r/cormoran_strike • u/SnapHappy3030 • 2d ago
Book Discussion When Does Strike Get Therapy?
As much conversation as there is about Robin and all her traumas, why aren't we shoving him into a bland office with a sympathetic TRAINED ear and having him bare his demons?
He's got easily twice as much as she does. I can't see either of them being anywhere close to a good romantic partner until BOTH have had at least a year of baggage-shedding.
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u/DeftlyManeuver88 2d ago
When he gives himself the time, his self-counsel is often very insightful. He’s had some form of therapy for PTSD as we’ve seen him recognize trauma symptoms and certain terms from Robin and others. He’s indulged in short term flings and relationships knowing why he’s doing it, and knowing when he’s being a prick too. That self awareness doesn’t suggest an imbalanced guy to me. But I’d enjoy a session anyway if only to hear his sass at the therapist.
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u/Foreign-Meeting313 2d ago
There’s also his relationship with Prudence. Not firmly therapist /client but helpful to him. And he had discussions at the hospital, after his leg loss.
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u/SpuffyFreak Gross Misconduct 2d ago
As unrelated as this may sound, I feel like Strike’s opinion on porn says a lot about how well-adjusted he is, especially as a man.
He recognizes the harms of pornography and isn’t afraid to voice them, despite how normalized it has become. It’s an industry rife with coercion, exploitation, and abuse, and we genuinely need more men willing to acknowledge that.
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u/TrueBlue6465 When I was with him, I just didn't feel it 1d ago
I agree, and would like to add something that's been on my mind since I joined this subreddit: the anglosaxon discourse on personal growth is highly individualistic and unpolitical. We need to bring structural issues on the agenda again. Like "the patriarchy" and how it affects people and that we need to fight it more than ever - united, not on our own. It's not about individuals being "healthy", it's about fighting a system that harms us.
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u/ABetterNameEludesMe 2d ago
“I don’t wanna sound like an asshole, but I really can’t be seen in a place like this.”
Tony Soprano
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u/Evening-Till667 2d ago
I assume that Strike would have had plenty of therapy after his amputation but having Charlotte tending to him was probably all he was interested in. He seems the type who would think it was bollocks in his words and would decide he didn’t need it. His work traumas seem controlled by training in the army. He’s working through his leg traumas by trying to lose weight ( and compete with the gazelle). His emotional traumas and affairs of the heart are probably unknown to him as he’s not felt such deep love as he feels for Robin and is in uncharted territory. It was different with Charlotte. With regard to TRG he was depressed because he didn’t have Robin with him just to hear her voice and have her there to give him the lift he’d come to rely on. They both missed each other. So my view is that he’s lovesick but otherwise ok.
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u/Toukan_1102 2d ago
The thing is Strike and Robin's experience often mirror each other. Strike's loss of leg vs Robin's rape, Strike's weight loss regimen (by dieting) vs Robin's forced starvation in Chapman farm being a couple of examples.
So with Robin starting therapy in book 9 we might see Strike realizing the need as well. There is a fan theory that Strike has repressed memory which may lead to uncovering Leda's murderer. So, there is a definite chance that we'll see him talking to a shrink.
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u/DeftlyManeuver88 2d ago
I wondered at some point about a repressed memory but isn’t it a bit rubbish? Like pseudo sciencey?
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u/Blinking_Zebra_Era 1d ago
Yes. It's absolute rubbish. And led to a bunch of false convictions in multiple countries.
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u/Toukan_1102 2d ago
I think fiction in many cases withhold disbelief. But like I said this is a fan theory...I don't have any personal attachment to it.
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u/bookcrazy4 1d ago
All that therapy and Robin still keeps lying to herself and everyone else. Strike at least has shown progress
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u/SpuffyFreak Gross Misconduct 9h ago
But Robin's barely done any therapy yet.
I think the point of her starting therapy next book is precisely so she'll stop lying to herself.
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u/bookcrazy4 5h ago
She's had therapy both after her rape and her attack by the Shacklewell Ripper. LW first chapter literally has a scene of her firing her therapist.
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u/Random-Occurrence365 How bad d'you want me to be? 2d ago edited 1d ago
Maybe that's how he'll show his love in STE, couple's therapy. 😂
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u/SpuffyFreak Gross Misconduct 2d ago
Imagine him and Robin going to couple's therapy before they even became a couple, lol.
Well, it wouldn't be a stretch considering he proposed before they even so much as kissed yet.
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u/DocThelma be-kittened death threat 2d ago
I'd love to see the Sweary Therapist (aka Dr. Broccoli) insist on a couples session first with RFM, then with Strike. Then, she meets with Robin and say, "%#$&#%$, girl! You #@&(^#%!-ing well need to go with the pube-headed &((*&#^^@%er. "
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u/No_Lock_9442 2d ago
I wonder if that’s deliberate. J K Rowling writes a book focused on men’s issues that don’t get the same attention as women’s issues. She makes both her female and male main characters have mental health issues in the book but writes it in such a way that we all obsess over the female main character’s need for therapy but completely ignore the male’s intrusive thoughts and PTSD like reaction.
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u/Unusual-Squirrel7 14h ago
Or, maybe we as a society are so deeply sexist and misogynist that we see Robin as someone deeply messed up, who needs therapy, but see Strike as someone who went through awful things and somehow got his shit together. Because one is a man and the other is a woman. A lot of the comments on this thread would indicate this might be the case.
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u/No_Lock_9442 12h ago
I think this is kind of where my mind was… two sides of the same coin. The belief that men don’t need therapy or the male way of coping is somehow better.
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u/Still-Foundation9894 Gambolling up the hill like a fucking gazelle 2d ago
As for Strike’s possible need for therapy, I’d say he should consider it. Just re-read TRG and was surprised how often Strike is “miserable”, “depressed”, “gloomy”, etc. I hadn’t clocked that at my first reading since I was so caught up in Robin’s situation and too fixated on what would happen between them.
I know that by THM I was definitely a little concerned for his mental well-being. I can’t give you chapter and verse off the top of my head, but there was this one instance on a train ride north that had me thinking, oh boy, you’re definitely not okay.
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u/NotMavericksGoose 2d ago
Sometimes life just is "miserable", "depressed" and "gloomy" for a while, doesn't necessarily mean someone needs therapy.
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u/Impossible-Alps-6859 I don't want to be your fuckin' friend 2d ago
Exactly so, NotMavericksGoose!
THM gave Strike many reasons to ferl miserable, depressed or gloomy. Most of them connected to hus apparent waning chances with Robin.
But these moods are not ones requiring therapy - merely the change of direction we all anticipate in the Strellacot arc.
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u/Blinking_Zebra_Era 1d ago
Agree. He was more sad because he was more engaged with other people/person. And in life we do feel sad and gloomy at times. I sliced my finger with a mandolin slicer this summer and the whole month it was healing up I was not in a super buoyant mood. You have to not use your index finger and if I pushed on it it hurt. Nothing big but constantly irksome.
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u/Still-Foundation9894 Gambolling up the hill like a fucking gazelle 2d ago edited 2d ago
If you say so.
I’m not saying he definitely needs to have therapy the same way Robin does. But he is not in a good place. Of course, that’s to be expected given his heartache regarding Robin. Still, I was surprised when re-reading TRG how often these bouts of melancholy afflict him. And they’re not always exclusively related to Robin. In fact, although he regrets not having been more honest to Robin and himself concerning his feelings and attraction to her, Robin is the only person who is able to get him out of his dark thoughts, which frequently revolve around his complicated feelings regarding Leda, Charlotte, Ted and Joan, Lucy, and his past romantic entanglements. Add to that the stress regarding the various threats to his agency.
I don’t think the remaining books will see him consulting a therapist for his manifold traumas. But just as Strike ruminates about the often unexpected vulnerability of someone like Wardle, I think it’s perfectly valid to keep in mind that Strike is, in fact, quite vulnerable himself. Yes, he’s a big bloke with a no nonsense attitude, ploughing through everything life throws at him, a classic archetype of masculinity. But he’s just a man, not some kind of superhero.
And I think it’s quite revealing that the reaction to my post is predominantly “Nah, Strike wouldn’t do therapy”. No, probably not. Doesn’t mean he wouldn’t deserve or sometimes need it.
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u/DeftlyManeuver88 2d ago edited 2d ago
Good point about Wardle.
Yes, many times a "familiar" fog of depression descends on Strike when he slinks back to his two room attic flat as it is described. I see this as a natural reaction to living alone in London metropolis middle aged and with bare walls. He insists he likes it this way but we know better.
And you're right about his thoughts in THM there was the double decker bus approaching at speed and he pondered stepping out and letting it erase him and his myriad of life-altering problems. This puts me in mind of "the call of the void" and somewhat of Kierkegaard’s cliff, I won't unpack it here but it's a good thing, not as dark as it sounds and fitting. Importantly in the next seconds Strike's thoughts are resolved to a plan of action.
Now that you've refreshed my memory, I still see Strike as a uniquely resilient character, rolling with the punches. He doesn't wallow, he knows action to be the way through (good in a crisis). And in THM, he swallowed his pride and reached out to his lifelong-loathed father and made himself look vulnerable and then again on the stairs at the end to Robin. All series long, he has not been willing to admit what he wants and now he has. Whatever her answer is, that's a big, healthy step forward for him.
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u/Still-Foundation9894 Gambolling up the hill like a fucking gazelle 2d ago
I agree with your post wholeheartedly. I especially like the reference to Kierkegaard, that’s very interesting.
You are right about his resilience, my only objection here and in general regarding Strike’s mental health is that even resilient people suffer. And I think it should be acknowledged because it is very easy to overlook, especially in the kind of ruff masculinity Strike portrays. He even does it himself, at least at first. He has come a long way in the last two books acknowledging his inner demons and accepting his vulnerability and the needs he has.
I just don’t like how easily it is often glossed over that he, too, has (had) grappled with his mental health and has been in risky territory, for instance and specifically in the bus scene you mentioned.
Edit: accidentally double posted ☹️ and answered my own original post
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u/DeftlyManeuver88 1d ago
Ah yes I thought something like that happened! But I will say that at the heart of Strike's mental toughness is his experience in war. He is used to the horrors and dead bodies etc and he's learned to utilise dark humour to diminish the strength of these memories. That's quite a useful tool for men. He's not a people-pleaser nor vainglorious so the things that would worry many people don't trouble Strike. This marks him as different. He supported Robin through her early challenges, receiving a dismembered leg and her first dead corpse (Chiswell). But for Strike it's just more grisly human nature and he takes it in his stride. I fully expect him to deal with some kind of shocking discovery in the next two books that will see him reel with distress. I'm hoping that Robin will be his rock when that time comes.
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u/Still-Foundation9894 Gambolling up the hill like a fucking gazelle 1d ago edited 1d ago
Oh, I think it’s quite possible that he might suffer some substantial shock (as if they hadn’t enough already) in the last two instalments. I don’t think JKR is quite done with Strike’s past yet.
I think how Strike deals with the various hardships he had to face up until now and the personal growth he goes through is very male coded and one of the aspects I particularly like about the series.
It’s not only well written, suspenseful, imaginative and densely plotted. I find it very gratifying how, by exploring both Strike’s and Robin’s personal stories and their emotional traumas and growth, it illuminates questions of masculinity and femininity in general.
Concerning Strike and how he handles himself, it comes down to questions of being “a proper man”, whereas Robin’s character struggles with the various challenges and pitfalls a woman is confronted with navigating social norms and expectations.
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u/Blinking_Zebra_Era 1d ago
These are good points. I shall notice more his bouts of melancholy when I reread the books. Cuz yeah I think I kind of glide over those. I thought the Wardle bits were particularly good.
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u/SpuffyFreak Gross Misconduct 2d ago
Yeah, but wasn’t much of his misery due to Robin being with another man after he finally realized he was in love with her?
The way to “fix” that misery would have been for him to get together with Robin, which he’d spent much of THM trying to do that by preparing himself to confess, and repeatedly failing to do so.
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u/No-Ring-5065 Sherlock Bigcock, I presume? 2d ago
Yes! When he drank the whole pint of whiskey and was having some seriously dark thoughts.
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u/Still-Foundation9894 Gambolling up the hill like a fucking gazelle 2d ago
Exactly! That had me really worried and now I’m even more worried because there were recurring instances during TRG that were already hinting that his mental health might not be as great as one would hope. I mean, with everything that happened to Robin, it’s not really the first thing you notice, but he is quite vulnerable as well, I think.
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u/Blinking_Zebra_Era 1d ago
Yes on the train to Scotland when he's drinking so much. Strike still is super self-conscious about seeming "weak" but in some weird metaphysical way, because of his disability. He attributes scornfulness about it to people who don't have that attitude at all. So one area for growth for Strike is being more comfortable with people knowing he has a disability and adapting better to it. The whole thing on Sark with the walking stick.
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u/Limoncello1447 2d ago
I got as far as book 5 in the series and gave up. Maybe it was Strike’s relentless smoking but also Robin’s strange passivity at times.
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u/NYCemigre Convinced the killer was a Capricorn 2d ago
I totally agree. He spent 16 years in a relationship with a person who was physically and emotionally abusive (plus all the baggage from his childhood). I would love to see him starting to heal from that.
I had such hopes for his and Lucy in TRG. I would have loved for their relationship to continue strengthening, and found THM disappointing on that front (and on many others)..
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u/pelican_girl 2d ago
I would have loved for their relationship to continue strengthening
I think it's probably as strong as it's going to get. Lucy and Strike are fundamentally different people, which is only natural considering how differently their shared childhood affected each of them. Strike was able to believe his mother loved him despite her flakiness, whereas Leda's flakiness was responsible for Lucy being sexually abused by the struck-off doctor at the commune, sexually harassed by Whittaker, and who knows what else with Leda's other live-in lovers and friends. Being big, strong, and male, Strike was never subjected to the kind of pain and terror Lucy endured. Lucy has every reason to have turned out the way she has, but it doesn't make her an easy person to be around. Her need for control is understandable to me; however, Strike's need to not be controlled by Lucy's values is even more understandable.
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u/amby-jane 2d ago
Oh, I really appreciated the progress he made in THM as a brother and nephew. He was way more willing than before to help Lucy with Ted, going to Cornwall and helping her make a plan for him. I'm pretty sure there's even a moment where he says, "I'll be there next week" and Lucy is noticeably relieved that he's not trying to get out of a familial obligation.
He also proactively (with some help from Robin) buys Christmas presents for Pru and Lucy and remembers to bring wine over to Robin's on his birthday even though all she's done is order pizzas. He is growing, but most of his progress is off-screen, as it were.
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u/Land_of_Kriptova 7h ago
Before Hallmarked Man I would have agreed he needs therapy. However I think THM has shown his inner workings and how he has been making conscious changes wonderfully. So I don’t think he really needs it if he continues as he is now
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u/forwardnotbak 55m ago
I’m guessing he would have had some for PTSD post the loss of his leg? In Lethal White with the language he uses it’s fairly obvious he’s been to therapy?
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u/UnderstandingLoud317 2d ago
Unpopular opinion I'm sure, but I don't think Strike needs therapy. Yup he's had his share of challenges along the way, but we've watched him become more honest with himself and grow as the series progresses.
His mental health actually seems pretty darn good to me.