couch doctor

A playful, slightly dismissive US colloquialism for a psychiatrist or psychotherapist — a nod to the classic image of a patient lying on an analyst's couch and free-associating. The phrase carries a hint of old-school skepticism about talk therapy but is generally used with wry affection rather than real hostility. It implies someone whose job is to dig around in your head, ideally while you're lying down comfortably.

(US, colloquial) A psychiatrist.