Multi-Genre Research Paper: Movies as Therapy
Prologue
While I was searching for information about music as medicine, I started thinking about all types of media as medicine and that how I got to “Movies as Therapy”. I figured that movies would make a much more fun multi-genre topic than music since it is very common knowledge that music can be used for relaxation and other things like that.
The importance of this topic is that I know for a fact that movies can leave an impression on people and they can affect people in a lot of different ways. I believe a reason for this is the fact that it is so much easier to deal with a movie than with real life situations since it is not happening to you and you know that whatever it is, it will end in 90 to 120 minutes or so; it will not, and cannot, last forever.
Since I expect my audience to find out about this topic from my work, the theme throughout the genres I have chosen is irony, absurdity and just plain fun. This is because when something as fun and common as watching a movie becomes something as serious as going to the therapist, sometimes we tend to get a little apprehensive. My goal is to make that transition from fun to serious a little less dull.
Introduction
It is a common phenomenon in our society to go to the movies. There has been much speculation about the motivation, purpose and beneficence of doing this specific mass act. While the majority of people prefer to go to the movies to escape their own worlds for a while, others enjoy the analytical challenge that a movie can present. For me movies are a way of exploring my feelings, a journey in which I want to be “touched” and inspired.
On the same note, lately psychologists and therapists are implementing movies to help their patients cope with specific situations or problems in their lives. This complement to traditional therapy is called cinematherapy. Although this type of therapy is described as “a powerful catalyst for healing and growth” (Cinematherapy), psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Bruce Skalarew points out that like art, dance and music, movie therapy, is a good companion to traditional therapy, not a substitute. (Mann)
In addition, the versatility of cinematherapy lies in the fact that, even though every person is different and has different problems or situations and points of view, there are hundreds of movies equally different and with different points of view. Since everyone can react differently to the same movie, psychologists and therapist can get an insight into their patients by exploring those reactions in context with the patient’s situation. It is also a great way to break the ice when a patient goes to therapy for the first time, which can make the patient feel shy and reserved. Hearing the therapist saying that they will start by watching a movie can improve the therapist-patient relationship as well as to help kick-start the session.
Also, this kind of therapy has been implemented in schools to help children deal with feelings they aren’t able to express on their own. Movies like Toy Story, Good Will Hunting and The Lion King have been used for middle school children to deal with friendships, social issues, death, feelings of guilt and grief. (Selman)
Another popular take on this kind of therapy is the use of sad movies or “tear-jerkers” in order to explore the sense of abandonment and loss that they can have on us. Paul Friday, chief of clinical psychology at UPMC Shadyside, says that loss and abandonment are the key to this kind of movies, since [we] use them as a means of catharsis. This catharsis, in the form of laughing, or in this case, crying, works by “releasing buried feelings… [that helps us] to move… through our pain.” (Machosky)
At the same time that I believe movies are many times used as escapism, I also strongly believe in the power movies can have us and that power can often be the power of healing. Movies have the specific means of operating that makes it easy for the audience to identify with what’s going on in them in order to confront ourselves with our own reality. If a movie has that purpose the achievement of that purpose will result in the audience’s reactions to it even days after they have seen it.
Annotated Bibliography
“Cinematherapy.com: Using Movies for Healing and Growth.” Cinematherapy.com: Using Movies for Healing and Growth. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. <http://www.cinematherapy.com/>.
CinemaTherapy.com begins by encouraging its readers to use movies as a way to transform themselves. It also states that watching a film consciously aware can give insight to our psyche, can give us inspiration and emotional release in addition to help us change in a natural way. It also explains movie therapy theory as based on using movies the same way stories, myths, fables and dreams are used. The article gives the process of how movie therapy works in the same way that the other methods function and how therapists can implement this kind of therapy into their sessions.
Machosky, Michael. “Sad movies have therapeutic value, experts say. ” McClatchy – Tribune Business News 25 June 2009 ProQuest Newsstand, ProQuest. Web. 24 Nov. 2009.
This article talks about sad movies, also known as tear-jerkers, and the effects these movies have on its audience. Author Michael Machosky also relates his own experience with sad movies. He quotes chief of clinical psychology at UPMC Shadyside, Paul Friday who has come to the conclusion that the key to a sad movie is the sense of abandonment and loss that they portray on people. Machosky goes on to quote psychotherapist, Birgit Wolz, who states that people use these kinds of movies as a means of catharsis. At the end of the article, the author has a collection of people’s reaction to some sad movies.
Mann, Denise. “Movie Therapy: Using Movies for Mental Health.” Cinematherapy.com: Using Movies for Healing and Growth. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2009.<http://www.cinematherapy.com/pressclippings/webmd3.html>.
Author Denise Mann asks about the possibility of movies acting as a way with coping with real life situations. The article also talks about cinematherapy as a means for professional psychiatrists to use movies as part of a patient’s therapy. Mann quotes several authors who have written about the subject, like Gary Solomon, cinema therapist Birgit Wolz, and Joshua Flander, executive director of the Chicago Institute for the moving image. In this institute people are given the chance to be involved in the process of filmmaking which also helps them cope with their problems and situations. Towards the end of the article Mann quotes Bruce Skalarew who states the fact that although movie therapy, like art, dance and music, is a good addition or companion to traditional therapy, it should not substitute it.
Selman, Sean. “Cinematherapy.” Welcome to the UAB School of Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2009. <http://www.ed.uab.edu/cinematherapy/home.html>.
In this article, author Sean Selman describes how school counselors use cinematherapy to help children deal with feelings they aren’t able to express on their own. He talks about middle school counselor, Linda Foster, who has used movies like Toy Story, Good Will Hunting and The Lion King for children to deal with friendships, social issues, death, feelings of guilt and grief. This article also describes how counselors use cinematherapy for adults to help them talk about issues that would make them feel uncomfortable. Selman goes on to talk about Assistant Professor Larry Tyson who, along with foster, is interested in creating a website in which counselors can share thoughts, ideas and advice on how to implement this type of therapy into their work. For Tyson this website posts endless possibilities since movies keep coming out and people keep watching them and reacting to them in different ways.
Wolz, Birgit, Ph.D., and MFT. “The Transformational Power of Film.” Cinematherapy.com: Using Movies for Healing and Growth. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2009. <http://www.cinematherapy.com/birgitarticles/transformationalpower.html>.
Author Birgit Wolz talks about how she came across cinema therapy and about when this theory began to be used. She gives two case examples in which she uses different movies and different questions to approach a patients specific situation or problem. These examples are given to show the different ways she incorporates cinematherapy theory into her work. Wolz goes on to describe how different types of psychologists and different types of therapy might use cinematherapy to aid their work on a patient. The author ends the article with some guidelines for how to give a movie for a patient to watch and the questions you might want to use to get a reaction from the patient.
