Dr. Westford Quotes in Skin Deep (1989)

Zach: I've never felt this way before. I'm seriously unhappy. This is just not the bush-league blues. We're talking major-league depression here. I can't sleep. I take pills. But they only last a couple of hours and then I'm up at 4:00 in the morning pacing the fucking house or walking on the cold fucking beach. I'm so miserable, I wanna fucking shoot myself. But, I can't because I'm afraid to die. How's that for fucked-up?

[Zach hits the wall and starts sobbing]

Zach: So what's the answer? Oh, I forgot. You don't have answers. You're not the burning bush. You just give suggestions. Well, I need help. I'm in the fucking dumper. Give me a suggestion because I know you've got one. I can see it in those beady little Freudian eyes.

Dr. Westford: If an alcoholic wants me to cure him, you know what I say?

[sighs]

Zach: That's a question. That's not a suggestion.

[sighs again]

Zach: Okay. What do you say?

Dr. Westford: First, stop drinking.

Zach: I don't get it.

Dr. Westford: Go home and think about it. That's my suggestion.

Zach: I'm a desperate man, Doctor. I need help. I gotta change my way of living, and if that ain't enough, I'm gonna change the way I strut my stuff.

[Zach starts singing]

Zach: 'Cause nobody loves you when your old and gray. There'll be some changes made today. Yes, sir, there'll be some changes made. Duh-duh-da.

[Zach leaves the room for a couple of seconds and re-enters the room]

Zach: I couldn't resist it. You think I'm crazy?

Dr. Westford: No.

Zach: Then what the hell is wrong with me?

Dr. Westford: Well, for one thing, you can't sing worth shit.

Zach: I'm in a lot of trouble, Doctor. Frankly, I don't have the strength or the courage to go on like this, and even if I did, I wouldn't want to. Everyday, I get a little more depressed. I get a little more desperate. I feel like I'm worse off than when I first started with you.

Dr. Westford: When you first started with me, you were a mess.

[Zach chuckles]

Zach: I'm still a mess. I haven't changed.

Dr. Westford: Don't you know by now that changing one's basic character is next to impossible?

Zach: No. I don't know that. Jesus, Doctor, if I thought I couldn't change, I wouldn't cine see you in the first place.

Dr. Westford: I didn't say that you couldn't.

Zach: You just said it was impossible.

Dr. Westford: I said it was next to impossible.

Zach: Well, shit, Doctor. "Next to" isn't that far removed.

Dr. Westford: If it were, there'd be no analysts.

Zach: Not an entirely unhappy prospect, Doctor.

Dr. Westford: Did I ever tell you the story about the scorpion and the frog?

Zach: No.

Dr. Westford: A scorpion who couldn't swim asked the frog to carry him across the river on his back. The frog said, "Do you think I'm crazy? Halfway across the river, you'll sting me and I'll drown." "That's not reasonable," said the scorpion. "If I sting you and you drown, I'll drown too." Frog thought about it, he said, "Climb on." Halfway across the river, the scorpion stung the frog, and as the frog was drowning, he said to the scorpion, "But now you'll drown too." The scorpion said, "Yes. I know." "That's not reasonable," said the frog, and the scorpion replied, "Reason has nothing to do with it. I'm a scorpion. It's my character."

Zach: You know what I feel like saying to you?

Dr. Westford: Yes. You feel like telling me to go fuck myself, and you probably will, because it's your character.

Zach: See you next Tuesday.