Movie buffs grab the popcorn and head to the couch — the therapist’s couch.
Movies don’t have to be just for entertainment anymore. Cinematherapy is an evolving psychological approach that utilizes movie watching for therapeutic methods.
“A well-written and acted movie can often provide a cathartic experience that might have therapeutic value,” says Dr. Amy Phillips, Digital Filmmaking & Video Production department chair at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. “If a viewer can relate to a situation portrayed in the movie and it’s resolved in a satisfying and realistic way, then that may model a solution for the viewer.”
Psychologist Dr. Gary Solomon says he was the first to write about using movies as therapy and to coin the term “cinematherapy.” While working on his doctorate, he found no published works on the possible correlation between film and therapy and decided to do his own research and write his first book, The Motion Picture Prescription, on the topic.
Solomon categorizes movies used for cinematherapy in 21 areas, which include death, substance abuse, loneliness, and relationships.
“In therapy we may talk about the concept of denial,” Solomon explains. “The person may be in denial about their problems. So if I have you watch a film about substance abuse, I’m having you look at the film to try to bring you out of denial about the problem.”
Examples of films that may be used as cinematherapy for substance abuse issues include Leaving Las Vegas and When a Man Loves a Woman. But Solomon points out that there are no boilerplate movies for cinematherapy, and that movie selection depends on each individual viewer and each individual movie.
“I don’t think there is a particular film or particular type of film that is suited for cinematherapy, but rather it’s the individual presentation that causes me to select a particular film,” he adds.
Care must be taken to select the right film for each individual. And cinematherapy may not be right for all patients. For example, Solomon says he does not use cinematherapy for patients afflicted with psychotic disorders.
Licensed psychotherapist Suzanne Boucher agrees that cinematherapy may not be effective for certain individuals.
“A mentally unhealthy or delusional person may have difficulty separating reality from the images on the screen and may act off of the information received from the movie,” she says.
Tim Jackson, Digital Filmmaking & Video Production Instructor at The New England Institute of Art says therapists practicing cinematherapy must make the right choices in films.
“Film operates on so many levels – music, image, story, linguistic – that it can overwhelm,” says Jackson. “The right film must be chosen — it helps to know your films — and appropriate questions employed — it helps to be a therapist — to effectively engage the subject. As an educator, I see film as an effective way to connect individuals to universal ideas, problems, challenges, contexts, and situations through interactive discussion.”
Solomon agrees, saying he only chooses films he has seen and recommends that therapists practicing cinematherapy do the same.
“The problem is there may be other issues presented in the film that the therapist may not be aware of that could be counterproductive to the treatment that is going on,” he explains. “Unless I know the content of the film from front to back, I don’t want to take the risk of mentioning or talking about that film to the patient who may be affected on levels that I hadn’t anticipated.”
Filmmakers probably do not anticipate any cinematherapy results that may be gained through their movies. Phillips says purposely creating a film that will eventually be used for cinematherapy is best avoided by filmmakers.
“Good films are created from stories and emotions that come from the heart and often from personal experience,” she says. “They may represent a form of therapy for the filmmaker, but filmmakers are essentially artists, not psychologists.”
Jackson believes that good storytellers, or filmmakers, are therapists and that there is a therapeutic value in most movies.
“Even the most slapstick or gross-out comedy at least provides emotional outlet, if not therapeutic reflection,” he says.
As for the future of cinematherapy, Solomon says he sees it becoming a mainstay in the psychology field. And Jackson says that as movies become more open ended, with room for viewers’ interpretation, discussion about movies — whether through cinematherapy or not — will only increase.
“The internet provides ample opportunity to vent and opine online,” he says. “It’s a kind of a cultural therapy.”