Disha Sheth
‘Dear Zindagi’ is a movie centred around the life of the protagonist, Kaira and how by focusing on her mental health. Through the process of therapy she is able to overcome her obstacles and start living a happier life. However there are many factual inaccuracies in the relationship between Kaira and her therapist. The aim of this blog post would be to highlight the accurate and inaccurate perceptions of the client-therapist relationship that have been portrayed in the movie.
An objective of a good therapist is to ensure that the client is comfortable. This aids the diagnosis and treatment process. The therapist in this film achieves this by building a good rapport with the client when she first came in through the use of humour which caused her tensed demeanour to immediately relax. He told her that she could stand or sit as long as it suited her during the session, which further increased her comfort levels and helped strengthen the rapport between them. He was also very non-judgemental while he was listening to her. Thus by creating an atmosphere of no judgement, her comfort levels increased and she was able to open up more freely.
However, as is the case with several Bollywood movies, dramatization has led to multiple distortions and inaccuracies in the movie. This is particular in the case of client-therapist relationships. However, over here those boundaries seem to blur as we see the therapist and the client running along the beach, chasing waves or even cycling together as part of the ‘therapy session.’ According to professionals, therapy needs to be conducted in a professional setting and not ‘exotic places’(Lott, 1999). During the session on the beach when the client asked the therapist if sessions on the beach are against the rules, the therapist responded that some rules should be broken. Rules in therapy exist as part of the clinical procedure, and therefore must be adhered to. By making this statement it gives off the impression that it is acceptable to break the rules of therapy. Another inaccurate perception that the beach scene gives off is that your therapist is somewhat of a ‘friend’ to you. This violates the professional boundary that is supposed to exist between the therapist and the client. If it is absent, it could lead to the client developing a dependency towards their therapist.
The therapist often gives his client his anecdotes and advice which often is the decision she should make regarding her problems. In reality, this is not encouraged because it would cause the clients to become dependent on their therapist where as the aim of therapy is to enable clients to make their own decisions and be independent. He also does not let her talk much in the process. This presents the inaccurate perception that your therapist will solve all your problems for you and always advise you. Following this method could hinder the client’s own decision making abilities.
Another part where the boundary between personal and professional seemed to blur is when the therapist randomly cancels the session for the week and in the next session claims that it is their last session. According to professionals,(Lott, 1999) the client should be able to depend on a certain time of the week for their session. In this case, the client wasn’t informed of this at all, and neither were they informed that it would be their last session until the session itself took place. Over here the movie strongly hints that the therapist did this because of their developing personal feelings towards the client and not for professional reasons. Again, this gives the inaccurate perception that there will be some sort of personal relationship between a therapist and a client.
Thus the movie ‘Dear Zindagi’ creates perceptions about client-therapist relationships to the public. However these perceptions are negative, which show the blurring of boundaries and personal rather than professional motives. Such a depiction could give the wrong societal implications about the concept of therapy. Nonetheless, the accurate perceptions of therapy, especially trying to destigmatize the incorrect notions behind it would also reduce the general fear that society has about wanting to get therapy.
Bibliography
Lott, D. (1999). Drawing Boundaries. [online] Psychology Today. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/199905/drawing-boundaries [Accessed 25 Sep. 2019].
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