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My Therapist Is Called ‘Law & Order’

Disclaimer: A TV show is no substitute for professional mental health support. That said, my favorite cops-and-lawyers procedural has always been there for me.

Zaron Burnett III
Humungus
Published in
10 min readOct 28, 2019

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“Look at this: Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Kierkegaard. Either we’re looking for a philosophy student, or we got one very depressed criminal.” — Detective Lennie Briscoe

When my best friend died unexpectedly on an otherwise unremarkable December day, the police showed up, they investigated, and then ruled out foul play. I was there when the coroner van arrived. His blood was still congealing on the floor. They left that behind for me to clean-up. What was left of my best friend was now a sticky red mess on the floor. Weeks later, the overworked LA county coroner decided my friend’s cause of death was “undetermined.” Then the criminal justice system picked-up and moved on.

Alone, I had to make sense of my best friend’s unjust passing. To do that, I turned to a fictional criminal justice system. I was fully aware that my need for justice will never be satisfied in reality. This is what I mean when I say Law & Order is my therapist. It’s helping me work through some serious shit. Plus, it’s available on-demand, which is something real therapists don’t do.

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Zaron Burnett III
Zaron Burnett III

Written by Zaron Burnett III

writer, story editor, essays & short stories at Medium, and always in the mood for donuts

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