Henry Turner Psychology

An Austrian Psychoanalytic Psychologist by the name of Sigmund Freud, known for his diverse theories and complexes, made many psychological advancements. Perhaps one of the more interesting of his ideas suggests that there are three components that make up an individual's personality. The names given to them were the Id, which is our natural state, Ego, which we develop during adolescence, and Superego, which we evolve during adulthood to help regulate our Ids. A good depiction of this concept is the movie Regarding Henry, which features a main character, Henry Turner, who must rethink his entire life after facing a life threatening shot to the head. The movie portrays Henry as a top of the line lawyer who is constantly living in the Id frame of mind. He, however, must reevaluate his character and thus allow the Superego to take control in order to better himself and his family.
Throughout the movie, Henry performs many behaviors that exhibit the fact that he is living in the Id mindset. At the movies beginning, he leads his daughter on to what she thinks is an apology, only to end in her reprehension . Following this, Henry goes to the local market to buy a pack of cigarettes, and subsequently gets shot in the head after mishandling a robber
in the store. After this, he faced a long recovery in the hospital and countless hours of physical therapy, learning how to walk and talk again. When it came time to leave, Henry, not remembering anything about his previous life, resisted. On the day of his supposed departure, his main nurse, Bradley, came into the room only to find that Henry had not packed. When asked why, he childishly replied that he simply did not want to leave. Eventually, Bradley was able to get him out of the room, but not before he threw a temper tantrum to show his apparent disapproval for what was going on. Once back up on his feet, he was able to wander around and explore territory that, to him, was previously uncharted. In doing this, he crosses a street without first looking, gets an ice cream cone, and, to top it off, buys a dog and brings it back to his house. Even after the accident, it seems as though Henry continued to live in the Id frame of mind. Although this may be true, however, he did allow the Superego to shine through in a select few portions of the movie, which allowed viewers to see a different, more altruistic version of him.
Before his injury, there were almost no instances that illustrated Henry’s ability to suppress his impulses. Afterward, however, as he began to redevelop his character, he did things that were unprincipled to his former actions. Instead of resenting his daughter, and making her feel ostracized, he sympathized with her on more than one occasion. At the dinner table, shortly after arriving back home, his daughter spilled her drink all over the table. In an attempt to comfort her, he does the same with his drink. Succeeding this, he also comes up with a story to console her when she is hesitant to leave for school. Another key time Henry’s superego came out was when he realized that what he did for a living was wrong and quit his job. As a matter of fact, it bothered him so much that he even took it to the point of personally apologizing and giving crucial evidence to the woman whom he cheated out of winning a case. By doing these things, Henry effectively showed us the positive outcome of learning to control our Ids.
Altogether, though Henry does demonstrate a growing sense of importance in the discipline of his Id, he ultimately still reverts back to it on a regular basis.
Because of this, it seems as if the Id is his natural state of mind, as his actions are often times immature and impetuous.
As Freud suggested, there are three parts to any personality: the Id, Ego, and Superego, which each cause a certain pattern of thinking and acting. Henry, though he displayed both sign of the Id and Superego, conclusively had a more infantile and audacious look at life. Through this film, we can analyze the value of capturing our Superegos and allowing them to make important, conscientious decisions that could ultimately improve our
lives.