Good Will Hunting: Therapeutic Analysis

2293 Words5 Pages

Good Will Hunting is the tale about a young adult male named Will Hunting, who has a high intelligence level in mathematics compared to other individuals his age; yet, he works as a janitor at MIT. Professor Gerald Lambeau, who specializes in mathematics, notices this and tries to find out why Will is not pursuing a career. The reality is that Will grew up in foster care and moved from home to home after being put through physical abuse. Due to this abuse and being in an unstable environment, Will has a tendency to be aggressive and violent towards other people. He has a close circle of friends but struggles to relate to other people and remains unconfident in romantic relationships with women. After going to a bar with his circle of friends, …show more content…

Each of these different types of therapies focuses on positive change to help the client overcome obstacles that hinder their growth or ability to find a solution to their problem. There are; however, a few challenges with these various therapeutic styles that may stop the client from coming back to receive help. Some of these challenges include resistance, lack of communication, and the development of a strong therapist-client relationship. Will is quite defiant to elders and may use anger and resistance as a defense mechanism from getting hurt …show more content…

101). If Maguire was an Adlerian therapist, the first thing he might do is perform a lifestyle assessment and have Will recall his earliest memories. Maguire may ask Will to keep a dream journal to record any dreams that could help the therapist figure out what Will desires in life and what contributed to his struggles. Maguire may also use a subjective and objective interview to do this. He would then pay close attention to how Will criticizes himself and point out that his lack of trust in people are due to him forming false assumptions that all people are like that. Due to Will’s experience with abuse and low self-esteem, Maguire may also investigate his past families or family constellation. Maguire in Adlerian therapy acts like a teacher and due to Will’s struggle with connecting with women, he would strive to teach Will how to be brave. He may also encourage him to pursue Skylar since she may be a potential social interest. With Adlerian therapy, Will would learn to modify his pessimistic thinking to be more optimistic in order to pursue his desired relationships. Due to his constant yelling at others and excessive anger, Maguire may ask Will to try to understand Skylar’s feelings by going out with her more, pursue a job, or volunteer in order to be involved and contribute to

Open Document