Send the Shrink to the Madhouse

From Tv Tropes

There are all types of The Shrink, but this will probably be The Well-Meaning, But Dopey And Ineffective Shrink. He's heard The Hero and doesn't believe a word of it, so he calls the men in white. But for some reason, they delay and the character has the chance to show the psychologist that what he does is real, that the Ancient Conspiracy exists and that he should be Properly Paranoid.

The doctor is not only forced to believe, but Goes Mad from the Revelation. Cue in men in white and a deranged doctor (and possibly The Hero having already left the room). The men in white were called to reel in a looney, so they do, case closed.

Nevermind That things shouldn't happen that way. People can't just barge in and take someone that looks a bit disturbed without enquiring the circumstances, and especially shouldn't be able to keep him for too long before some of his colleagues recognise him or her. But hey, fiction.

Not to be confused with Psycho Psychologist, who is actually insane and rarely sent to the madhouse.

Alternate possible titles: Bluff the Shrink.

Examples

• Looney Tunes did it sometimes.
• Rare non-super actual looney (Romanian) sketch: man finds looney in his house, looney subtly threatens him to change clothes, drives him crazy, men in white appear, looney acts like the owner, owner is not believed, owner taken away, looney goes back to being a (free) looney.
• In Post Dramatic Slide Disorder, a Whole Flashback Episode is narrated by Rembrant to a shrink. The shrink calls the men in white, but before they appear, Rembrant's fellow sliders appear, open the wormhole and slide out. The shrink is taken as he says interdimensional travel is possible and all that nonsense.
• In the Doctor Who story "The Happiness Patrol", the oppressive society of Terra Alpha (where everyone is forced to be happy) is clearly falling apart even before the Doctor arrives to take the oppressive society down, but he acts as the necessary impetus to finally push it over the edge into chaos and open rebellion. One particularly beautiful example, however; a militia is set up to 'disappear' a group of protesters deliberately acting sad in protest over the laws, only to find when they get there that the Doctor has persuaded them to act happy, meaning that they are now obeying the law and can't be arrested or killed. And to add insult to injury, the first wave is so confused, glum and indecisive about what to do that when a second wave turns up to help, they end up ignoring the protesters and arresting the first wave for breaking the same laws they'd been intending to arrest the protesters over. (from Fascist But Inefficient)