Counseling How Tragedy Affects Characters in \"Good

Counseling

How Tragedy Affects Characters in "Good Will Hunting"

The title character of the film Good Will Hunting (1997) is a young man, played by actor Matt Damon. He comes from a poor part of South Boston. Will Hunting is a charming, handsome, brilliant man with the potential to break free from the shackles of poverty, boredom, and stagnation because, as a janitor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a mathematics professor, Gerard Lambeau, discovers the staggering depths of Will's intelligence. As part of an agreement with the professor, Will must meet with a therapist/counselor to avoid jail time for an assault on one of Will's childhood bullies. Will is very uncooperative and disruptive at first, until matched with Sean Maguire, played by Robin Williams. Sean and Will are able to bond, and eventually, after some trust is built, they are able to make breakthroughs into Will's deviant behavior and fear/inability to establish healthy love relationships, which is directly linked to the tragedies Will endured as a child.

Traumas and tragedies experienced in childhood often have the most profound affects that linger and continue to manifest well into adulthood. Will Hunting is a 20-year man in the film, and thus is not a fully developed adult yet, but even at his young age, the experiences he had as a childhood are directly linked to why he is often fighting, drinking, unfocused, and willing to settle without even really trying. As a child, Will Hunting was in foster care. Foster care can be extremely painful and traumatic based on the kinds of families and home environments that foster families provide. In Will's situation, he was most traumatized in a foster home where a parent physically and psychologically abused him. For example, Will's foster parent extinguished cigarettes on Will's body, which is a reason why he feels as if he is worthless and unworthy of love, whether from Maguire, or from Will's romantic interest, British Harvard undergraduate, Skylar (Minnie Driver). Will's battle with his past make him develop a coping mechanism in which he intentionally and unconsciously sabotages his relationships so that he may avoid risking the kind of pain (metaphorically) that he experienced as a foster child.

If I were a counselor treating Will Hunting, I will likely employ a similar or analogous strategy that Maguire did -- come up with an indirect, yet compelling way to capture his attention and relate to him. Maguire told a story about a legendary hit in a rare World Series appearance by the Boston Red Sox, which was actually a story about how he fell in love at first sight with his wife, who died from cancer. This engaged Will for many reasons, surprised him, and connected him to Maguire almost instantly. If I were Will's counselor, I would find out as much as I could about his history without his help at first. This would help me take better guesses at what kinds of methods of treatment might work for him. I would try to find a balance between gently guiding Will and allowing Will to guide the counseling sessions. A patient like Will would certainly be a challenge, but in a way, a patient like Will is a normative type of patient that counselors are likely to encounter, so I would do my best, as his counselor, to help him come to terms with his past and to understand how his past affects his present.