Does it seem to anyone but me that DeRaad's function is to show up once a week, talk to a patient, and then inform the ER doc in charge of the case that "there's nothing we can do?" It really bothered me, too, when he was talking to Carter and he told him not to worry about the "what if's"; "What if I had showed up earlier?" Yeah, blow it off, but if you HAD showed up earlier (it took him 3-4 hours, and by the time he got there, Lucy was already dead), the whole incident wouldn't have happened. Sorry, end of rant.

-- Felicity (felicity08@juno.com), May 23, 2000

Answers

I agree with you Felicity. One of the things that bothered me about the meeting with Carter was that Dr. DeRaad made the comment after Carter told him that he should have picked up on the signs, that Lucy should have to. Although Lucy was very competent, she was still a student not a doctor. Also I was disappointed that it was never mentioned that Lucy did address the idea that Paul might have a mental illness. Even though I don't expect Dr. DeRaad to address everything in the two minutes that we saw him with Carter, it did seem that he was saying that it was an attack and that Carter should just get over it. Pretty sad for a mental health professional. Although I do have to say that at least Dr. DeRaad made an effort which is better than some of Carter's co-workers.

-- Emma (webbef@hotmail.com), May 23, 2000.

THANK YOU!!! i had posted awhile ago, in response to everyone saying that carter should seek professional help!! HE DID, and that was the help he got!! UNPROFESSIONAL, so now he is really discouraged from getting any help at all.

-- ALexis Springer (lexicat1@webtv.net), May 23, 2000.

I agree! I did not like his response to Carter at all and he made me so mad with that pregnant girl this week. OOOH!!!!

-- amanda (amanda.rehm@home.com), May 23, 2000.

I, too, think of Dr. DeRaad's approach to Carter as unprofessional. He should have gotten Carter to talk to someone entirely unrelated to the attack. Dr. DeRaad's comments to Carter make me think that he doesn't feel that he is in any way related to the situation even though HE IS. To paraphrase him, he told Carter "I don't feel any guilt over my actions that night and hey, you shouldn't either." Not only didn't this help Carter, it probably made him angry (with an anger he couldn't express) and wary of other (true) professionals. I wonder what DeRaad's supervisor would think of him treating patients on the fly, dispensing tidbits of advice with no charts on them.

-- maryann (map5860@aol.com), May 23, 2000.

I don't understand this thread at all. De Raad didn't tell Carter to "just get over it"! Au contraire, he seemed to understand that it would take a lot of time and talking with Carter for Carter to progress through his trauma. Unfortunately, Carter got paged, and then apparently ignored De Raad's pleas to come back. I do find it tragic and a bit unrealistic that he (or someone else in Psych) couldn't have come down earlier. The writers wanted us to believe that they were "very busy". Somewhat unbelievable, but the writers do this all the time when it suits their purpose (consider that no one in OBGYN would come help Mark in "Love's Labour's Lost" until it was too late). Anyway, I think De Raad rocks. He has such an understanding yet authoritative air about him. He was patient yet firm and helpful with Lucy. And he sticks to his guns and doesn't let any overzealous ER docs bully him into abusing his power. Apparently TPTB like him too, cuz he's gotten a lot of screen time this season!

-- Jason (jlilley@udel.edu), May 23, 2000.

I'm with you, Jason! More Dr.Deraad in season 7, please! :)

-- anne (sapphire_172@hotmail.com), May 24, 2000.

I was a little surprised that Dr. DeRaad wasn't consulted as to how to do the intervention, but then that information might have come from the people at the Atlanta treatment center. DeRaad had been in the epi earlier though (on the consult with the 18-year-old pregnant woman).

-- Diana (dilynne@juno.com), May 24, 2000.

I thought that maybe Mark would ask Dr. Daraad if Carter had gone to see him. I'm not sure whether I like him or not. Yes, his response to Carter's obvious guilt was odd and not too comforting, but then again, it was like a 2 minute scene, how much can we read from that? He *did* want him to come back again. Maybe I'd like it better if he'd went to find Carter again, to see how he's doing. I know that the therapist that Mark dated in season 3 asked Carter to come up after Dennis Gant's death; I liked her, where'd she go?

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), May 24, 2000.

Elaine, I liked her too. You're talking about the character played by Jami Gertz right? I liked their relationship too. It was a believable way to bring in a love interest for Mark -- someone that we could see him be personal with, but then also learn about her professionally and I liked that she was not in the ER. Plus she had a daughter that was about the same age as Rachel. What did ever happen to her???

-- amanda (amanda.rehm@home.com), May 24, 2000.

I don't know what happened with the character but the actress (Jami Gertz) went back to the big screen (Twister). I thought she was a temporary character when they brought her on anyway, like Alan Alda and Rebecca DeMornay this season, but I'm not sure.

-- Diana (dilynne@juno.com), May 25, 2000.