Trauma & Art

Films and books

There’s an open summer cinema here on the island and there’s nothing better than watching a lovely film under the star lit sky surrounded by bouganvillias on a cool summer night. I had been hoping that The Bookshop directed by Isabel Coixet would reach my small corner of the world and it did.

Set in a sleepy late 1950s seaside port, book lover Florence Green (Emily Mortimer), a widow, wakes up one day after years of grief knowing what it is exactly that she wants to do with her life. She posseses integrity, courage and self-belief and her dream is to open a bookshop in a place that has never had a bookshop and most of the villagers don’t like books, except for Mr Brundish (Bill Nighy), who lives a seemingly isolated life. She finally opens her little shop in a run-down property despite fierce opposition. The story is about community politics and broader relational and societal power dynamics. Read more ..

Synchronicities…..

Yesterday I watched Good Will Hunting starring: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Robin William and directed by Gus Van Sant in 1997. I had previously watched it a couple of times back in 2011 because of a reaction paper I had to write in a counseling laboratory. One of the main characters is Will, ‘who is presented as a tough young man from a run down neighbourhood that has been in and out of different foster families and is currently working as a janitor at a prestigious technical college. He mostly spends his time hanging out with his best friends and gets involved in street fights and other crimes like theft, assault and so on. However, Will is highly intelligent, has an exceptional memory and a talent for solving challenging Maths problems. His proving a difficult theorem results in attracting the interest of one of the professor’s at the college, which will be conducive to changing his life because when Will is convicted to do some time in prison the professor arranges his probation on the condition that he receives Maths classes and counseling. After several unsuccessful counseling attempts he enters therapy with Sean, whom he shares a common background (e.g. they are both Southies, have lived in the same neighbourhood, have experienced childhood physical abuse) and has common interests’ (2011, Introductory Counseling laboratory-PSY 502).

Then a little while later as I was putting things away I found a copy of this paper and it brought back memories of how interpersonal experiences influence us in small or bigger ways. Actually, the film allows us to see how interpersonal interactions have the potential to change us in some manner. In the reaction paper I had written ‘shifts occur in both Sean and Will’s lives and the therapeutic experience seems to have facilitated processing of painful material and loss for both. Evidence suggests that both the therapist and client can produce new neurons in the brain as a result of their interaction (cited in Ivey et al., 2007). Moreover, Sean’s comfort level with difficult emotions seems high and this allows him to be a more observant, empathic and effective therapist. However, we do not witness Sean reflecting Will’s feelings but mostly we see him naming them or presupposing their existence (for instance, fear). I suppose Sean based his approach on his knowledge of trauma and his client and the fact that Will was not comfortable with emotions in the first place’ (2011, Introductory Counseling laboratory-PSY 502).

Anyway, in the evening while I was reading e-mails I found an article It’s Not Your Fault: Overcoming Trauma at Psychalive (https://www.psychalive.org/not-fault-overcoming-trauma-facing-truth/), which to my surprise referred to this same film. The article written by Lisa Firestone begins ‘there is a famous scene in the film Good Will Hunting where Robin Williams, playing a therapist, compassionately repeats the line “It’s not your fault” to Will, a troubled young man with self-destructive tendencies, who happens to be a genius. The line is a response to the revelation of abuse Will endured as a child. At first, Will is dismissive of the statement, but as his therapist steadily repeats “It’s not your fault,” he becomes increasingly agitated. Finally, he erupts into emotion, tearfully allowing the meaning of the words to sink in. This scene is a powerful signification of what trauma can do to a human being. It is also a testament to the importance of anyone who has experienced trauma embracing the irrefutable reality that it is not their fault’. This reality is explicitly expressed in John Bradshaw’s poem: My Name Is Toxic Shame

I pierced you to the core… I brought feelings of being flawed and defective…

I made you feel different… I am empowered by the shocking intensity of a parent’s rage…

The touch that feels icky and frightening… The slap, the pinch, the jerk that ruptures trust…

I bring pain that is chronic… I make you feel hopeless like there is no way out…

My pain is so intense that you must numb out and no longer feel me.’                             

Interestingly, in that paper back in 2011 had written ‘however, what was positive was the emphasis Sean put on making it clear and getting it across to Will that it was not his fault. It was a very powerful and moving moment and highlighted the fact that shame, guilt and self blame are the unfortunate, debilitating repercussions of abuse and how important it is to address this in therapy’.