I've always done my best to steer clear of psychiatrists.
Their whole purpose is to dig down into those painful areas, that extensive list of disorders I have developed and spent a lifetime forcing far, far from the surface lest I have to confront them.
That dread fear of such people I'm sure is behind the attempts of many decent comedians to turn them into a harmless joke.
That is why so many have a joke in their repertoire that takes place on a psychiatrist's coach.
I'm sure that's it.
Two shows have begun recently on Comedy Central that use mental dysfunction as a premise for a good, if sometimes nervous and slightly hysterical laugh.
Headcase (Comedy Central, Tuesdays, 8.30pm) stars Alexandra Wentworth as Dr Elizabeth Goode, a medical professional one would pay good money to steer clear of.
It also stars Steve Landesberg - best known for his role in Barney Miller - as Freudian psychiatrist Dr Myron Finkelstein.
Headcase takes a page from the very excellent Free Radio, which finished its run on Comedy Central recently.
The premise of Free Radio was a dysfunctional radio station, where real celebrities guest star as themselves to be interviewed.
The premise of Headcase is a dysfunctional psychiatrist, where real celebrities guest star as themselves to be psychiatrised.
Free Radio was funny.
Headcase . . . I'm not sure, but I'm going to give it another chance.
In episode one, Jason Priestly of Beverly Hills 90210, who also appears in the writing credits, finds himself being asked how it feels to be perceived as a homosexual, is dressed as a woman, and given a thoroughly inappropriate going-over by Dr Goode.
Meanwhile, Dr Finkelstein finds himself short of patients.
That problem, we discover, is due to many being suicidal, and his flippant responses leading to an unfortunately high death rate.
"They get depressed and want to kill themselves: I say `go ahead'."
Dr Finkelstein is a highlight of Headcase.
While Dr Goode does her thing, Finkelstein tries to steal her patients in the waiting room by reminding them he is able to write prescriptions for drugs.
Future guest stars include Jerry Seinfeld and Jeff Goldblum, so it's probably worth hanging in.
Also worth a look, and following the psychiatry theme, is Gravity (Comedy Central, Tuesdays, 9pm).
Gravity follows the exploits of a group from an eccentric out-patient programme for suicide survivors.
It features Kiwi Rachel Hunter, who appears to be able to act, and Ving Rhames, the African-American actor who got into some trouble in a basement in Pulp Fiction, only to be saved by Bruce Willis.
Just for that reason, it's worth a watch.
