Cinematherapy - Hunt For The Wilderpeople

 Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Movie on Neflix streaming.

Plot - From IMDB - Reclusive country folk Bella and Hector become foster parents to Ricky, a problem child from the city. After some adjustment, things go reasonably well. However, Bella's death means that Hector must now look after Ricky himself, and they haven't been getting along. Moreover, her death causes Child Services to decide to send Ricky back to the orphanage. Ricky refuses to go back and runs away, ultimately sparking a national manhunt for him and Hector.—

Audience - The movie is intended for a general audience. It can be enjoyed by all ages from 10 and up. This review is written though for human service professionals.

Creative tension - The creative tension in Hunt for the Wilderpeople is derived from two sources. First Ricky Baker is a foster child, 13, who has been difficult to place and retain in a foster care setting.. How will he adjust to this new foster home, way out in the country, with Bella and Hector, a childless older couple. Bella is very motherly, almost grandmotherly, while Hector is antisocial and a curmudgeon. The second source of creative tension arises when Bella dies and Child Welfare Services writes a letter to Hector informing him that they will be coming to remove Ricky from his home now that Bella is dead. Ricky refuses to go back to child welfare,  and Hector is upset that they don’t think he can raise a child without Bella. Hector and Ricky escape to the bush to avoid capture by Child Welfare authorities.

Moral of the Story - Family comes in multiple forms and Ricky and Hector have formed theirs no matter how unlikely and mismatched. Does their form of family coincide with community norms? No. But does it work and is it filled with love and caring? Yes.

Utility of the movie for human service professionals - To learn an appreciation for diversity in all its multiplicities. What conforms with social convention might not always be the best. In such cases do the nonconformists become outlaws? As outlaws do people evade, resist, and attack the forces of subjugation and oppression? As witnesses do we side with the conventional authorities or with the right to self determination of those the system would subjugate? In these dilemmas what is the appropriate ethical stance of the human service worker?

Recommendation - This film is highly recommended for its entertainment, and for its presentation of deeper ethical dilemmas. It earns a 5 out of 5.

Articles about Cinematherapy appear on Markham's Behavioral Health on most Tuesdays.

Analysis cf. systems thinking

 

Bibliotherapy - Persuasion by Jane Austin, Love or money?

What happens when we dismiss love for ulterior motives? Persuasion by Jane Austin describes the situation through the perspective of Anne Elliot,, a middle child of an aristocratic family in England in the early 1800s. Some consider it Austin's greatest novel.

Anne is dissuaded from accepting Frederick Wentworth’s proposal of marriage because he has no social status and no money. Anne’s family and friends are very class conscious in a time when a woman’s place in the world depended more on her husband’s status and wealth than on her own.

Vanity trumps love and the novel is about the suffering that results..

The story is one that occurs in a historical context that society has evolved through and yet the back story about the importance of love in our life satisfaction and fulfillment is enduring.

Given the customs and norms of the times the story is interesting and believable. The characters are well developed and gain our sympathy and empathy. The moral of the story is not to let ulterior motives squash love. The question of love or money is as alive today as it was back in the 1800s.

Articles about bibliotherapy appear on Markham's Behavioral Health most Mondays and accessed by clicking on the tag "bibliotherapy" at the bottom of the post.

Psychotherapeutic humanities - Knowing about, and experience.

There is a big difference between knowing about something and experiencing it. When working with people with substance misuse problems they often ask the counselor if the counselor is in recovery themselves. The saying in AA and other twelve stop programs is that “it takes one to know one” or as my friend, Jim, told me one time, “Dave, you can’t bullshit a bull shitter.”

Of course to expect that a helper has had personal experience with the problem influencing the helpee is unreasonable and unnecessary for the helper to be empathetic and understanding. Often the helper has vicariously experienced the problem from the stories of other helpees and from works of art, the most relevant being fiction, nonfiction, and films.

The three main factors of helpful bibliotherapy and cinematherapy are trust, connection and action. Trust meaning that the fiction or nonfiction seems realistic, authentic, relevant, and believable. Connection meaning that the reader, viewer, can identify with the characters, and action in the sense that the scenarios, interactions, and dynamics can be replicated.

Can we experience life vicariously through the artistic rendition of other people, events, and dynamics? Absolutely, and this living vicariously can help one become wise, compassionate, knowledgeable and helpful.

Art facilitates the growth of the soul, not just the intellect. A competent helper needs both intellect and soul.

Articles about the Psychotherapeutic Humanities appears on Markham's Behavioral Health most Sundays.

Article of the Week : MAiD (Medical Aid in Dying)

In Canada, some US states, Australia, and few other countries doctors will help you kill yourself or even do it for you. It is called “Medical Aid in Dying.” It seems if you are old, poor, and mentally ill you may be a prime candidate to save the government and health insurance companies the expense of helping you stay alive and enjoy an even minimal quality of life.

Canada’s MAiD program is one of the world’s most extensive such programs. In 2021, it was used by 10,058 Canadians – about 3 percent of Canada’s recorded deaths that year. 

Ebersole, Phil, Rx: Assisted Suicide For The Sick, and Poor.

For more click here

Article of the week appears on Markham's Behavioral Health most Saturdays.

Seeing what we usually don't allow ourselves to see.

 

It is called "confirmation bias." "self fulfilling prophecy," "projection," "displacement," "stupidity," "the shadow," the "unconscious."

Socrates said that an unexamined life is not worth living.

The Oracle At Delphi said that  we should know ourselves.

Psychotherapy is an uncovering process. It helps make the unconscious, conscious.

Freud said that we can either talk it out or act it out.

Milton Erickson encouraged us to see what we don't allow ourselves to see.

Quotes from the psychotherapy masters appears on Markham's Behavioral Health most Fridays.

Music Therapy - But I Still Haven’t Found What I am Looking For, U2

Some have called “But I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” by U2 a gospel song. Perhaps it is called a gospel song because it raises the question about what we are ultimately yearning for, our Transcendent Source.

Many people come to psychotherapy with multiple complaints but the underlying dynamic is always that they haven’t found what they are looking for often not knowing what it is that they are looking for.

When we look in the right places we find peace and bliss but when we look in the wrong places we find fear, guilt, shame, and depression.

A good psychotherapist is a guide who helps the client find what they are ultimately looking for. U2’s great song can be the song track for the drama that unfolds in any good psychotherapy.

Music therapy is a regular feature on Markham's Behavioral Health which appears most Thursdays.