Mehek Kataria
Good Will Hunting is a 1997 psychological drama film, directed by Gus Van Sant, that revolves around the lives of the protagonist Will Hunting (played by Matt Damon) and his therapist Sean Maguire (played by Robin Williams). Will is a 20-year-old mathematical prodigy who works as a janitor at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), while Sean is a psychology professor at a Community College. The film, which is a depiction of Will’s journey of self-realisation and personal growth, is anchored by the multiple scenes of psychotherapy between Sean and Will. This article aims to analyse these scenes from a conceptual view of psychotherapy.
After solving two highly challenging, graduate-level mathematical problems on a blackboard at MIT, Will comes under the radar of Professor Gerald Lambeau. Shortly after, Will is arrested for striking a police officer while in the middle of a street fight. Lambeau intervenes and arranges for Will to stay out of jail provided that he agrees to study mathematics under Lambeau’s supervision and take psychotherapy sessions. Being mandated by the court to attend psychotherapy classifies Will as what is called a reluctant client. This claim can be seconded by the fact that Will quickly goes through many reputed therapists by disrespecting them and making a mockery out of them, reiterating that “I don’t need therapy”. (Sant, 1997)
His aversion to therapy could also be explained by the widely known fact that men are more reluctant than any other gender, to seek help when experiencing emotional or mental problems. (Addis & Mahalik, 2003) A possible reason for this has been proposed to be men’s inability to give up control. (Hooley et. al., 2021) This could be a reason for Will too as can be seen in his first therapy session with Sean, where he analyses and comments on Sean’s life and personality via the artefacts in his office, in an attempt to take over the role of the therapist. This interaction ended with Will successfully offending Sean and Sean making the highly unethical move of grabbing Will by the throat and threatening him.
An offended therapist and a reluctant client would usually be unable to form a healthy therapeutic relationship. However, as the film progresses, we see a positive evolution in this aspect. A good client-therapist relationship is usually achieved from the contribution of both psychotherapist as well as client (Hooley et. al., 2021), but in this case, majority of the credit goes to the methods employed by Sean. In cases like Will’s, where the client does not expect to benefit from therapy, the responsibility lies on the therapist to build the client’s motivation. (Hooley et. al., 2021)
Sean begins to build their relationship by agreeing to be Will’s therapist despite the incident in the first session, showing Will that he is committed to the case. In their third session together, Will does not say a word during the entire session and Sean patiently waits for him to do so. Through these two incidents, the therapist is trying to build trust with the client and inspire his confidence in order to improve the effectiveness of therapy. Additionally, Sean tries to build an affective relationship with Will by sharing experiences from his own past which he thinks Will would relate to, such as growing up in the same neighbourhood of Boston and being a victim of physical abuse in his childhood, just like Will. This allowed Will to trust the person sitting across from him and look to him for emotional guidance, ultimately establishing a healthy therapeutic relationship.
Since the potrayal of psychotherapy in this film is fictional, it is not possible to perfectly classify it into any one type. Having said that, several instances in the film can be identified as methods used in Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT). REBT is a form of therapy that aims to alter a client's maladaptive thought processes, which are regarded to be the source of maladaptive emotional responses and behaviour. (Ellis & Dryden, 1997) Unfortunately, many individuals who have developed unrealistic beliefs due to inconducive experiences, expect too much of themselves which causes them to behave maladaptively and ultimately feel like failures. Through REBT, a therapist tries to re-organise the belief system by replacing self deprecating beliefs with more positive ones that are conducive to leading a better quality of life.
At several instances in the film, we see Sean using rational confrontation in order to challenge Will’s false beliefs which is a popular method of REBT. (Hooley et. al., 2021) during one such instance, Will talks about a girl that he is developing romantic feelings for but mentions that he doesn’t want to pursue her because he is worried that he will find out she is not as perfect as he had earlier thought. Sean challenges this thought by proposing the possibility that he is also worried that he won’t be perfect for her. He then goes on to give an example from his own life with the point being that nobody is perfect and it is often the imperfections that we end up cherishing. Will realises a better way to think about a difficult situation, hence replacing his initial false belief.
References
Addis, M. E., & Mahalik, J. R. (2003). Men, masculinity, and the contexts of help-seeking. Am. Psychol., 58, 1, 5–1514.
Ellis, A., & Dryden, W. (1997). The practice of rational emotive behavior therapy (2nd ed.). New York: Springer.
Hooley, J. M., Nock, M., & Butcher, J. N. (2021). Abnormal psychology. Pearson.
Sant, Gus Van. (1997). Good Will Hunting [Film]
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