Good Will Hunting: Case Presentation

Client Description: Will Hunting is a 20 year-old, white, heterosexual male. He mentioned to his girlfriend, Skyler, that he was raised Irish Catholic. He is currently a construction worker.

Presenting Concern: Will is in therapy because he has been arrested multiple times for offenses including, but not limited to, assault, grand theft auto, and impersonating an officer. He is not pleased to be in therapy, and treated it as a joke at the beginning, going through five different therapists before eventually arriving at the office of Sean Maguire. Will has experienced problems for a while, as he was orphaned at a young age. After that, he bounced from foster home to foster home - 3 of which he was removed from due to excessive physical abuse. His therapy is court-ordered following his latest arrest for assaulting a police officer.

Diagnosis: Will has expressed that he has an extreme fear of abandonment, although it was in a joking way. He uses humour to change the subject so he doesn't have to talk about the problem at hand. He also seems to have a fear of letting people close to him, for fear that they will hurt him and abandon him. This seems to be due to the fact that, although it was beyond their control, his parents abandoned him at an early age. He sees his past trauma as his fault, and sees himself as deserving of it. He does not see the point in putting effort into anything so he won't get disappointed. He started a relationship during therapy and was not inclined to put effort into it until it was shown to him that he would never understand true happiness if he didn't try. His suicidality risk is low. He enjoys drinking and mouthing off with his friends too much to end his life. He also has never mentioned suicidal thoughts or actions, so there is no basis for

Family Background: Will has no living family that he has mentioned. As previously noted, he was orphaned at a young age and then sent to many different foster homes, 3 of which he was removed from due to the excess of physical abuse to Will. The closest thing Will has to family is his best friend, Chuck.

Relationships: Will's closest relationship is with his best friend, Chuck. He did, however, start seeing someone while in therapy, a young woman studying at Harvard, Skyler. Things seemed to be going well at first, however when Skyler tried to take the relationship to the next level with wanting to meet his family and moving to California together