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 …show more content…
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 …show more content…
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