Laura,
 
Have you seen Mimi White's new book called Tele-Advising?  She deals with
the Shopping Network, the 700 Club, a few game shows and some prime time
drama.  It is a very interesting book, and sets out a framework of
confessional/therapeutic discourse which seems to run throughout American
Television.  Although she does not deal with soaps, she does have some very
interesting ideas on how the subject as consumer is addressed (right word
here? I'm not sure) through confesional/therapeutic disourse.