Therapy in Film

I selected the 2003 comedy film Anger Management—featuring Adam Sander and Jack Nicholson—as my film to review through the lens of APA ethics. From start to finish, the movie is riddled with scenarios and practices that are silly and designed more for entertainment than therapeutic outcomes.

As a baseline, the premise of the movie is that a grown man named Dave is forced to have an intimate living experience with his court-ordered anger management therapist, Buddy (Bernardi, 2003). Throughout their journey together, Buddy conducts various exercises and activities designed to get Dave out of his shell and confront the problems he has. The movie ends with the plot twist that he was set up by his wife in order to get past his shyness. Most of the bad events, including the initial incident that landed him in anger management, were premeditated by Buddy and Dave’s wife. 

The entire premise is based on a serious ethical violation. According to principle C (integrity) of the APA (2017) ethics code, “psychologists do not steal, cheat, or engage in fraud, subterfuge, or intentional misrepresentation of fact” (p. 3). In not telling Dave about the nature of his treatment, Buddy was putting him under duress that was based on serious misrepresentation. Clearly, the entire premise is a violation of the ethics code. Additionally, there was one scene where Buddy encouraged Dave to get into a physical altercation with someone at a bar to let his frustration out. This directive was in direct odds to APA’s (2017) standard (3.04) of avoiding harm. Dave’s therapist put him and others in direct physical danger for the sake of his treatment.

Additionally, the therapist used his leverage over Dave to force a more intimate (and uncomfortable) relationship with him. Early in the movie, Buddy let Dave know that he was going write a negative report to the judge if he didn’t cooperate, and that would result in jail time for Dave (Bernardi, 2003). Clearly, this is an extreme example of an exploitative relationship. According to 3.08 of the APA (2017) ethics code, psychologists should not exercise such privilege over their clients due the obligatory nature of the arrangement. Dave had no choice but to succumb to Buddy’s demands and do as he was asked, much to his chagrin. 

Finally, the court-ordered nature of their relationship raises the concern of services delivered through organizations. 4.04 of the APA (2017) ethics guide talks about minimizing privacy intrusiveness, disclosure, and what’s confidential. As the movie plot played out it was clear that Dave was in the dark on how his treatment was going, where the notes were being sent to, and what the goals were. Dave was under the guise that the entire treatment was court-ordered for an incident on a plane, but in reality it was his wife. Clearly, the entire depiction of therapy was done in a way where all ethical considerations were breached and thrown out of the window. 

In considering how the public’s image of therapy would change after watching it, I realized the serious negative implications. For example, Buddy is portrayed as an eclectic (unorthodox) therapist who was an uncanny way of healing people without following the rules. His methods are unscientific and dangerous in many respects. The general public may get the sense that all therapy is therefore eclectic and unscientific. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The reality is that counseling psychologists (and the APA) have worked really hard to establish the field of psychology as a scientific discipline, not a hanky-panky experiment on the human condition. I think the movie is entertaining but sends a bad message to the world about the practice and nature of counseling psychology.

References

American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. Washington, DC: Author.

Bernardi, B. (Producer), & Segal, P. (Director). (2003). Anger Management [Motion Picture]. United States: Happy Madison Productions.