The King's Friend

I went to see the acclaimed The King's Speech last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It is a great movie, a fine film, and a lovely period piece with exquisite usage of the music of Beethoven.  A fantastic way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon.  But the best part--for me as a psychotherapist--was this: the heart of the movie is the healing power of the relationship between the king and his therapist.

I'm sure the movie will be seen by many other therapists who feel the same way.  Here comes a client looking for techniques and fixes when what they really need is love, honest friendship, and to tell their story.  The latter is the reason most of us go into our line of work; that is, to listen, and to try to help and heal with our hearts.

As a psychotherapist, I am told that "it has been proven" that those techniques and fixes are what helps, what cures, and what is right.  That I need to give my clients the homework, worksheets, and assessments that they are expecting and think will help.  That I need to continue the message of lack that they have been struggling with for their entire life.

Don't get me wrong, I give homework and I teach skills.  But these are integrated into an approach that seeks to empower the client to know themselves, and to be in control of themselves; an approach that seeks to teach clients to love themselves.

And it works.

What I love about this movie is that it shows the importance of respect for where the client is and is willing to go, and the responsibility on the part of the therapist to challenge this position.  Many movies have been made about psychotherapy.  It's funny that one about speech therapy really hits the nail on the head.