A Dangerous Method

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A DANGEROUS METHOD
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This paper looks at the movie; A Dangerous Method directed by David Cronenberge is based on true life events that happened on the eve of the World War 1. This movie brings out the theories, techniques, and the central characters in the early history of psychoanalysis. It brings out the effectiveness of psychoanalysis method and shows the risks and dangers encountered when entering the unconscious mind. This movie takes a look at these through the life of Carl Jung who was one of the founding fathers of psychoanalysis. It also takes a glimpse into the turbulent relationship between a doctor, his mentor, and his patient. The paper will begin by giving a short synopsis of the movie. It will then give an analysis of the movie based on concepts in psychology (Cronenberg, 2011).
A Dangerous Method is a movie about a Russian woman called Sabina Spielrein acted by Keira Knightley who suffers from hysteria. She gets hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital in Zurich under the care of Dr. Carl Jung, acted by Michael Fassbender. The doctor believes that Sabina is the best candidate for the new medical field known as psychoanalysis or “The Talking Cure”. This technique is developed by Dr. Sigmund Feud acted by Viggo Mortensen who also acts as Dr. Jung’s mentor. This technique works on the basis of asking patients questions and letting them answer as they work through their emotions. Dr. Jung starts experimenting with the new technique to see its effects. Through their conversation, Sabina starts to understand the source of her problems which are deeply rooted in her childhood and her abusive father. In this process, she regains her sanity and also gets the opportunity ...

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... but is seen to be listening the entire time. However, in reality, for the “Talking Cure” to be successful, it was not enough for the patient to be talking only about her conscious memories. Unconscious memories also need to be recovered too meaning that the psychoanalyst needs to be active in participating in the conversation. In the early years, Feud believed that to be able to help a patient, there needed to be an abreaction of traumatic memories either recovering lost memories and putting them into words or working through the memories and relating them with other conscious memories, feelings, and thoughts. Abreaction normally happens in day to day experiences but remain unconscious in time of trauma. This in turn causes a deviation from the normal way of thought.

Bibliography
Cronenberg, D. (Director). (2011). A Dangerous Method [Motion Picture].

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