{"id":1698,"date":"2018-10-29T03:15:49","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T02:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=1698"},"modified":"2018-11-08T15:12:28","modified_gmt":"2018-11-08T14:12:28","slug":"going-a-long-way-in-a-wheelchair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2018\/10\/29\/going-a-long-way-in-a-wheelchair\/","title":{"rendered":"Going a Long Way in a Wheelchair"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Don&#8217;t Worry, He Won&#8217;t Get Far on Foot<\/em> (Gus van Sant, USA 2018).<\/p>\n<p>Review by Franco Ferrarini, Gastroenterologist and Film Reviewer.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Don&#039;t Worry, He Won&#039;t Get Far On Foot - Official Trailer | Amazon Studios\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2BwxeOzSx8A?start=11&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt6288124\/\"><em>Don\u2019t Worry<\/em><\/a>, Gus van Sant&#8217;s latest film, explores several mental health themes through revisiting the real life memories of the cartoonist and writer John Callahan. In the film, John (Joachin Phoenix) suffered from serious psychological traumas in childhood: he was abandoned by his mother soon after birth, and then adopted by a family with which he was never able to integrate. He becomes an alcoholic at 13 and then quadriplegic by 21 after a car crash. After such disastrous life events, Callahan against all odds is able to rebuild his life supported by three key factors: an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) support group, the love of his girlfriend Annu (Rooney Mara), and his talent as a sarcastic cartoonist.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>John\u2019s relationship with his friend Dexter (Jack Black), who was responsible for the accident, is significant: whereas John has come to terms with his disability in a wheelchair, Dexter who was unharmed in the car crash is still struggling psychologically. Dexter openly admits that his life has been a disaster. When they hug each other, there is no doubt that John is the consoler and Dexter the consoled, contrary to what one might have expected. The role reversal is particularly meaningful as it shows that disabled people who succeed in overcoming the burden of disability have a lot to offer in terms of psychological support to other people.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The relationship between alcohol and\/or drug dependence and early life adversities are well-documented (<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s00213-010-1916-6\">1<\/a>). Moreover these adversities have been shown to influence the ability to adapt to stressful events in later adult life (<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.ynstr.2018.08.001\">2<\/a>). In this regard, Callahan\u2019s life trajectory is not at all unusual. To elaborate more on the \u2018theory of adaptation\u2019, let us examine Callahan\u2019s story through the \u201cthree-hit\u201d hypothesis (<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.psyneuen.2013.06.008\">3<\/a>): hit one is \u2018genetic predisposition\u2019, hit two is \u2018early life environment\u2019, and hit three is \u2018later life environment\u2019. For Callahan, later life environment had both negative (alcohol addiction and physical disability), and positive (the three aforementioned factors, namely professional support, a loving partner, and a creative talent) aspects. Ultimately the positive influences overcome the \u2018three hit\u2019 forces.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Callahan\u2019s creative skill as a cartoonist reminds us of the potential of art therapy as a useful tool for supporting the well-being of patients with a multitude of psychological disorders (<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1524838014555032\">4<\/a>). Through art one can express what cannot be expressed in words, enabling one to enter a transcendent world detached from the drudgery of everyday life. Moreover, the realisation of one\u2019s artistic talents increases self-confidence in social and professional interactions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Gus Van Sant skillfully introduces the viewer to the AA club environment, and fleshes out the characters\u2019 details with clever camera moves and insightful dialogue. As such Van Sant aptly achieves the ultimate objective of cinema: an intense empathic immersion of the viewer, just as if she\/he were personally involved in the events on-screen.<!--TrendMD v2.4.8--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Don&#8217;t Worry, He Won&#8217;t Get Far on Foot (Gus van Sant, USA 2018). Review by Franco Ferrarini, Gastroenterologist and Film Reviewer. Don\u2019t Worry, Gus van Sant&#8217;s latest film, explores several mental health themes through revisiting the real life memories of the cartoonist and writer John Callahan. In the film, John (Joachin Phoenix) suffered from serious [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2018\/10\/29\/going-a-long-way-in-a-wheelchair\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[206],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Going a Long Way in a Wheelchair - Medical Humanities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gastroenterologist and Film Reviewer Franco Ferrarini reviews the 2018 Gus van Sant film Don&#039;t Worry, He Won&#039;t Get Far on Foot\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2018\/10\/29\/going-a-long-way-in-a-wheelchair\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Going a Long Way in a Wheelchair - 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