on the couch

English

Etymology

From the trope of a mental health patient lying down on a couch before a therapist or psychologist.

Prepositional phrase

on the couch

1. Undergoing psychological therapy or analysis.
   • 2024 August 1, David French, “‘I Just Have Some Questions’: An Interview With Justice Gorsuch”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     French: Did that background growing up in the American West, your time serving as a judge in the West, did that inform your approach to administrative law and your approach to these labyrinth of laws? / Gorsuch: David, I don’t know. I can’t put myself on the couch. I don’t know.

Further reading

• “on the couch”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “on the couch”, in Collins English Dictionary.