Reactive Attachment Disorder

The movie Good Will Hunting exploits many points of psychology in the character Will Hunting, a janitor at MIT who has a knack for math. Some of the points of psychology include how a character develops after a lot of child abuse during his childhood. It exploits the idea that a child who becomes secluded may never allow an attachment, or when an attachment finally starts to occur, pushes them away. It also exploits the idea that Will Hunting has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Because of the post-traumatic stress disorder it seems that Will is unable to function normally in society, and because of this, carefully plans out his future as to not have to worry about encountering many people.

These being: family, schools, peer relationships, mass media, and work. Throughout the film, we see the growth of character in Will. He begins in the movie as the mishap trouble maker with a brilliant mind that’s being wasted because his inner demons are holding him hostage. Through the progression of his time in therapy, we can tell that will did not have the best home life. We discover that he was a victim of child abuse, both physical and mental. Because of this, he grows up believing that he is not worth much and will not amount to anything. Family is a big part of the way we grow up to perceive ourselves and present ourselves to others. Wills family did not show him that he was good enough so he believed he wasn’t and found solace in his school work. With the help of his peer relations and school, Will was “re-socialized” and succeeded beyond what he could have ever imagined. With the help of this therapist and time, Will resolved the resentment and attachment issues he has had since he was a child and begin to form new relationships while allowing others into his mind a bit more. This change in his life was all brought on by the professor teaching him. If he hadn’t intervened with the court and suggest that in place of jail time, Will could study under him and see a therapist, will would have never gotten better and advance much further in life. With the help of peer relations and school, will became a new and improved

For example, when confronting an old foster home “Friend”, by the name of Carmine, Will unleashed an onslaught of punches, which lead to Will Knocking out Carmine then being arrested for assault by the local cops. When Will saw his old friend, memories of the abuse that his foster family gave him sprang onto Will’s head and triggered his mind to give some payback for everything that he experienced as an abused kid in the foster home. Not only that but his mood drastically changed from the moments prior to seeing Carmine. Before seeing Carmine, Will was planning to have a good time with his friends at a baseball game, But that changed as he saw Carmine at the game as well. Once he saw Carmine, Will was determined to beat Carmine up, as carmine did to him when he was a kid. Clearly in the movie, Will is a mathematical genius, as he was able to solve the problem that Professor Lambeau wrote on the chalkboard outside his room. However when Lambeau confronted Will, after he found out who solved the problem, Will ran away from the professor instead of being congratulated for his success in solving the problem. A valid reason why Will did not accept the praise from the professor was because he had a negative self-image of himself. To understand what a negative self-image is, it is important to know what the term self-image means. Karl Perera, from the website, More-selfesteem.com defines the term self-image as, “ how you see yourself. This may be how you see yourself physically or your opinion of who and what you are which is normally called self concept. It is important as it

The main focus is placed on Will, whom has a rare genius to put together abstract math problems and finds it hard to relate to world without getting arrested for doing something violent and rebellious. He grew up in South Boston and the hard streets have jaded him, while his intelligence further isolated him from people and made him hostile to other people. In the beginning of the film, Will is discovered by Lambeu (Stellan Skarsgard) a professor of mathematics, and his well-being becomes a serious issue and he is pursued. While placing a difficult math problem on the chalkboard

Good Will Hunting is a story about Will Hunting who works as a janitor at MIT cleaning classrooms. Will is an orphan who grew up in various foster homes and was physically abused as a child. Will is also an extraordinary mathematical genius with a photographic memory, who enjoys solving math problems. Will blames himself for his unhappy upbringing and turns this self-loathing into a form of self-sabotage in both his professional and emotional lives. Because Will blames himself he is unable to maintain a steady job or a steady relationship. Will must learn to overcome his fear of abandonment in order to learn how to trust and love people who

While working a part time job at a janitor at MIT, Will solves an advanced math algorithm on a chalk board and is confronted by the professor in which Will smarts off and walks away. Here is a prime example of how he is almost ashamed of his talent, and wishes to cover that up by putting on this tuff guy persona. What you might not think, is that Will only has a high school diploma, never attempted college, going directly into the workforce as soon as he graduated. Even though he had the intelligence to go to any place, he has low self of steam, and doesn't think highly of himself (Sant, G. V.).

Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) was first introduced just over 20 years ago, with the publication of DSM-III (American Psychiatric Association, 1980). In the DSM-IV. The disorder is defined by aberrant social behavior that appears in early childhood and is evident cross contextually(1994). The disorder describes aberrant social behaviors in young children that are believed to derive from being reared in caregiving environments lacking species-typical nurturance and stimulation, such as in instances such as maltreatment or institutional rearing. (First, M., & Tasman, A. 2010) . In cases of RAD two major types of abnormalities have been cited; these include an emotionally withdrawn/inhibited type and an indiscriminately social/disinhibited pattern (First, M., & Tasman, A. 2010).Conditions in in foreign orphanages and institutions such as, multiple caregivers, maltreatment, abuse, neglect, and others contribute to the inability for internationally adopted children to form secure attachments. All of these factors contribute to internationally adopted children being at a higher risk to develop attachment disorders such as RAD and other behavioral problems.

Reactive Attachment Disorder is a common infancy/early childhood disorder. Reactive attachment disorder is located under the trauma- and stressors-related disorder section of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), Fifth Edition. It is normally diagnosed when an infant or child experience expresses a minimal attachment to a figure for nurturance, comfort, support, and protection. Although children diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder have the ability to select their attachment figure, they fail to show behavioral manifestation because they had limited access during the early developmental stage. Some disturbed behaviors include diminished or absence of positive emotions toward caregiver. In addition,

Good Will Hunting explains story of a young man who goes by the name of Will Hunting. He is a very intelligent man who has had a troubled life and lets it control him day to day. He doesn’t want anybody to know about his talents because he thinks they’ll think differently about him and he doesn’t want to get hurt. Like Will, almost all of us in college and even in life go through blocks of trouble, big or small, in our life and can relate to him. I myself can relate to Will in many aspects of his life.

The film, Good will hunting (Bender et al., 1997), is an American classic flick which is lauded for its fresh and ordinary approach towards depicting situations that is realistic and relatable. In the film, Good Will Hunting (Bender et al., 1997), this is clearly show up that, savagery Will Hunting experienced as a youngster and after that shows as a grown-up; along with flashes of a sweet attitude towards his companions and mental virtuoso. It is about a young man struggle to find himself. He is unwillingly treated to a psychologist just to keep him out of trouble. In this journey, he finds out what he is and what matters to him the most. This movie uses strong and effective technique on evoking emotions and empathy to the audience through exposing them to various technicities of filmmaking such as color, camera technique and many more. After reading the book (OpenStax 2016), we can have adopted different kinds of psychological theory to explain this movie. Good will hunting is related with Erikson’s psychosocial theory of personal development (Neu-Freudian theory),Freud’s psychoanalytical theory and the five-factor model of personality (Big-five: OCEAN).

In his last therapy session, Will reveals to Sean that he was beaten as a child. As a result, he has a tough time believing that he is capable of achievement in life. Children who endure such hardships can feel unworthy and not have a desire to succeed in life. Will also has a tough time accepting love. When Skylar, his girlfriend asks him to go to California with her, he chokes her. Shortly after, he breaks up with her. This most likely resembles Cluster C avoidant personality disorder. Avoidant personality disorder occurs when people have feelings of insufficiency and are extremely sensitive to rejection. Connors wrote, “Specifically, individuals with an avoidant attachment style who have been rebuffed by caregivers in childhood will be defensively constricted and unable to love in adulthood” (475). Will did not feel like he was capable of being loved and feared being rejected, so he ended things with Skylar. It wasn’t until he was court ordered to see a psychiatrist that he began to value himself.

The movie Good Will Hunting an American Drama Film was directed by Gus Van Sant, and starring Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver and Stellan Skarsgard in 1997. This movie is about a man named Good Will Hunting who was a genius but chose not to live as a genius because of fear of past experiences and the ill treatment he received when he was in foster home. Some of the other characters in the movie were supportive and some were not supportive of him. This essay discusses Good Will’s personality traits and his interaction with the other characters in the movie. Good Will Hunting possessed the following personality traits, namely: independence, intense interest in a problem, and the need for stimulation.

Will Hunting is very smart. He was described as genius as evidenced by his ability to solve very difficult mathematical problem that even the students and professor Lambeau at MIT could not solve. As a result, the professor recommended him for a job that would provide him challenge. The professor described Will as having a gift of good memory. Professor Lambeau even asked Will whether he had photographic memory. Will could solve difficult math and science problems in under an hour. Will was able to analyze a painting that his therapist had done and he concluded that it meant that his therapist was suppressing his feelings about the death of his wife. He is very loyal to his friends. Will also has good survival instinct.

Good Will Hunting is a movie about a boy that is extremely book smart, his name is Will. He grew up in not the best environment and was a janitor for the college MIT. Will does nothing with his smartness until he is caught solving a problem. After being thrown in jail he is forced to see a therapist and work on math problems with the professor. The movie shows the walls and psychological problems Will has built up and the process that he goes through to knock them all down.

In the film, Good Will Hunting, the main character, Will Hunting, is a gifted mathematician who struggles to find a productive and fruitful life. Throughout the film, Will displays outstanding and one-of-a-kind abilities in the field of mathematics. However, his emotional and social intelligence falls far behind his intellectual intelligence. With a rap sheet stocked full with assault and aggression, Will must navigate himself through life by learning to trust, love, and learn.