lets out an eerie, sadistic laugh. Character Development: The doctor believes he is helping people in a delusional way. Past events involving his wife’s insanity, he believes he has found an alternative form of therapy, which can help people. It was never the Doctor’s intention to focus on the Detectives relatives, but that is just how it turned out. The Detective is related to each of the patients in some way. He is related to Henry best friend from childhood and his neighbor. Katie is the Detectives sister-in-law. And Eric is the Detectives mother. The Detective is unsure to believe he is somewhat responsible for these people’s fates or if the Doctor is planting that idea in his head.