Transcript The Soloist-Powerpoint

The Soloist
Steve Franklin, MSW, LCSW
6829 Gravois Ave
St. Louis, MO 63116
[email protected]
www. Steve FranklinMSW.com
314-517-8383
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Introduction
The Soloist
Analysis
Adam Crane
Questions/Comments
What is this movie about?
• The book
(Based on his L.A. Times columns)
• The Soloist:
A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship,
and the Redemptive Power of Music
by Steve Lopez
What is this movie about?
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Is this a story about
Mental Illness
Schizophrenia
Homelessness
Friendship
Music
Newspaper business
Or ?????
What is this movie about?
It is about Nathaniel Ayers
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Schizophrenic Musician?
Musician with Schizophrenia?
Angry, cantankerous man?
Victim of oppressive society?
Free spirit?
What is schizophrenia?
• delusions
• hallucinations
• disorganized speech (e.g., frequent
derailment or incoherence)
• grossly disorganized or catatonic
behavior
• negative symptoms, i.e., affective
flattening, alogia, or avolition
What is schizophrenia?
• NOT better explained by: Mood
disorder, Developmental disorder (e.g.
autism),Drugs, Medical condition
• Paranoid type
• Catatonic Type
• Disorganized type
What is schizophrenia?
Related features--• Odd/Eccentric or Suspicious
Personality
• Anxious or Fearful or Dependent
Personality
• Dramatic or Erratic or Antisocial
Personality
How important is
a diagnosis?
Is treatment for
mental illness
central to the problem
of homelessness?
Los Angeles Men’s Project (LAMP)
Movie depicts their approach
to serving homeless.
450 participants
in homeless programs
were hired as actors and extras
for the movie
Patience
Put yourself in the position
Of family/friends
Who want to help Mr. Ayers.
• What’s right?
• What’s best?
• What do you think his goals should be?
Put yourself in Mr. Ayers’ position.
• People wanting to help you, telling
what they think is best for you.
• Responding to fears, uncertainty
about what/who you can trust
• What do you think your goals would
be?
“Least Restrictive Environment”
Music
(Played by Ben Hong)
"I wasn't playing as myself;
I had to play like somebody else…
like three different people.“
The Soloist
Analysis
What is this movie about?
“…he really wanted this to be a film
not about mental illness
but about faith.
He also said it was a love story,”
The book (The “real” story)
Liberties in converting book to Film
• Steve Lopez happily married, with young daughter
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Reports no violence by Mr. Ayers
Added pressure being black at Julliard
“Recital” … at a nightclub.
Is this a story about…..
Mental Illness/ Schizophrenia?
• Ongoing debate, especially in the
book…
• How necessary is a diagnosis?
• Diagnosed “Paranoid Schizophrenic”
• Lopez tries to arrange psychiatrist
visit
Mental Illness/ Schizophrenia?
• Lopez quotes Mark Ragins of The Village—
Long Beach—
• “If Nathaniel is going to get better,
it won’t be because of a correct diagnosis and
textbook treatment program,
but because he develops enough trust in me
and others to pursue his own recovery.”
Homelessness
• Greater focus for Lopez
• Mr. Ayers is still “sleeping inside”.
• (Mollie Lowery founded Lamp…)“
to build a welcoming place
without judgment,
a place where clients could be themselves in a
setting without expectation or rigid rules.
Friendship
• Mr. Lopez comes to appreciate what he
gets from the friendship
• Not just trying to fulfill obligation or
rescue
• Goes to spend the night with Nathaniel….
Can’t sleep… not comfortable dozing…
checks into hotel… for 2 hours
• (Mr. Ayers visits Lopez family at home)
Music
• Mr. Ayers’ identification as a musician
seems able to overpower his identity as
“homeless” or “schizophrenic”
• Helps others connect with him.
• Helps establish a sense of purpose
• “Expression of life energy/libido”
Newspaper business
• A fading ability to touch masses of
people
• (In book, Lopez whether to continue
newspaper work)
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Nathaniel Ayers
• Foxx: “he is a person who is trying
to make sense of the world.”
• “I think he has figured out how to
remain functional in his own way
in our society.”
Put yourself in the position of family/friends
• Steve Lopez turned to National
Mental Health Association of Greater
Los Angeles (now MHA –LA)
• Juxtaposition: Lopez looking for
Ayers; mother (?) looking for Ayers…
the impact of mental illness on
families.
Put yourself in the position of family/friends
• Lopez…Once contemplates alleging violence
to compel treatment (Shown in movie,
thinking out loud)
• If he is “gravely disabled”, under California
law, he could be subjected to forced
treatments.
• Reports times when Mr. Ayers was so
furious that he wondered if he could get
violent
Put yourself in Mr. Ayers’ position.
• Foxx…
”They start off butting heads because
Steve wants to save this guy's life
and Nathaniel doesn't think
his life needs saving.”
Put yourself in Mr. Ayers’ position.
• “Least Restrictive Environment”
• How comfortable are you with the
lifestyle of Nathaniel Ayers?
Put yourself in Mr. Ayers’ position.
• “What’s more humane, after all? To
respect someone’s civil liberties to
the point of allowing them to wither
away on the street, or to intercede in
the interest of their own welfare.”