Good Will Hunting

#goodwillhunting

Spoiler alert!

According to the old light bulb joke it only takes one psychiatrist to change a light bulb, but the light bulb has to want to change.

Will Hunting does not want to change.

The eight psychotherapy sessions depicted in this film address -- or raise -- some of the most interesting questions about current practice of psychotherapy and its ethics. Despite all the broken rules both the patient and the psychotherapist seem to benefit greatly from this short course of this -- can you really call it treatment? How can we explain its success, much of which seems to derive from the fact that Sean and Will share some early experiences, which simultaneously seems implausible and inevitable?

Although some sort of emotional factor seems to play a role in Wills unwillingness to exercise his full potential, we see little evidence that he suffers from a mental illness. What diagnosis might you enter in his record if you were treating him? On the other hand we might easily diagnose Sean with Bereavement. (Compare to his role as a bereaved husband in The Fisher King.)

When math professor Gerald comes to believe that janitor Will may never share his own mathematical talents with the world without his intervention, he works out a deal with the courts and asks a series of three psychotherapists to treat Will, apparently for free. Consider whether these treatments might have proceeded differently had Will (or an insurer) been paying. Would a managed care organization reimburse for this treatment? How do you think Sean would handle a case reviewer on the phone?

What brand of psychotherapy does Sean use? We see no evidence of CBT. Sean seems to break almost every conceivable rule of psychoanalytic treatment. The treatment does not last nearly long enough. (Especially for psychoanalyst Glen Gabbard who, in his book Psychiatry and the Cinema, dismisses the treatment as "pure Hollywood fiction.") Even the silent session intervention seems more directed than your routine analytic silence.

Ordinarily considered essential to psychotherapy as a profession is the expectation that the psychotherapist says or does,  not what he feels like saying or doing, but rather what he believes will be most therapeutic to the patient. Sean appears heedless of this principle through most of the treatment, but especially  when he grabs Will by the neck and slams him against a bookshelf. Will has pushed his button, and Sean fails to control his reaction. (He couldn't possibly have acted after a split second judgment that that was exactly what Will needed. Or could he?) Although he has unarguably suffered a crushing loss in the death of his wife from cancer, such bereavement cannot be considered rare or extraordinary among psychotherapists. Compare Sean's handling of his loss to that of Moretti's psychoanalyst in The Son's Room. Sean does rapidly relinquish his anger at Will, seemingly leaving him even better able to help his patient.

Professional boundaries seem nonexistent in this treatment. Will's treatments, even with Sean, seem almost public. Sean in particular discusses Will's case openly with Gerald. What happened to confidentiality? Does a relationship triangle come into play here?

Can we take any lessons from this treatment into our own practices? One cannot expect to easily match backgrounds of patient and psychotherapist. I have rarely encountered situations in which I though slamming a patient against a wall or threatening to kill them would be therapeutic. I have not even shared with a patient how much weight I can bench press.

The film:

Undiscovered genius Will, at home, speed reads the book, "Help Your Self," written by Henry, the psychotherapist he visits in the next scene. Will appears to toy with Henry, ultimately appearing to see through him. Will accuses Henry of having a sexual interest in him. Leaving the office, Henry tells Gerald, blaming Will for the failure, "I can't do this pro bono work anymore. It's just not worth it... I haven't got time... to talk to that raving loony in there, an absolute lunatic he is." (0:29)

Will fakes a trance convincing hypnotherapist Rich that he has hypnotized him, but after toying with this one, too, Will, now pretending to hypnotize Gerald with a keychain, tells him, "Look into my eyes... I don't need therapy." (0:31)

Psychotherapist Sean lectures bored, inattentive community college students. On the blackboard behind him he has written the word "stages" and names like Engel, Bowlby, Kubler-Ross, Parkes, Fernald, Stein, and Susser. Ending the lecture he tells the students that on Monday, "We'll talk about Freud, why he did enough cocaine to kill a small horse." (0:33)

Sean, unlike the other psychotherapists, talks about his own pain and the time "before Nancy [his wife] died." (0:35)

Sean asks Will how many "shrinks" he saw before him. Sean mentions linguist Noam Chomsky (0:37)

Attempting to play with Sean as he did with the other psychotherapist, will speculates about Sean's demons, referring to him as a psychologist, but he crosses the line when he tells Sean, "You married the wrong woman." Sean grabs him by the neck and pushes him up against a book shelf. Sean threatens, "I will end you..." if he disrespects his wife again. (We see a copy of "I'm OK You're OK" on the bookshelf behind Will. Maybe his techniques derive from Transactional Analysis. Nah.) (0:41)

In the first of several scenes in which it appears that Sean may be getting as much out of the psychotherapy as is his patient, Sean's expression as Will leaves the office betrays that Will has touched something in him emotionally. (0:42)

Sean conducts psychotherapy session number two on a park bench. (0:46) He tells Will how he processed what will said in the last session. He goes on to confront him about Will's lack of experience in life. Is Sean reassuring himself that he need not take anything will said to seriously? (0:47)

Session number three: silence. Later, Sean explains to Gerald, "I can't talk first." (0:53)

Session number four: as Sean nods off Will starts talking. Sean tells will about his wife again: "She's been dead two years." He tells Will our imperfections are "the good stuff" and, "You're not perfect, sport." Sean then denigrates his own wisdom and knowledge, putting himself in a one down position. Will tells Sean he talks more than any "shrink I've seen in my life." Will shifts the focus back to Sean and how he has coped with his loss, but when he confronts Sean, Sean tells him the session is over. (0:54)

Will tries to push Skyler away, but she does not let him. (1:26)

Session number five: Sean ends the session early, confronting Will that he is not talking about what matters. Will shifts the focus back to Sean, but this time, although Sean appears to sense the truth in what Will has told him, he refuses to allow him to derail the session and sends him packing. (1:34)

Session number six: Sean fails to show up. (1:40)

Sean discusses Will's treatment with Gerald, telling him Will "pushes people away." (1:44) Will overhears the argument as he enters the office for session number seven. Sean tells Will that Sean's own father was an alcoholic and how he would provoke him to violence. Each talks about physical abuse by their fathers. Sean tells Will, "It's not your fault." Will responds matter-of-factly, "I know." Sean keeps repeating, "It's not your fault," until Will says, "Don't f*ck with me," gets it, cries, and hugs Sean. (1:46)

Session number eight: apparently ending the treatment, Sean agrees with Will, "That's it. You're done. You're a free man." (1:52) Sean and Will thank each other and hug each other. Will says "Hey, does this violate the patient doctor relationship?" Sean responds, "Nah, only if you grab my ass." (1:54)

Sean reads a note Will has left him. (2:02)

Does Will have anything in common with Vitus?

Bereavement | boundaries | hypnotism | psychologist | psychotherapist | psychotherapy