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Solutions On The Screen – Is Movie Therapy For You?
Who doesn’t like to kick back, relax and watch a good movie? Movies engage our minds and help us to unwind, letting us temporarily forget our worries. Some movies help us work out problems in our lives by letting us see how others handle the same or similar situations. The use of movies as a coping tool has been in practice for many years. Mental health professionals use “movie therapy” to help clients address and deal with current situations that affect the client’s lives.
What is movie therapy? Also known as cinema therapy and reel therapy, movie therapy is described as therapy for the mind where a person views certain films under the supervision of a mental health therapist to help treat mental and emotional conditions. According to Birgit Wolz, an Oakland, California psychotherapist, a movie can help to shed new light on a dilemma in many ways.
Life at the Movies – The Art of Cinema Therapy
More and more counselors are turning the American past time movies into an effective therapeutic tool. I personally incorporated the use of Cinema Therapy with clients informally more than five years ago. Within the past two years, however, I have begun to use it more consistently as an adjunctive form of service when planning treatment. Movies deal with a range of life issues that are appropriate for all ages, cultures, and backgrounds. In the ongoing debate does life emulate the movies or do movies emulate real life? One thing is clear: Movies address many of our common problems. Some very practical answers and life choices are provided in the 90 to 180 minute reel. Therefore, movies often give clients insight into their own lives.
After seeing Field of Dreams in 1989, If you build it, they will come became my slogan for the year. Those words of inspiration and hope gave me encouragement to step out in faith and accomplish many goals. I am sure I have seen the film over 20 times and every time is like the first. I was flooded with emotion. The list of things I needed to build filled by mind. Sitting in that dark theater, tears streamed down my face as I identified the many things I wanted to do but was afraid to take the risk. I slipped past my friend, stepped into the aisle, rushed to the back of the theater, and cried like a baby. Periodically, I rent the video to remind me to follow my heart, to hear the voice within, and to forge ahead. The movie had an awesome healing effect. As clients connect with various characters, they are able to identify similarities to and differences from their own stories. This is often a great bridge from the reel to the real.
Agoraphobia Recovery – What I Learned From a Movie About Changing the Pictures in Your Mind
One night shortly after getting married, my wife and I watched a movie together before bed. The movie was a romantic comedy written to make people laugh. But I had the opposite response. While watching the movie, I felt sick to my stomach. My heart beat harder. I felt a sense of impending doom.
About halfway through the movie, I figured out why I was having these anxiety symptoms instead of enjoying the movie like my wife. I had seen this same movie in the theaters two years earlier, on a day when my girlfriend (who is now my wife) had suddenly and unexpectedly broken up with me, leaving me in a highly anxious state. Now two years later, simply watching the same sequence of scenes from this movie triggered all of the negative feelings I experienced on the day of the break up.
Mind Movies – A Christian Perspective
Well if you spend any time online you will be familiar with the term “mind movie”. They have gained enormous popularity on YouTube.com and fall into the category of self-help resources that are somewhat of the pop psychology category.
This genre of psuedo spirituality holds the “Universe” as the responsible agent of your destiny, along the same line of thought that movie “The Secret” and the book, “Law of Attraction” also suggest. The basic premise is that whatever you put out to the universe, you will be given back due to the certain vibrations you emit.
Don’t Take My Baby! Why Many Adults With ADD Don’t Watch Lifetime Movies
There is one very specific type of movie that I just can’t watch because I get too upset. I call it a “Don’t Take My Baby” movie.
I’m sure you’re familiar with this type of movie. The most common plot line is: Couple finds out they can’t have baby and adopts. Couple loves baby very much and experience great joy until baby’s birth parents challenge adoption and try to get baby back.
Other variations include: