Mysterious Skin Sexual Abuse

The movie Mysterious Skin is a heart-wrenching movie of two young boys who endured sexual abuse as children. During the movie we get to see how this sexual abuse impacted their lives from adolescence to adulthood. The local baseball coach is incidentally the same man who sexually abuses both boys in this film. He sexually abused the boys through the use of seduction and manipulation. From the movie we can see that there is a connection between the two boys, but we are not fully informed of their story until the end of the movie, which occurred ten years post-abuse. I chose to look more into the character of Brian Lackey; the audience is first introduced to Brian when he is an eight-year-old boy living in Kansas. Brian is a shy and awkward kid

After a baseball game, Brian’s absentee father was a no-show to pick him up. The coach offered to take Brian home, as well as one of his teammates, Neil. However, before they could be driven home, the coach made a stop at his house. While in the coach’s house, the coach used Neil to manipulate Brian and make him believe that the sexual things were going to be fun and normal. During this time Brian becomes distant and just by looking into his eyes you can see him fading away. The second time we see Brian sexually abused was on Halloween night; Brian was scared of a haunted house, once he got separated from his sister he decided to walk through the woods alone. Brian runs into the coach, who once again sexually abuses him. Both times Brian see’s something blue and represses the memory of the sexual abuse. The symptoms Brian shows after both sexual counters are consistent with children who have gone through traumas. Brian has repressed the experiences and can now only remember a blue hand. He is aware of the fact that something happened, but can’t recall all of the details. Brian begins to experience a variety of symptoms: he wet the bed, had constant nosebleeds for ten years, and was scared of the dark. He does not understand his blackouts and suspected that aliens had abducted him. This is called traumatic amnesia, which is created to explain the

Brian’s parents did not take notice or action when he displayed these symptoms. If they had, I believe Brian would have first gone to see a therapist. Since Brian is missing periods of time from his memory, the therapist would first start by trying to work with Brian to retrieve the repressed memories. They could use direct questioning, hypnosis, dream analysis, and attending survivors groups. I believe after Brian’s repressed memories are brought to light, the therapist would use TF-CBT (Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) when treating Brian’s trauma from the sexual abuse. Treatment starts with educating both the victim and the parents. This would really help Brian and his parents while hearing and learning about the sexual abuse. His mother could become very protective and it would be good for her to hear from a therapist about the steps necessary to help deal with the trauma in a positive way. Brian’s dad could blame himself for the abuse considering he was not around on day the abuse occurred. The therapist could help his father by explaining that we can’t focus on what he could of done but what he can do now to support Brian. Affect and regulation could help Brian identify the feelings he had towards the sexual abuse, but not by withdrawing or avoiding these feelings, which he currently does when he represses and avoids