Silver Lining Playbook Ap Psychology

Shaneeza Sudeen
Psychology 347
Extra Credit Assignment
Movie: Silver Lining Playbook

The Silver Lining Playbook, written and directed by David O. Russell, is based on the best-selling novel by Matthew Quick. After spending 8-months in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano was taken out by his mother, against doctors advise and moves back in to live with his parents. He tries to reunite with his ex-wife, even though there is a restraining order keeping him from contacting her due to the incident where he caught her having sex with another man and abusively beat him up. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a depressed young woman who's mourning the death of her husband by engaging in sex with everyone she meets. Tiffany

offers to deliver a letter to Pats wife, if he agreed to compete in a dance competition as her partner, but things take an unsuspected turn, as the two got closer.
Pat began to seek therapy after he was released from the mental hospital, in order to cope with his problems.

He was diagnosed as having a bipolar disorder. He started to see Dr. Patel in a one-on-one session. The therapist uses the theoretical approach of trying to trigger Pats emotions. As Pat enters the waiting room to check in for his appointment with a therapist, he hears the song from his wedding with his ex-wife playing in the office. The song immediately triggers his anger and he started throwing stuff and loses it looking for the speakers in the waiting area. His therapist comes out of his office as the other patients in the waiting room stare in astonishment. Pat then goes into the room with the therapist, who then began to explain that he purposely played that song to see if it was still a trigger to his anger. He explains to Pat that he needs to come up in a way to control that anger, and Pat tells him that his control strategy is “excelsior”, which means him finding a silver lining in every

situation.
I think that this method the therapist used should have been carried out differently. He triggered Pats emotions in an uncontrolled environment around many people, and he did not know what exactly would have been the outcome of this. Using the song to see if it still triggered his anger was a good approach, however I think that by playing this song later on after gradually having Pat open up about why he gets angry and as well as in a more controlled one on one environment would have been a much better approach. This way no one would be in harms way as well.
Even though the beginning was a little rough, during the therapy session I think that the therapist did not really reach much resistance with the client. Pat was very accepting of his actions and he opened up about what he did that was wrong. He told Dr. Patel that after being told that he is undiagnosed bipolar, it helped him come to understand some of his past incidents. He started to fidget with his hands while speaking, which showed signs of nervousness, however he opened up to the therapist.
In the following therapy session, Pat tells the therapist of his night and the fight he got into with his parents. He wanted his wedding dvd, and because he couldn’t have it he ended up physically fighting with his parents. The therapist seemed shock by this but tells him that this is what he means about his bipolar anger. Dr. Patel repeated to Pat that he needs to find his strategy in order to control his anger or he would end up in jail or back in the mental hospital. When he said this, Pat avoided it and went right into asking him to deliver a letter to his wife.
One of the homework assignments that were implied by the therapist was that Pat should be friend with Tiffany. He told Pat that maybe being friends would allow him to come to ease with himself and what he’s going through. This was misunderstood when the therapist also included, that Tiffany had an association with Pats ex-wife, Nikki, and that by being her friend and helping her, he can attract the attention he seeks from Nikki. This was not very effective because it gave him false hope that he can get his wife back through Tiffany which is one of the only reasons he decided to have dinner with her. After Pat becomes friends with Tiffany, they worked on a compromise where he would help her in a dance competition and she would deliver his letter to Nikki.
Pats brother came to town and they decided to go to an Eagles fame.

The therapist runs into him at the game and tells him that on that day, they aren't therapist and client, but "brothers." I think that by this the therapist did not hold up a therapeutic relationship with his client, and this can affect future sessions. In therapy, there is always a professional standard for the relationship and it can never be anything else but Therapy-client relation. If so this can create a conflict in the treatment and can cause limitations as to what is being said. Along with saying they were brothers, the therapist gets into a fight with another person in front of Pat. After telling Pat that he needs to find a way to be at peace with himself when feeling angry, this type of behavior contradicts

that.
After the fight the Dr. Patel then goes to Pat’s house, not as a therapist but as all in all friends. During this scene Pat’s father gets into a bet against a friend and Pat is placed in the middle of it all to attend the dance competition that day as well. As Pat’s therapist, he just sits there as this was going on and said nothing at all. He even attends Pat’s dance competition, which made it look as though he approves of this type of behavior from Pat.
To end it off, the movie shows that after competing in the dance competition together, Pat was okay and he fell in love with Tiffany. This shows a very cliché ending to a movie, however in real life if this was the case then that would not solve his problems. From watching this movie just because, to watching it as a clinician’s point of view, there are many different aspects that I recognized that wasn’t there before. The therapy sessions were cliché as to what therapy is, however it shows that there were not much that needed to help Pat overcome this obstacle. I view the role of the therapist differently now because I see that even know he may have ben trying to make Pat better, he only sent him mixed signals and went about his sessions and advice the wrong ways for the most part.