What Do You Think Will Hunting Had Not Been Successful?

1. What do you think Will Hunting’s life would be like if the therapy had not been successful?
I believe that Will would have still been a construction worker and a janitor. He would still be afraid to take chances and allow people to actually love him. Furthermore, Will would have continued to be an intelligent, yet angry person for the rest of his life. He was going to look at his life fifty years from now and have so many regrets. He was going to be labeled as a genius that was an idiot for wasting his god given talent. He probably would’ve spent the rest of his life in jail because he was angry and decided to release his frustration out on someone else. Lastly, if the therapy sessions weren’t successful Will’s life probably would’ve ended
tragically because he allowed his abuse from his childhood to affect his future.
2. Give an overview of Reactive attachment disorder (RAD).
Reactive attachment disorder is a condition that people are affected by at a young age.
According to Shi (2014), “Reactive attachment disorder is associated with severe and persistent disregard of a child’s basic emotional and physical needs, in the form of abuse and frequent changes of primary caregiver”. Moreover, Reactive attachment disorder could inhibit a child’s ability to interact with others and create intimate, trusting relationships. Additionally, Shi (2014) states that “it is difficult for people to show any progression because their basic trust in other people have been completely shattered”. One particular example would be when Will spoke to Sean Maguire in an arrogant manner during a session. Will knew that Maguire was depicting his life accurately and he was too stubborn to admit that he needed help. He didn’t allow Maguire to get close to him because “it was against his survival instinct to trust another adult” (Shi, 2014). Will unknowingly allowed his Reactive attachment disorder to almost ruin his relationship with his girlfriend and his future. However, Will didn’t know that he had a severe issue because he learned to adapt to his situation and it was normal behavior for him. He simply believed that the people around him had an issue with him because he was different. As a result, he built a defense mechanism that was very challenging to
penetrate.
6. What were some milestone moments in Will Hunting’s life during the course of the movie?
One milestone moment of Will’s life was when he actually started to take his therapy sessions seriously.
Will didn’t respect the other therapists because they approached him in a typical manner which is what he expected of them. The first therapist wanted Will to admit that he had a problem, so Will willingly admitted that he had an issue to get a good report from the therapist. Furthermore, the second therapist tried to hypnotize Will and there wasn’t a chance that he would’ve taken the therapist seriously. In contrast, Will took Sean Maguire seriously because he set boundaries with Will by telling him what subjects were off limits. Maguire ignored Will as well to show him that he didn’t have to talk if he didn’t want to during a session. Maguire could understand Will’s situation and it made me refer back to our discussion in class regarding culture competence and diversity. Maguire and Will grew up in the same neighborhood so Maguire was able to relate to him. He didn’t try to display that he was above Will by wearing fancy clothes or creating a facade. He brought himself down to Will’s level and asked Will thought-provoking questions regarding his life. In addition, another milestone moment occurred when Maguire got Will to discuss his abuse in a therapy session. Maguire empathized with Will by explaining that he was abused by his mother’s boyfriend. He explained to Will that being abused was not his fault and Maguire repeated the phrase “It’s not your fault” several
times so that Will could process the situation. This was a pivotal moment in Will’s life because he cried and was able to vulnerable without being judged by anyone. Will cried and finally released all the pain and frustration that he endured as a child and I could tell that a huge burden had been lifted off of his shoulders. Once that burden was lifted, he was able to accept the thing that he wanted the most in life which was unconditional love.
8. Why was Will Hunting resistant to therapy?
Will was resistant to therapy because he believed that he was being normal. Will didn’t believe that he had any issues and thought that therapy was irrelevant. He didn’t want his life to be put under a microscope and examined by someone who couldn’t possibly understand what he went through as an orphan. Will thought that poets like Shakespeare had the answers to all of his problems. In addition, he read books and gained knowledge to suppress his thoughts of his childhood and he used math as a coping mechanism. Will didn’t want to be seen as a victim so he pretended to be tough to hide how he truly felt about anything. He believed that he had his life under control and that therapy was a waste of his time.