PSYCHOANALYSIS IN THE MOVIES
In the movie "Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere," the artistic process Springstein used, to create the album Nebraska, is told through a third person perspective. Home from all kinds of successful milestone's being reached, Springstein begins to confront the reality that no amount of external success can subsitute for an inner sense of peace joy and accomplishment. The movie is able to illustrate how many unresolved memories and expriences from childhood, that propelled Springstein into the world of music and extreme performance in the first place, also required a witness on a more intimate scale to help him begin to process, modulate and integrate his chaotic past. Painful residues of a difficult relationship with his dad show up in the movie in a way that alllows us to empathise with the dilemma Springstein's parents put him in. Enter at the very end of the movie (spoiler alert) a psychoanalyst (in addition to his manager, who was incredibly understanding as well). As Springstein spirals downward on his trip from NJ to Los Angeles, ' Springstein's manager Jon Landau, played brilliantly in the movie by Jeremy Strong, suggests he needs more help than he is currently getting. He says Springstein needs professional help and that he will find it for him. The next scene is Springstein in the therapist's office, where the therapist begins by telling him to say 'as much or as little as you want' to explain what 'got you here." Since the time of the events in that movie, which happened in the 1980's, Springstein has enjoyed global and unrelenting success as a major artistic voice in the United States and beyond. Even ten months after his meeting with his new analyst, in the movie at least, it is obvious that Springstein has undergone a remarkable transformation. Springstein has written candidly about his life in the book BORN TO RUN. The following sentences are taken from a terrific Psychology Today article about Bruce Springstein and BORN TO RUN by Michael Bader D.M.H.:
"Springsteen’s ruthless honesty and clear-eyed introspection no doubt derive, in large part, from the fact that he has been in psychotherapy for over 30 years. In fact, he says as much when he describes the results of his work with psychiatrist, Wayne Myers, as lying “at the heart of this book.”
And although the words, therapy, psychotherapy and psychoanalysis are sometimes used interchangeably, they mean different things. The biggest difference is that therapy or psychotherapy, at least these days, in our highly mechanized world, is often only problem focused, engaging mainly your rational mind only. This is okay, and can help you feel calmer, but it does not always get at the deeper parts of you that might be in distress in ways you barely understand. Like in the movie, Springstein was incredibly productive and focused. He had already made alot of money. He was famous. He was functioning. But he was not happy. He wanted more out of his life. Psychoanalysis is about someone helping you to get to know ALL the parts of you, not only the successful highfunctiong parts, the 'manic' part I like to say, because we live in an incredibly manic society
I highly recommend that you check out the article in PSYCHOLOGY TODAY called The Manic Defense.
Psychoanalysis is about exploring your inner world, not only to solve problems, but to help you get to know your vulnerabilities and your deeper feelings, the ones that come to you in dreams, in a way that might open up new emotional worlds to you, worlds you haven't felt since you were a child. Is this disorienting? Sometimes. But if the choice is to live only in 'the manic defense', the mechanical, rational, unemotional part of yourself, and never really get to know how deep and interesting you are on a much richer level, I believe most of us will take psychoanalysis every time! But that's expensive, you might say. Who can afford it? Actually, there are many institutes around the country just clamoring for patients who will take very low fees. You might qualify. If you are interested and determined and you talk to someone intelligent and interested in helping you, you will be surprised. We spend so much money on material goods, looking good to others, cars and vacations and so on. Isn't an investment of time and money, on some level, worth it to you?? Don't you want to actually feel more than just 'busy'!!??
