Good Will Hunting: Analysis Through Psychoanalytical Theories

The film Good Will Hunting features the eight psychotherapy sessions that raise and address concerns in the current practice of psychotherapy as well as its ethical base of counseling. Will Hunting, the main character, demonstrates the psychological difficulties that adversely affect his life, especially in establishing relationships with his associates. Hunting is an orphan that grew up in foster homes and he was physically abused by his father, who was the root cause of his unhealthy psychological difficulties, which necessitated intervention from the psychotherapist, Sean Maguire. Therefore, Good Will Hunting is a critical film which demonstrates the essential principles of psychology, counseling practices, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and psychoanalysis.

Will Hunting: psychological analysis

Maguire is introduced to Hunting by Professor Gerald Lambeau. Lambeau believes that Maguire is the best scholar to handle Hunting’s psychological background. He was hopeful that Maguire would help Hunting overcome his childhood traumatic experiences through intensive therapy sessions. For effective psychotherapy sessions, Maguire started cognitive-behavioral therapy that enabled Hunting to open up and discuss the psychological and emotional hurdles that he endured during his life. Cognitive-behavioral therapy requires a strong and professional client-therapist relationship. However, the counseling started on the wrong foot since Maguire threatened Hunting after he recklessly commented about Maguire’s dead wife. In order to maintain a healthy relationship that would enable Hunting to open up about his situation, Maguire shared some of his personal past experiences. However, this could lead to potential issues of transference and countertransference between the therapist and the client as well as the other way around. A sign of potential transference was when he started to refer to Hunting as “son” near the end of therapy. Maguire used this approach in order to make Hunting believe that Maguire could help him heal from his psychological issues.

In this case, a strength-based intervention in Hunting’s case is evident through the application of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Therefore, Maguire maintained a strong relationship with his client and did not give up on Hunting despite instances of microaggressions in the therapy sessions (Kim 2019). For example, Hunting got defensive during their therapy sessions and verbally attacked Maguire when Maguire persuaded him to disclose information about his troubles. However, Hunting’s threats and defensive nature allowed Maguire to establish a convenient and effective approach towards management Hunting’s personality. Therefore, Maguire is depicted as one that emphasized a healthy client-therapist relationship and strived to understand the client despite their defensive satire and hostility. This is possible through tolerating the client’s personality and establishing and affirming power during therapy sessions.

Since Maguire and Hunting built a healthy relationship despite Hunting’s stubborn and uncooperative behavior, the psychoanalytic counseling was a success. For example, when Maguire became aggressive as a result of Hunting’s provocations, Hunting interpreted Maguire’s reaction as genuine, which facilitated trust and the establishment of a productive client-therapist relationship. Maguire was determined not to quit when Will became stubborn and almost impossible. Instead, Maguire tried different approaches to capture Will’s attention and cooperation. Moreover, the fact that Maguire had also gone through difficult emotional and psychological times in his life made him understand Hunting better than other psychotherapists did.

The transference in therapy sessions is evident in this case when the client and the psychotherapist acted unethically and against cultural competence in counseling. The encounter between Maguire and Hunting in a client-therapist setting is illustrated as disturbing and passionate at the same time. For example, Hunting exhibited micro-aggressions and provoked Maguire with the intention of having Maguire get rid of him like the other therapists (Kim, 2019). As a result, Maguire loses his temper and almost fights Hunting because of his disrespectful comments about his wife. In the second session, Maguire addresses Hunting openly about using his impressive intelligence and arrogance to mask childhood traumatic experiences. In a counseling setting, this was an effective step in getting Hunting to talk and foster a working therapeutic relationship. Overall, the portrayed transference and countertransference indicated that Hunting and Maguire’s therapeutic relationship was genuine which enforced Professor Lambeau’s comment that they were a perfect fit working together.

The film is critical in illustrating power struggles, cultural struggles, and socioeconomic influences that negatively affect Maguire’s psychotherapy sessions with Hunting. For example, Hunting is portrayed as an intelligent youth with a great ability to solve mathematical problems. However, his intelligence does not serve him well because he chooses to work as a janitor and in construction sites instead of pursuing academic excellence (Van Sant, 1997). Hunting thought that he had power over his past, and his intelligence and denial motivated this. The defensive nature of Hunting through micro-aggressions can be interpreted as a scheme to force therapists to get rid of him. Therefore, Hunting’s behavior compromises the counseling sessions because Hunting is still in denial that he needs help. Also, through psychoanalytical theories, the unconscious thoughts of Will can be understood through his preference to work as a janitor and despising pursuing academics. Thus, his attitude and feelings have been shaped unconsciously by his childhood experiences, which adversely affects his treatment process. During a scene in the movie, he mentioned that his father worked as a janitor and that he has this belief that all rich people are not good people and thus chose to deliberately reject all of the job opportunities he was offered because he doesn’t want to be “rich”or “successful” because of his beliefs.

The themes of oppression and socioeconomic contexts in the film have necessitated the application of the psychoanalytic approach by Maguire. In this regard, Hunting is depicted as living in a tattered house in Boston’s neighborhood. Moreover, he is portrayed as struggling financially even though his experiences have impacted his willingness to pursue better things in life. Therefore, he works as a janitor and at construction sites, which vividly explains his transference attacks on therapists. Conversely, Hunting endured a rough childhood that was characterized by child abuse from his father and a non-loving foster family that was unconcerned with his mental and physical well-being. The oppression that he faced in his childhood has negatively impacted his relationships with friends and also his girlfriend (Van Sant, 1997). For example, despite having a few close friends, he does not open up about his emotional and psychological struggles. He is also unable to form a close relationship with his girlfriend because he feels vulnerable and thinks that relationships will hurt his emotions. From these accounts, it is evident that the childhood oppression that Hunting faced in terms of physical and emotional abuse impacted his ability to form friendships which necessitated the psychoanalytic approach of Maguire. This also shows that Hunting has a severe fear of abandonment and that he doesn’t open up to Skylar or to his friends completely because he believes that once they find out about the real version of him, they will choose to abandon him. Therefore, he continued lying to Skylar and even when she told him that she wants to know the truth, he said that he doesn’t love her which is not true at all.

In this regard, it is important that a client provides as much information as possible in order to establish a healthy relationship between a client and a counselor. The healthy relationship between clients and counselors also allows for a build-up of certain levels of confidence between clients and counselors, which enhances communication. This allows the counselor to approach the issues at hand carefully and according to the specific needs of the clients, as evident in Good Will Hunting. Another critical aspect of counseling is understanding the client’s needs and the reason why Maguire was able to relate to Hunting was because both of them were abused. Maguire started to call Hunting his son because he wanted to be patient and understanding with him and because he could also relate to the pain of abuse. The most important thing that Maguire did was to explain what therapy is in a very unique manner by talking Hunting to the beach and telling him how he wants to get to know more about him but if he doesn't open up, he can’t get to know him. Establishing trust and being silent in therapy helped Hunting speak out and understand that this is a safe place and that Maguire is here for him.

Critical Reflection

Dealing with a case like Huntings’ is difficult and the way Maguire mastered this art in the movie is credible. I truly believe that with a patient like Hunting, it is very difficult to make them open up. Because of childhood trauma, a lot of problems can occur and a lot of mental disturbances can happen. I also believe that if I was counseling Hunting, I don’t think I could use the ideal approach of therapy because he didn’t even want to be in therapy. For him, therapy was initially more of a hassle until he eventually started to understand the importance of it. I would use the same approach that Maguire used but I would also clarify my boundaries beforehand and even though I know that Hunting is hard to deal with, I know that there is room for improvement with Hunting.

As evident in psychotherapeutic sessions with Maguire, Hunting presents a unique case characterized by oppression, psychological, and emotional struggles, as well as the issue of acceptance. Such a situation calls for deliberate and well-calculated approaches that ensure maximum cooperation of clients through cognitive-behavioral therapy. In the case of Hunting, a compassionate and understanding approach would help to bond with the client, as indicated in the psychoanalytic theory. Also, the idea of positively responding to transference and micro-aggressions from the client as well as avoiding judgmental remarks would make therapy sessions more accommodating. Therefore, the productivity of the counseling sessions would depend on the reception of the client’s information and behavior from the psychotherapist (Kim, 2019). From the above observations, the theoretical orientation that makes the most sense to me is cognitive-behavioral therapy. Therefore, strength-based intervention is goal-oriented and focuses on how different thinking patterns influence behaviors. This is an ideal approach where the counselor gets to understand the cause of the client’s behaviors and the possible interventions that would yield the best results when all factors are considered.

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