Mental Health Case Study
Kandice Brown
Good Will Hunting: Will Hunting
Introduction and Global Assessment/Social History
I diagnosed Will Hunting from the movie Good Will Hunting. Will is a
Caucasian male in his early twenties who is considered to be in the lower class
economically. He’s employed through Harvard University as a janitor and spends his
nights cleaning the hallways of the academic buildings. He lives in what is
considered a bad area of town with a few of his friends. Will is an orphan who grew
up in the foster care system and was abused by his foster parents. Because of this,
he believes that he is not good enough for anyone or any thing in his life so he
diminishes his own self worth. He uses his cognitive distortions against himself and
stops showing up to work unexpectedly and rashly discontinues his relationship
with Skylar. Based on his actions throughout the course of the movie, I determined
that Will Hunting suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as well as Dependent
Personality Disorder. I also gave Will a Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF)
score of 51. According to the GAF, individuals in the 60-51 range can display
moderate difficulty in social, occupational, or school functioning. These include but
aren’t limited to: few friends, conflicts with peers, and conflicts with co-workers.
Will displays difficulty in establishing new friendships and relationships as well as
difficulty maintaining a steady job. Individuals in this range can also experience flat
affect, circumstantial speech, and occasional panic attacks. Will displays some
circumstantial speech initially when he is at the bar and corrects the man who is
trying to hit on Skylar. I also noticed Will display minor symptoms of a panic attack
when he tells Skylar the truth about his family life and the trauma he went through
as a child.
Diagnosis and Problem List:
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Axis I – Principle Disorder
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
o Criteria Met:
 Will was exposed to a traumatic event which involved serious
injury and evoked a response of intense fear, helplessness, or
horror.
 Intense psychological distress at exposure to cues that
symbolize the event.
 Avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma
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Significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or
other important areas of functioning.
Axis II – Personality Disorder
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Avoidant Personality Disorder
o Criteria Met:
 Feelings on inadequacy
 Avoidance of social interaction
 Self imposed social isolation
 Severe low self-esteem
 Self-loathing
Attachment Disorder
o Criteria Met:
 Fear of Abandonment
Axis III – Medical Diagnosis
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Will Hunting did not appear to have any pertinent and/or obvious medical
diagnoses.
Axis IV – Psychosocial Stressors
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Problems with Primary Support Group
o Orphan
o No support group
o Grew up in the foster care system
Problems relating to social environment
o Embarassed with his living arrangements (tries to avoid bring Skylar
to his house)
o Hangs out at the same bars as the students from Harvard
Educational Problems
o Cannot afford a college education, but knows the same amount, and in
some cases, more, than the professors at Harvard.
Occupational Problems
o Difficulty maintaining his job
o High levels of dissatisfaction with his job
Housing Problems
o Unsafe neighborhood
Economic Problems
o Poor economic standing
o Can’t afford an education
Problems relating to the legal system/crime
o Multiple run ins with the police
o Multiple arrests
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Other psychosocial and environmental problems
o Trauma and abuse from his foster parents
Axis V – Global Assessment of Functioning

Based on the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale, I gave Will Hunting a
51.
o See introduction for explanation of GAF Score
Problem List:
 Physical
o Will does not display physical issues in the movie.
 Cognitive
o Cognitive Distortions
 Mind Reading
 Will assumes that everyone thinks he is no good.
 Future Predicting
 Will assumes he will never amount to anything
 Labeling
 Will believes that he is a failure
 Personalizing
 Thinks that everything bad that happens is his fault or
that he caused it.
 Catastrophizing
 Will believes that he will mess up every single thing that
he does that makes him happy because he is a terrible
person.
 Social
o Will has a very limited social circle which primarily consists of his
four friends whom he has known for years.
o In social situations, he is rude and has an attitude. He displays poor
social skills around individuals that he isn’t friends with.
o Will doesn’t understand social boundaries and at times will say very
inappropriate things.
 Emotional
o Will forms inappropriate relationships with others because he feels
like he is not good enough and can’t see why anyone would want to be
with him. At first, he becomes extremely standoffish and then
becomes extremely attached. However, he begins to sabotage himself
and becomes avoidant and will shut out everyone who tries to have a
relationship with him.
 Spiritual
o Will does not display spiritual issues in the movie.
 Leisure
o Will’s observed leisure is limited to math problems and going out to
bars with his friends.
Treatment Recommendations:
Appropriate Level of Care:
 Will Hunting would benefit the most from being in an acute or outpatient
program in a behavioral health center. Based on his GAF score, I would
suggest that he begin in an acute program and depending on the success of
his treatment, be allowed to transition into an outpatient program.
Type of Facility:
 Acute, Residential, and Outpatient Behavioral Health Center
Type of Programming/Resources Needed:
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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
o CBT would be used to try to get rid of all of the cognitive distortions
that Will displays.
In Vivo Exposure Therapy
o In vivo therapy would reduce the effects that Will’s trauma has on him
in a safe environment
Imaginal Therapy
o Will would be able to revisit triggers to his past in a safe and calm
setting which would reduce the anxiety and negative associations of
his childhood.
Music Therapy
o Music therapy would provide an outlet for Will to express his
emotions.
Art Therapy
o Art therapy would serve as an outlet for Will to express his emotions
Leisure Awareness
o Will Hunting would be able to identify what leisure means to him as
well as find potential new leisure interests. He would also learn more
about where to go in his area to find these leisure interests.
Animal Assisted Therapy
o Animal assisted therapy would reduce Will’s feelings of self-loathing
and increase his self-efficacy and self confidence by successfully
taking care of an animal.
Length of Stay
 I would recommend that Will Hunting stays in the Acute wing of the
Behavioral Health Center for 7 – 10 days before transferring to outpatient
therapy.
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Once Will transfers to outpatient therapy, he would be required to attend
therapy sessions three times a week.
Therapeutic Recreation Services:
 TR Services will be available for Will during his stay on the acute level of the
facility at least once a day. However, when he transitions to outpatient care,
services will be reduced to three times a week.
Assessment
TR Assessments:
 Comprehensive Evaluation in Recreational Therapy – Psych/Behavioral,
Revised: The CERT Psych assessment is most often used for adolescents and
adults in psychiatric of behavioral health centers. It was created to point out
observable behaviors that will aid in an individual’s reintegration into
society. Will Hunting could benefit from this assessment because it will give
the CTRS an idea of which behaviors and traits Will already has to function as
a participating member of his community as well as areas that need
improvement before he can be discharged from the behavioral health center.
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Leisure Interest Measure: The Leisure Interest Measure was created to
identify past, present, and future leisure activities that an individual finds to
be interesting to them. This assessment would be essential for Leisure
Education in helping Will actively participate in group activities as well as
expose him to new leisure activities. Using the Leisure Interest Measure, the
CTRS can take the results and insert Will into existing groups that have
similar interests as he does or create new groups based on a particular
interest.
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Life Satisfaction Scale: The Life Satisfaction Scale is useful for Will Hunting
because it measures the perceived satisfaction that a client feels in relation to
aspects of their life. Based on the cognitive distortions shown throughout the
movie, I believe that Will could benefit from the Life Satisfaction Scale
because it could provide baseline knowledge that can later be looked at to
demonstrate the progress he has made throughout his time at the behavioral
health center.
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Functional Assessment of Characteristics for Therapeutic Recreation –
Revised: The FACTR-R has a variety of uses, although primarily it is used
with individuals with developmental ages of ten and up. I believe this
assessment would be beneficial to gain a bigger insight into the trauma the
Will faced when he was younger as well as the lasting effects of the trauma.
The assessment also can be completed quickly, so the client can complete the
assessment upon admission into the behavioral health center while the CTRS
is asking the admission questions or getting background history on the client.
The CTRS would also be there to answer any particular questions that the
client would have while trying to complete the assessment rather than
waiting for or setting up an individual meeting with the therapist.
Functional Summary:
Strengths:
 Highly intelligent
 Able to hide his disorder well
 Math Prodigy
Weaknesses:
 Has major cognitive distortions
 Afraid of relationships
 Holds onto grudges from his childhood
 Can’t maintain a job
 Anxiety from past trauma
 Inappropriate social skills
Therapeutic Goals/Outcomes
Realistic Achievements:
 I believe that Will Hunting can reduce the cognitive distortions by at least
25% throughout the course of his treatment. In doing so, I believe that he will
see an improvement in his self-esteem. I would also like to see Will reduce
the amount of self-sabotaging activities such as not showing up for work or
breaking things off with his significant other when things get serious.
 Will Hunting could also identify at least three new leisure activities that he
would like to try in order to have a more balanced leisure lifestyle.
 With the use of Psychotherapy and CBT, Will could reduce the amount of
physical outbursts he has in his neighborhood and therefore would remain
out of prison. He could learn how to control his anger and properly release it
in a more appropriate manner. If he reduced the amount of future arrests he
could possibly face, he would have a better chance at maintaining a job.
 I would like to see Will taking the initial steps to setting up a future for
himself by going to college. This would include applying for schools as well as
applying for scholarships and financial aid. If Will received an acceptance
letter from a college, his self-esteem would increase exponentially.
Measureable Objectives
 The client will begin each day by compiling a list of three to five things
that he likes about himself or does well.
 By the end of each leisure awareness session, the client will identify at
least 2 new leisure skills that he would like to work towards.
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During anger management sessions, the client will reduce the amount of
physical outbursts by 50% as deemed appropriate by the CTRS.
During his stay in the acute wing of the Behavioral Health Center, the
client will initiate the first steps towards attending college, as observed
by the CTRS.
Interventions
TR Interventions:
 Behavioral Domain Treatment Plan for Paranoia or Distrust: Will does not
trust others due to the nature of the trauma he faced when he was younger.
As a result of this, he can be become very agitated. Because of this, the
therapist will need to establish a rapport by letting Will open up at his own
time and at his own pace. He will be asked to participate in activities that
work on building trust and relationships with others. Through this, he will
begin to build bonds and friendships with his fellow peers in treatment.
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Affective Domain Treatment Plan for Low Self Esteem: Will’s past trauma
that happened when he was a child has given him extremely low self-esteem.
His cognitive distortions have led him to believe that he was the reasoning or
cause behind all of the abuse that was given to him by his foster parents. Will
also believes that because of this, he will never amount to anything and
therefore will never be able to maintain a job or relationships. The client will
begin each day by writing down three to five statements about the things that
he does well, or things that he likes about himself. This, along with cognitive
behavioral therapy, will increase his self-esteem and will act as the steppingstone toward maintaining a steady job and relationship.
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Leisure Domain Treatment Plan for Few Leisure Interests: Will has very few
leisure interests and has a very narrow idea of what leisure consists of.
Because of this, he falls into the same repetitive cycles of activities, which
lead to getting arrested. Throughout the course of Will’s stay at the
behavioral health center, he will actively participate in as many different
leisure activities as possible. This way he has a more balanced leisure
lifestyle and will have a less likelihood to get incarcerated again.
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Leisure Domain Treatment Plan for Few Social Supports: Throughout the
movie, Will is seen with the same five or six people. These people are the
same friends he has had for years, and their relationships are well
established. However, they do not provide the strongest foundation for
support for Will to lean on in times of need. They keep him to the same
repetitive cycle in which he has been trapped in for years. His friends do not
fully understand the wealth of knowledge that is caged inside Will’s brain.
Likewise, the individuals who are aware of the amount of genius that Will
possess are only interested in him to see if he can answer all of his questions.
Neither option that Will has is truly a good source of social support. During
his course of therapy, he will be given the opportunity to build bonds and
relationships with others in the treatment facility and therefore will be
making his very own support group. He will be able to use these bonds and
friendships in the future to lean on people when he needs their support in
the future.
Benefit Based Interventions:
 Anger Management and Stress Management– Will could benefit
exponentially from both anger management and stress management. If he
could learn to channel his anger and his stress in a calmer and more effective
or appropriate manner, he would reduce the amount of negative
consequences such as incarcerations, loss of occupation, and loss of
relationships. By reducing these negative occurrences, he will lead a much
happier and stress free life. These interventions could also reduce the
amount of pain and anxiety associated with his PTSD. If he is given the tools
to process what happened to him when he was younger, he would then be
able to express his anger in an outlet that is appropriate and therapeutic for
him.
Evaluation
Evaluating Effectiveness:
 To evaluate the effectiveness of Therapeutic Recreation interventions in the
treatment plan created for the client, I will observe the patient before, during,
and after each session to not the progress he is making. I will have copies of
his goals and objectives with me at all times while observing the client to
ensure that I am evaluating him correctly. If the interventions are effective,
we will continue to use them. If not, we will change the interventions in order
to effectively meet all goals and objectives created for the client.
Reviewing the Client’s Goals:
 The client’s goals will be reviewed at least once each day after treatment
sessions. I will also meet with the client two to three times a week to observe
the client outside of treatment sessions.
Recommendations/Discharge/Transition
 I would recommend that Will Hunting transition from the acute unit to
outpatient care within ten days of arrival and follow up in outpatient care for
at least three to four months.