Sandra Cohen Ph.D.

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Sandra Cohen Ph.D. Dr. Sandra Cohen is a certified Psychoanalyst and Trauma Informed Specialist focused on childhood trauma and its aftereffects. Speaker. Author. Educator. We see.

My name is Dr. Sandra Cohen and I am a certified psychoanalyst and licensed clinical psychologist with a practice in Beverly Hills, California. Each time I watch a film, TV show or read a book, my psychoanalyst’s mind begins to construct the same kind of understandings I might give to my patients. Pop culture often depicts real human problems with startling accuracy. Why is this so? Fictional characters are informed by their writer’s experiences and made more convincing by what we bring as we watch or read. Our unconscious minds unite with the writer’s. Personal experience is made public. We relate. We know. The early memories and unconscious struggles of these characters show us what we can’t so easily know about other people or ourselves. My musings at Characters on the Couch give me a chance to tell you what I see in ways similar to how I talk with my patients.

“I got you, baby, I got you.”Those words from Tish’s father are at the heart of If Beale Street Could Talk. And they tel...
10/20/2026

“I got you, baby, I got you.”

Those words from Tish’s father are at the heart of If Beale Street Could Talk. And they tell us something important about the kind of love that helps us survive hate, helplessness, and despair.

Tish has grown up knowing that kind of love. A love that stays, even when things get terribly hard. And it’s what gives her the strength to stand by Fonny as he faces a rigged justice system, the terror of prison, and a mother whose cruelty has left its own wounds.

That’s what loving parents can give us. The feeling that someone has our back, that we’re worth fighting for, and that we don’t have to face the worst things in life alone.

It’s the love Tish promises her own child: “I got you. I got you. I promise.”

Zain is only 12. Alone. Neglected. Fending for himself.And he carries all the feelings his parents refuse to feel. The g...
10/09/2026

Zain is only 12. Alone. Neglected. Fending for himself.

And he carries all the feelings his parents refuse to feel. 

The grief. The heartbreak. The rage.  And (despite everything) the love. 

That’s what moves me most about Capernaum. Zain has been abused
and exploited, but when baby Yonas needs him, Zain knows how to care. Yonas is the little Zain, the baby he once was when he needed someone to love and protect him just as he cares for Yonas.  

And when Zain finally finds his voice on a TV program about child abuse, he uses it for more than himself. He speaks for his
sister, Sahar. For Yonas. For every abused child who has been left without a voice - forgotten, abandoned, and stepped on.

Yes. Zain will be more than “an insect.”

Will has learned that needing people is dangerous.So he hides. He needs as little as possible, trusts no one, and teache...
10/01/2026

Will has learned that needing people is dangerous.

So he hides. He needs as little as possible, trusts no one, and teaches Tom to survive the same way. His distrust, wariness, and fierce self-sufficiency have protected him for a very long time.

But Tom wants something different. She wants friends. She wants connection. She discovers that people can be kind and that trust can be earned.

Will has given Tom something he clearly never had: enough trust to know that she has needs of her own.

And eventually, Tom has to give up her dad’s way of life to save her own.

Envy is a greedy, tricky beast. What happens when it takes over?In The Favourite, Queen Anne, Sarah, and Abigail each wa...
09/23/2026

Envy is a greedy, tricky beast. What happens when it takes over?

In The Favourite, Queen Anne, Sarah, and Abigail each want to be chosen, desired, and the one in the other’s gaze. But each woman’s envy comes from a different place. Anne envies Sarah’s confidence and strength. Sarah wants the power Anne was born with. Abigail has known poverty, humiliation, betrayal, and abuse, and wants the status and security she sees others enjoying.

They fight for favor, power, and revenge. And envy has its backlash.
Sarah is banished. Anne loses her closest friend. Abigail gets her Ladyship, only to find herself trapped.

These are the spoils of envy’s greedy game.

09/19/2026

What does understand about trauma that other shows miss?

The series gets at something deeply psychological: trauma doesn’t simply stay in the past. It can shape memory, relationships, and the ways we understand ourselves years later.

I’m Dr. Sandra E. Cohen, a psychoanalyst exploring the psychology behind the stories we watch. Follow for more.

What happens to your hunger for love when childhood brings hurt, deprivation, and rejection? You dam it up.Monika learne...
09/18/2026

What happens to your hunger for love when childhood brings hurt, deprivation, and rejection? You dam it up.

Monika learned early to push her hunger aside. There wasn’t enough good attention at home. Her father was critical and abusive. Too many younger siblings took all her mother’s time and love. There was no one there to love Monika.  So, her hunger got dammed-up.

Then Harry comes along and that dam breaks. Monika’s hunger for an idyllic love takes over. “Just the two of us,” forever. That’s what she wants and demands. The very thing she lost with her mom. But reality intrudes, Monika gets pregnant, and now it’s “three,” And, Harry (just like her mom) can’t give her enough.

That’s the trouble with early trauma and dammed up hunger. It confuses love. Replays your childhood. And can either make you demand everything you were deprived of or run away if you are, like Monika, disappointed again …

Middle School sucks when you’re trying desperately to figure out who you are and you’re convinced everyone else is judgi...
09/15/2026

Middle School sucks when you’re trying desperately to figure out who you are and you’re convinced everyone else is judging the answer.

For Kayla, there’s something earlier underneath all that nervousness. Her mom left when she was a baby. Deep down, she believes maybe she wasn’t the baby her mom wanted. That early loss seeps into her fears of rejection and becomes the critical voice in her head.

But Kayla is learning something important. She can be scared. She can need help. She can let her dad comfort her. And slowly, she can grow into who she is and learn to like Kayla for Kayla.

What if you need your own life and your mom won’t let you go? That’s Lady Bird. She wants what every teenager needs: to ...
09/12/2026

What if you need your own life and your mom won’t let you go? That’s Lady Bird. She wants what every teenager needs: to separate, to find her own way, to become herself.

But her mom, Marion, has a hard time letting go. Her own mother was an abusive alcoholic, and those old hurts are still very much alive. So Lady Bird’s independence stirs up Marion’s frightened daughter-self. Her criticism and anger get inside Lady Bird too, so that wanting something for herself makes Lady Bird feel selfish and “bad.”

Our moms live inside us. For better or worse.

And sometimes growing up means finding your own voice while still trying to hold onto the love that’s there.

09/11/2026

What is the “scum” Travis Bickle is so desperate to wash away?

Maybe it’s the need, shame, humiliation, and self-hate he can’t bear inside himself.

Saving Iris gives Travis a chance to save someone else. But maybe, without knowing it, he’s also trying to save the wounded part of himself.

So. Is Travis really a hero? Or does he desperately need to believe he is?

Address

435 N Bedford Drive, Ste 406
Beverly Hills, CA
90210

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+13102734827

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