Our Best Therapy Cartoons Through the Years

Our cartoon editor shares top moments on and off the couch. Plus: MDMA; psychiatry after COVID; and an ode to the Instant Pot. View in browser | Update your preferences Thursday, July 13, 2023 In today’s newsletter, the laughing cure, and then: • Can MDMA enhance therapy? • Psychiatry in crisis after COVID • Susan Orlean’s ode to the Instant Pot Therapy Cartoons from the Past Century (Well, Almost) Selections from the magazine’s deep archive of drawn neuroses. Cartoon by Charles Barsotti Therapy and cartooning may very well be symbiotic professions at this point. For the cartoonist, the doctor serves as both muse and captive audience. Also, it’s a medical fact that, if you shrink a brain enough, its contents are reduced to a single punch line. And how would therapists know how to arrange their offices, were it not for the definitive décor outlined by cartoonists: couch (check), plant (check), framed degree (check)? Since the earliest days of this magazine, when psychoanalysis was a relatively new shtick, analysts and their patients have been a cartoon staple. Peruse a sampling of the genre, by decade, by clicking the button below. Will doing so cure you? If laughter is indeed the best medicine, perhaps. Anyway, it’ll have to do until the end of August, when your therapist gets back from vacation. —Emma Allen, cartoon editor See the cartoons Support The New Yorker’s award-winning journalism. Subscribe today » More from the Therapy Issue Under Review The Rebranding of MDMA Ecstasy used to be known as Therapy. What kind of drug could it become next? By Rachel Riederer Essay What COVID Revealed About American Psychiatry The pandemic destabilized us—and exposed the fractures in our country’s approach to mental health. By George Makari Tune in: On the Political Scene podcast, the climate activist Bill McKibben talks about this summer’s weather, which he calls a “truly remarkable moment in the history of the planet.” Summer Reading Flash Fiction “The Half-Century Dispute” “You and I, we said to each other, we don’t have to go on doing this. You know what I will say, and I know what you are going to answer.” By Lore Segal Read the rest of this summer’s Flash Fiction series, and more of our very short stories from previous years. Editor’s Pick Afterword The Instant Pot and the Miracle Kitchen Devices of Yesteryear Preparing meals is a Sisyphean task, and anything that promises to make it faster, or easier, or better, or healthier, or more fun, is irresistible. By Susan Orlean Fun & Games Dept. Name Drop Play Today’s Quiz Can you guess the notable person in six clues or fewer? By Will Nediger Daily Shouts Lies I Want to Tell My Child But don’t because I’m the grownup. By Trevor Alixopulos Crossword A Beginner-Friendly Puzzle More incensed: seven letters. By Robyn Weintraub Daily Cartoon Thursday, July 13th By Zoe Si P.S. Tom Cruise is starring in his seventh “Mission: Impossible” movie, out this week. The cartoonist Ward Sutton has imagined a few other latter-day Cruise sequels. Thanks for reading. Let us know your thoughts about today’s edition. Plus, browse more newsletters and invite a friend to sign up for The Daily. You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for The Daily from The New Yorker. Manage your preferences | View our Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2023. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.