Ethical Conflicts in Good Hunting 1997 - Movie Review Example

Good hunting movie 1997 Name Student Number Course Date GOOD WILL HUNTING 1997 People's ethics are in the form of principles that help differentiate between right and wrong conduct. Ethical and legal issues will always arise whenever there are uncertainties, about the right thing to be done in any given situation. Unsolved ethical issues become dilemmas whenever there is confusion on choosing between two or more actions to undertake (Elder & Linda, 2006). Ethical conflicts will always arise when values and ethics are in contradiction to one another and individuals can experience ethical conflicts and feelings of being lost due to an incompatibility in values regarding a choice. Ethical conflicts can arise from individuals who seem to have opposing ideas and values (Heilbroner, 2010). Good will hunting is a 1997 drama movie about the story of a young man, Will. Will is a geek who has photographic memory abilities and a troubled past which he finds hard to let go. While working at MIT as a laborer Will solves a mathematical question that the undergraduate students deemed difficult to answer. Professor Lambeau helps get Will out of jail and sets up psychotherapy classes for him. Will, on the other hand, is a loner and doesn’t get along with people apart from his three friends and due to his troubled past he does not seem to trust anybody. With the help of Dr. Sean, will overcomes his past and goes on to develop a relationship with Skylar and eventually opens up. (Good Will Hunting, 1997). Ethical dilemma This movie presents an ethical dilemma of self-disclosure and an unnatural relationship with a patient. In the film, there is a scenario where Dr. Sean finds it difficult to make Will open up and in order to get him to talking he has to spend a lot of time with Will. Disclosing of personal information to a patient amount to crossing boundaries and violating the code of ethics prescribed for psychotherapists. Although disclosing his personal information to Will helped in having Will open up about his past it amounted to a violation of ethics. Psychotherapist and most health professional are required to conduct themselves professionally, and any form of behavior that is rather personal than professional is prohibited. Self- disclosure, although being an ethics issue, it causes a dilemma in that, most psychotherapists were not able to take Will in for psychotherapy classes. An indication that they didn’t have the patience to try and understand him and why he behaved so. Ethically Dr. Sean was wrong to tell Will his personal information regarding his past life but at the end of it all Will was able to trust Sean and open up. Therefore, Dr. Sean had no option other than to make Will see the importance of opening up and sharing. Social, legal, ethical and professional issues On the other hand, this movie presents a number of social, legal and ethical issues. Socially Will is depicted as a traumatized teenager who has trust issues, and he could hardly get along with anyone apart from his three friends. After realizing that Will was concealing some vital information while on therapeutical counseling. Dr. Sean decided to disclose his personal information so as to enlighten Will on the importance of opening up. Legal issues depicted in the movie range from professor Lambeau violating Will’s confidentiality when he decided to share Will’s problems with Dr. Sean thus, violating Will’s confidentiality. Despite having Will released from jail so as to help him, legally he violated will’s right to confidentiality and privileged communications. Professor Lambeau had to share Will’s problems in order for him to be released. Through privileged communications, one can develop a relation and exchange information freely but Dr. Sean shared information with professor Lambeau and that was legally wrong. Any information between a patient and psychotherapist should be confidential and in this case, the information was meant to be shared between him and Will. Legally a person has a duty to report any crime or anything that is done contrary to the law. But in the movie, Will discloses how he had suffered immense pain, abuse and how he never reported to anybody or the authorities. And by not reporting he took matters into his hands and assaulted his oppressor that almost landed him in jail. Legally a psychotherapist is required to take notes as he close examines a patient. But in the movie wen Will finally decided to open up, Dr. Sean wasn’t noting down as required which is legally wrong. Psychotherapists are expected to note or record proceedings about the progress of a patient and in this scenario Dr. Sean never abided by that. Thus the theory of attachment is useful here, having that through engaging with Sean, Will is able to learn to balance his feelings and this boosts his self-esteem. This was evident when will decided go and look for Skylar although rejecting her in the first place. Legally people are required to report criminal offenses, but after Will is arrested professor Lambeau is able to cut a deal on his behalf so that he could spend time with him and do math. Legally, Will was never punished for his assault on a police officer and the man who used to assault him while he was a kid. Dr. Sean never took any step to exercise his mandate of duty to protect having that health professionals are legally required to protect the patient so as not to get into harm’s way. Thus, when Will regularly abused and threatened to harm somebody Dr. Sean never discouraged him from doing that (Joanna Gylnn & David Gomez, 2012). Ethical issues in the movie range from, Dr. Sean going overboard to get will talking, Sean disclosing his personal information to the client which was ethically incorrect. Having walks with Will and touching him on many occasions aggressively was also an ethical violation (Freegard, H., & Isted, L., 2012). To some point Will helped Dr. Sean overcome his problems, professionally Dr. Sean was not in a good mental state so as to be able to handle Will’s case effectively. In this scenario, we see Dr. Sean crossing professional boundaries when he advised Will to consider having an affair with Skylar. Appropriate prevention plan In a scenario like this, the best prevention intervention plan is to provide positive reinforcements to promote good behavior. This will help solve will’s problems without violating any ethic of practices and breaking the legally set guidelines (Robert Heilbroner, 2010). Dr. Sean could have come up with a plan that will make Will talk without necessarily going overboard, having that Will was out of jail in a probation kind of deal. Dr. Sean could have made Will understand what lay ahead of him if he never corporates and make him believe in himself. Disclosing his personal information was not only ethically wrong but establishing a relationship with Will to a point of having park walks is professionally wrong. A tougher prevention plan will go a long way to having Will corporate. Therefore, avoiding a mental weakness like Dr. Sean’s will make a patient trust your abilities to help him after all psychotherapy is all about the mind and how people perceive things (Robert Heilbroner, 2010). Professional challenges There are a number of professional challenges I could face while working on Will’s case. For example, personal integrity, psychotherapists rely heavily on a patient’s information in order to be able to make accurate and timely decisions on the kind of approach to be used to treat a psychological problem. Psychotherapist need to understand how deeper the problem goes and concealing information makes the treatment more complicated and time-consuming a professional challenge I would personally like to avoid. Psychologically a patient should be willing to be helped and therefore Will’s case will be challenging because I will first have to find ways to get the required information from Will before I can commence the treatment. Therapy requires a strange an unnatural combination thus having a personal, intimate relationship with a client will be challenging for me. And the set sessions are so limited and inconclusive thus, if I get a patient with a deeper problem like Will’s then meeting once a week won't yield any results. Personal challenges As an individual, Will’s situation will provide me with a number of challenges having that Will is uncooperative. Unlike Dr. Sean, I do not have a troubled past that I can rely on to make Will trust me and open up. If I decide to lie, I will be violating many codes of ethics e.g. being truthful at all times no matter what. Ethics guides us in our daily lives they help us make informed decisions about what is good and evil. In Will’s case, I will face a challenge while trying to make decisions for him. Having that from his decisions, it’s evidently clear that he lacks a sense of belonging, and his self-esteem is so low. Will is not socially sensitive, and this will prove to be challenging while trying to make him understand how society shapes a person. And how he should try to get along with others (Bernstein, V., & Hartsell, 2000). Am intolerant when it comes to misbehaving, and thus patients are mandated to contribute to effective therapeutic partnerships. By according the health professional with the same respect he is accorded and in Will’s case, we will hardly get along having that he is rude and uncooperative (Kidder & Lobaton, 2003). Attachment theory This scenario and the movie in general is a classic example of an attachment disorder, therefore, the attachment theory is adequately illustrated in the Good Will Hunting movie. Will uses his anger as a defense mechanism to mask his inner feelings and guard his inner self. Will's subconscious is already determined as depicted in the movie and no one will be able to penetrate these defenses and hurt him again. This is why he never wanted to give in and open up no matter how hard Dr. Sean pushed him. Reading helped Will distance himself from others, but it was never a lasting solution. The attachment theory is used by most psychologist, and it helps them to form a formidable relationship with patients. In the movie, Dr. Sean used the attachment theory to develop a relationship with Will as it helped them relate. This kind of attachment impacts self-esteem and because Will suffered from low self-esteem. It played a crucial role in evoking emotions immediately after Dr. Sean made him understand the importance of opening up (Alan Rothschild, 2009). The attachment theory works marvelously when dealing with psychotherapy patients, but any professional should approach it with caution as it may bring about social, legal and ethical issues. Therefore, the attachment often tends to be categorized into secure or insecure in response, and that is what Will is going through as illustrated in the Good Will Hunting movie (Cromby & John, 1999). Conclusion Some set codes of ethics have limitations in that professionals are always afraid to point out situations as they are because they are afraid of being ethically incorrect. Some legal principles are very strict and hinders the functionality of a professional adequately. Though, Will changes his attitude towards others and learns how to share things at in the long run. Psychotherapists should act professionally and avoid violating any rules or ethics, disclosing information to patients may make them lose trust in your methods and once that happens then a psychotherapist is doomed professionally. Most importantly professional should differentiate between a patient’s desired outcome and principles versus the immediate reality that they need to teach them (Freegard et al., 2012). By solving Will’s social attachment disorder problem, the Good Will Hunting movie provides the basis for studying this kind of sociological and psychological conditions. It will help encourage people suffering from immense social disorders to seek therapy and experience tremendous changes just like Will. References Annegret, James Ogloff, and Alan Rothschild (2009) mental Health Professionals' confidentiality:a guide to ethical & legal principles. Monash University. Bernstein, V., & Hartsell, T. (2000). The portable ethicist for mental health Professionals. New York: Wiley. Freegard, H., & Isted, L. (2012). Ethical practice for health professions, 2nd Ed. Melbourne, Australia: Thompson Learning. Joanna Gylnn and David Gomez (2012).Regulation of Healthcare Professionals:law principles and practices, Sweet and Maxwell. Kidder, Lobaton (2003).How Good People Make Tough Choices Rev Ed: Resolving the Dilemmas of Ethical Living. New York: Harper Collins. Nightingale, David & Cromby, John (1999). Social Constructionist Psychology:An Analysis of Theory and Practice. Philadelphia: Open University Press. Paul, Elder, Linda (2006). The Guide to Understanding the Foundations of Ethical reasoning.Foundation for Critical Thinking Free Press.United States Robert Heilbroner (2010). 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