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Doctor Who Psychology: A Madman with a Box
If a person could travel eternally through space and time, how would this power affect him, psychologically and emotionally? In a fun and accessible way, Doctor Who Psychology explores this question through an analysis of the longest-running sci-fi TV series of all time. This fascinating in-depth academic study, edited by Travis Langley, contains 20 essays delving into the psychology behind the time-traveling Doctor in his many iterations, as well as his companions and his foes.
The essays include:
“Who’s Who: A Myers-Briggs Comparison of the Doctors’ Personalities”
“Madness among the Monsters: Are the Doctor’s Enemies Insane?”
“Twice the Hearts, Half the Feels: Time Lord Detachment, Attachment, Abandonment”
“Fear Fuels Love: Misattribution of Arousal and Companion Attraction”
The essays include:
“Who’s Who: A Myers-Briggs Comparison of the Doctors’ Personalities”
“Madness among the Monsters: Are the Doctor’s Enemies Insane?”
“Twice the Hearts, Half the Feels: Time Lord Detachment, Attachment, Abandonment”
“Fear Fuels Love: Misattribution of Arousal and Companion Attraction”
336 pages, Paperback
First published November 29, 2016
23 people are currently reading
668 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
September 3, 2025
gosh i loved this loved it so so much learned so much and i love doctor who im a geek a nerd call me what u will
March 19, 2024
I really enjoyed this book that uses Dr. Who to explore human psychology. I loved the mention of Daleks and Cybermen as representing when we can't deal with emotions correctly. I also loved the mention of the various companions the Doctor has in his life. Very interesting book.
January 7, 2017
Through interviews with the various actors who played the Doctor in Dr Who, and with examples from scenes in the sci-fi series, 19 essays explore the psychology of human nature through the mind of the 12 Doctors.
I say 'mind' because the Doctor regenerates but remains basically the same Time Lord, with just a few changes in his personality with each regeneration.
Dealing with PTSD, compassion, mortality, grief, narcissism and psychotism and considering the question of the soul, this series of essays uses episodes and characters from the Dr Who series to explain and explore basic psychology of the human mind.
If you like the sci-fi series, you're likely to enjoy this read.
I say 'mind' because the Doctor regenerates but remains basically the same Time Lord, with just a few changes in his personality with each regeneration.
Dealing with PTSD, compassion, mortality, grief, narcissism and psychotism and considering the question of the soul, this series of essays uses episodes and characters from the Dr Who series to explain and explore basic psychology of the human mind.
If you like the sci-fi series, you're likely to enjoy this read.
January 3, 2018
This book was so much fun! I liked it best when it examined metaphor, taking the narrative as narrative, rather than trying to discuss the characters as if they were real people. (Things get a bit ludicrous when you start speculating as to the physiology of a time traveling space-alien.) (Also not too keen on how how autism was defined, but I suppose that's to be expected. It wasn't egregious.) Those quibbles aside, the good bits are brilliant. For fans of the show, this is must-read.
June 27, 2022
Interesting! It took me a little while to understand the style of this book as it's pretty unique, but once I read a couple of the essays things started making sense and I really enjoyed it.
April 28, 2017
As with all books like this, some of the chapters are fantastic and some less so. I thought the chapters discussing grief were some of the best. It certainly allows you to watch and understand the show in a new way!
June 25, 2018
Over the years there has been much supplementary literature or hard science literature on science fiction books and shows, for example, there are books on the science of Star Trek, on the science of Dune, on the science of Battlestar Galactica. I think I read one on the science of Krypton or Superman but that was a long time ago. I really enjoyed these type of books. During the last wizard World Comic in Philadelphia, I ran into a new type of book.
Is a series of books that's called the psychology of..., for example, the psychology of Star Wars or the psychology of Doctor Who. In fact, I have one of these books and the whole title book is, "Unauthorized Doctor Who psychology A madman with a box" edited by Travis Langley. Before I both the book my wife and I had an interesting conversation with him, and of course he signed the book for us.
These books are a collection of papers written by many psychologists and psychiatrists on the psychological makeup or personalities of the characters in these books and shows. Let us ask the question why do we like or dislike each character in these books and shows? For example, in Star Wars, we all know The Empire is written to be evil and despotic. Yet we are drawn to certain Characters even though they are evil. In the first Trilogy, for the first two movies, who liked Darth Vader? Yet the third movie has changed our perspective of him from evil into a hero. (remember Vader tortured his own daughter). We wanted Luke to kick his arse. (well at least I did)
Afterward, more movies were done centering on (drum roll please) Anakin Skywalker who became Darth Vader. Dr. Lanley book focus on those traits and why we like them or not. In fact, he told my wife and me that one of the most violent creatures in the first trilogies were the Ewoks. But people find them cute and fuzzy. As a civilization, you really wouldn't want those creatures as your neighbors.
This aroused my interest, so I bought the Dr. Who book. After all the Doctor is a classic case of Multiple Personality Disorder. I was impressed. All 12 doctors were analyzed. The information was very well documented. It gave me a lot to think about what drives a character in a book. Or more so what motives a writer to embed a certain trait in a character, or even is the writer aware of how he is building his character. I am not a writer.
In Dr. Who, the question raises about how his brain function, if he regenrates, his brains cell should as well and should affect his personality. Why not, his appearance changes and those are genetic changes, why not his brain? when a brain change, so does a personality, this aspect is also covered in the book with real human examples. Since the Doctor doesn't actually die, his memory stays, hence his vast knowledge and wisdom. But since his brain changes, the way his brain uses the information stored is modified.
Is a series of books that's called the psychology of..., for example, the psychology of Star Wars or the psychology of Doctor Who. In fact, I have one of these books and the whole title book is, "Unauthorized Doctor Who psychology A madman with a box" edited by Travis Langley. Before I both the book my wife and I had an interesting conversation with him, and of course he signed the book for us.
These books are a collection of papers written by many psychologists and psychiatrists on the psychological makeup or personalities of the characters in these books and shows. Let us ask the question why do we like or dislike each character in these books and shows? For example, in Star Wars, we all know The Empire is written to be evil and despotic. Yet we are drawn to certain Characters even though they are evil. In the first Trilogy, for the first two movies, who liked Darth Vader? Yet the third movie has changed our perspective of him from evil into a hero. (remember Vader tortured his own daughter). We wanted Luke to kick his arse. (well at least I did)
Afterward, more movies were done centering on (drum roll please) Anakin Skywalker who became Darth Vader. Dr. Lanley book focus on those traits and why we like them or not. In fact, he told my wife and me that one of the most violent creatures in the first trilogies were the Ewoks. But people find them cute and fuzzy. As a civilization, you really wouldn't want those creatures as your neighbors.
This aroused my interest, so I bought the Dr. Who book. After all the Doctor is a classic case of Multiple Personality Disorder. I was impressed. All 12 doctors were analyzed. The information was very well documented. It gave me a lot to think about what drives a character in a book. Or more so what motives a writer to embed a certain trait in a character, or even is the writer aware of how he is building his character. I am not a writer.
In Dr. Who, the question raises about how his brain function, if he regenrates, his brains cell should as well and should affect his personality. Why not, his appearance changes and those are genetic changes, why not his brain? when a brain change, so does a personality, this aspect is also covered in the book with real human examples. Since the Doctor doesn't actually die, his memory stays, hence his vast knowledge and wisdom. But since his brain changes, the way his brain uses the information stored is modified.
March 24, 2017
This was an amazing book! I loved how the multiple contributors to this book managed to combine two of my favorite things, Psychology and Doctor Who, and make something unique and worth reading.
What I liked:
Absolutely almost everything! It took me a while to read it, but I do not often read non-fiction and very rarely do I read my non-fiction in essay format.
And I devoured it rapidly for this genre. The subjects were intriguing and I loved the fact that the entire book focused mainly on the theory behind personality, which is what drew me into psychology in the first place :)
What I didn't like:
There were a few parts where I wasn't too happy with the stance the authors took. Especially the part where they were using evolutionary theory to describe how the Doctor was attracted to Rose.
My opinion: THE DOCTOR WAS ATTRACTED TO HER BECAUSE SHE WAS A WONDERFUL PERSON AND NOT BECAUSE SHE WAS SEXY! I don't buy into evolutionary theory firstly: because I'm a creationist, and secondly: I really don't appreciate how it interprets our actions as if we were just like animals.
In conclusion:
If you like Doctor Who, this book is recommended.
If you like Psychology, this book is also recommended.
If you like both, why aren't you reading this??
What I liked:
Absolutely almost everything! It took me a while to read it, but I do not often read non-fiction and very rarely do I read my non-fiction in essay format.
And I devoured it rapidly for this genre. The subjects were intriguing and I loved the fact that the entire book focused mainly on the theory behind personality, which is what drew me into psychology in the first place :)
What I didn't like:
There were a few parts where I wasn't too happy with the stance the authors took. Especially the part where they were using evolutionary theory to describe how the Doctor was attracted to Rose.
My opinion: THE DOCTOR WAS ATTRACTED TO HER BECAUSE SHE WAS A WONDERFUL PERSON AND NOT BECAUSE SHE WAS SEXY! I don't buy into evolutionary theory firstly: because I'm a creationist, and secondly: I really don't appreciate how it interprets our actions as if we were just like animals.
In conclusion:
If you like Doctor Who, this book is recommended.
If you like Psychology, this book is also recommended.
If you like both, why aren't you reading this??
March 6, 2017
I thought that it was a good book and it was about how the doctor is genetically and behaviorally. In theory he tends to have the same brain but a different appearance every time he regenerates. We learn more about how many of the loses in his life have caused him to be more introvert than others.We talk about how he has gotten really close to others. In the end we figure out that the doctor has problems but he can achieve them with help form others. I would recommend this book for people who are into dotor who and for people who like to learn behavior of different tv show characters.
July 29, 2022
As a therapist, I appreciated this new look on the many faces of the Doctor. This books put a spin on the many Earthly ways of our favorite time lord. Granted, it's profiled through our human eyes. What I enjoyed the most about this book was the practical ways the Doctor shows his humanity. It breaks down his actions, and even some potential thoughts in a way that makes it easier to show clients who often struggle with the same things. If a 900 year old time lord can struggle with his emotions and feelings why can't a human?
August 2, 2017
It's not normally in a genre I read a lot of, unless you're just counting it as a Doctor Who book, but I thought this was a thumping good read. I learned a lot from it and also got to enjoy science being applied to my favourite programme. I definitely recommend it.
February 14, 2017
Perfect, absolutely loved it
March 2, 2017
A must for any Doctor Who fan.
August 7, 2017
Seems quite well researched and informative, both from a Doctor Who and a Psychology perspective.
February 10, 2020
This was an interesting book, but I am quite sure I was not the right audience. Well, then again, I am a huge Doctor Who fan, so I guess maybe I could have been.
This is written as a straight up psychology book and intended to address the psychology of Doctor Who, and to a lesser extent, the companions of Doctor Who. The thing about Doctor Who is...the show is about a single (alien) person who is able to regenerate, instead of dying. This was a clever device used by the creators of the show to deal with the fact that the original actor(s) who played the lead role could not continue to do so. It worked so well that there have been 15-16 different actors that have played it, at one time or another.
So to talk about the psychology of the Doctor is kind of strange. They made a valiant effort. But they discuss a few things that simply could not have been planned by the producers of the show due to when they occurred.
There was a lot here, but most of it will only really be interesting if you are totally into psychology. (I guess the word "psychology" in the title would be a big tip-off!)
This is written as a straight up psychology book and intended to address the psychology of Doctor Who, and to a lesser extent, the companions of Doctor Who. The thing about Doctor Who is...the show is about a single (alien) person who is able to regenerate, instead of dying. This was a clever device used by the creators of the show to deal with the fact that the original actor(s) who played the lead role could not continue to do so. It worked so well that there have been 15-16 different actors that have played it, at one time or another.
So to talk about the psychology of the Doctor is kind of strange. They made a valiant effort. But they discuss a few things that simply could not have been planned by the producers of the show due to when they occurred.
There was a lot here, but most of it will only really be interesting if you are totally into psychology. (I guess the word "psychology" in the title would be a big tip-off!)
October 6, 2020
As an educator who uses Doctor Who to teach psychology to 11 year-olds, stumbling upon Doctor Who Psychology was an absolute blessing.
Reading the entire collection was not.
But!
That's not to say the book is not worth reading! There are many very interesting essays that are useful in my classroom - especially Miranda Pollock and Wind Goodfriend's insightful contribution, "Weeping Angels, Archetypes, and the Male Gaze." I hurriedly updated my curriculum to include the Weeping Angels with Jung's Shadow.
But!
Why so much with OCEAN? Or HEXACO? Or the myriad of personality trait theories? It's simply too broad a subject to analyze too broad a subject (Doctor Who).
I genuinely hope there are more collections in this series that explore more theories beyond Freud (ugh), Jung (meh), and personality trait theories (ARGH!).
For whatever it's worth, the Tenth Doctor story, "Midnight" is a brilliant example of groupthink (and just effective writing) that my 6th graders (usually) absolutely adore!
Reading the entire collection was not.
But!
That's not to say the book is not worth reading! There are many very interesting essays that are useful in my classroom - especially Miranda Pollock and Wind Goodfriend's insightful contribution, "Weeping Angels, Archetypes, and the Male Gaze." I hurriedly updated my curriculum to include the Weeping Angels with Jung's Shadow.
But!
Why so much with OCEAN? Or HEXACO? Or the myriad of personality trait theories? It's simply too broad a subject to analyze too broad a subject (Doctor Who).
I genuinely hope there are more collections in this series that explore more theories beyond Freud (ugh), Jung (meh), and personality trait theories (ARGH!).
For whatever it's worth, the Tenth Doctor story, "Midnight" is a brilliant example of groupthink (and just effective writing) that my 6th graders (usually) absolutely adore!
May 2, 2019
Doctor Who Psychology is subtitled as A Madman With a Box. It is a collection of essays and compositions on the legendary science fiction series. It is also unauthorized, which really makes no difference to me. It only means that the franchise does not endorse the book in any way. It explores the mental states of the multiple incarnations of the Doctor throughout his adventures. It discusses the effects of becoming a different person altogether, being a long-lived alien being, and some other things.
As I did with Star Trek I have another shameful admission; I have watched some Doctor Who, but I never got into the show. I know some things about it, but not everything. As far as the ideas behind some of the monsters and alien species go, this book was a pretty good introduction.
As I did with Star Trek I have another shameful admission; I have watched some Doctor Who, but I never got into the show. I know some things about it, but not everything. As far as the ideas behind some of the monsters and alien species go, this book was a pretty good introduction.
February 2, 2024
This book is such a weird little Venn Diagram of my interests.
First off, it took me a minute to switch from hot, Ice Planet Barbarian porn, to uni-level, Nerd Girl theory, but once I did, I rather enjoyed myself.
Second, I really enjoyed the deep-dive into character psyches. Is the Doctor suffering from PTSD? Are the Daleks morally evil? How do the companions handle fear/grief/abandonment?
I loved the quotes (both from Doctor Who players, and renowned psychologists) and the variety of contributors.
I don’t think the best way to read this is from cover to cover. Flipping through to your favourite character (or your favourite disorder) is probably the better way to go.
Thanks to NetGalley and Turner Publishing for this interesting ARC.
First off, it took me a minute to switch from hot, Ice Planet Barbarian porn, to uni-level, Nerd Girl theory, but once I did, I rather enjoyed myself.
Second, I really enjoyed the deep-dive into character psyches. Is the Doctor suffering from PTSD? Are the Daleks morally evil? How do the companions handle fear/grief/abandonment?
I loved the quotes (both from Doctor Who players, and renowned psychologists) and the variety of contributors.
I don’t think the best way to read this is from cover to cover. Flipping through to your favourite character (or your favourite disorder) is probably the better way to go.
Thanks to NetGalley and Turner Publishing for this interesting ARC.
September 15, 2017
Would have preferred more Doctor Who and less psychology. This book was primarily written by psychologists who enjoy Doctor Who, rather than Doctor Who fans who are also interested in psychology.
It is interesting, though, to learn that I share a Meyers-Briggs type with "my" (first) Doctor, Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor. Fun!
It is interesting, though, to learn that I share a Meyers-Briggs type with "my" (first) Doctor, Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor. Fun!
January 4, 2025
Wonderful book! As someone who has a basic bachelors in psychology and loves Doctor Who, this was perfect for me. I especially enjoyed the analysis of the Doctor’s relationship with Rose, but that’s because I’m biased. There’s also so much great stuff analyzing trauma and personality changes and good vs evil when it comes to the villains of the show.
September 11, 2020
If you're a fan of Dr. Who, and who isn't, and also interested in learning more about psychology and the inner workings of your own mind, then this is the book for you. It's always great when an author can take a beloved series and use it to help explain a science.
November 28, 2023
A bit contrived, but entertaining and clever, and I actually learnt some things I didn’t know before. Not terribly deep, but if you’re a Who fan and even vaguely interested in the workings of the mind, certainly as a listen on audible it’s a pleasant way to pass the time.
August 20, 2024
This was quite boring. It seemed to force doctor who into the psychological perspective it was talking about just for the sake of it. There were a couple of essays that I enjoyed but maybe not the book for me.
October 11, 2017
I really enjoyed this book, it was interesting to mix psychology and one of my favourite shows.
There were a few issues in terms of spelling and grammar and one use of the incorrect doctor. But the actual content itself is interesting and utilises both the old and new series.
Definitely something to pick up if you like the show and are interested in Psychology
There were a few issues in terms of spelling and grammar and one use of the incorrect doctor. But the actual content itself is interesting and utilises both the old and new series.
Definitely something to pick up if you like the show and are interested in Psychology
August 2, 2018
Overall, this was a good book. Some essays didn't really make any sense in how it pertained to the Doctor, but it was interesting to learn about psychology nonetheless.
November 30, 2018
Too much psychoanalysis, which is not my favorite Psychological approach, and the analysis seemed forced at best. Couldn’t pass the 33% barrier.
March 22, 2020
I enjoy this series a lot and "A Madman with a Box" was no exception.
November 12, 2020
Fan of Doctor Who but not psychology - still interesting
April 21, 2022
An interesting take on the character of the Doctor. Disappointing that it is so strongly focused on Nu!Who.
November 13, 2022
Makes me want to rewatch!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews