“Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery.”
J. K. Rowling
I recently had the tremendous honor of attending, giving a keynote speech, and presenting a panel at MISTI-Con, a Harry Potter-themed conference that takes place once every two years. It was marvelous. Between the enchanted ball, the wicked murder mystery dinner, and the magical people that attended the con and put it together, it was an unbelievable experience.
I initially wrote this post for The Mary Sue’s Column, Psychology of Inspirational Women, it is reprinted here with permission.
Going against the Hollywood stereotype of a powerless blonde girl getting ruthlessly murdered, the writer/director/producer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer wanted to create a hero, someone with the special powers to kick butt and protect others.
(Guest post by Asher Johnson, M. A.)
Ever since I was a child, I was strangely attracted to the way the good guys thought. I saw them as smart, self-controlled, kind, patient, and wise. I thought it was naturally harder to do the right thing, and found it fascinating how easily taken for granted heroes were. Now, to put things in perspective, I will need to age myself because the good guys I grew up watching are, in many ways, unlike the anti-heroes of today (e.g. Jax from Sons of Anarchy, Nurse Jackie, Walter White, Tony Soprano, or Kevin Spacey’s brilliant role as Francis Underwood).
“What wouldn’t I give to be normal!”
(Mystique, ‘X-Men First Class’)
I grew up on fiction. It was brain food to me. I generally preferred to read books to just about any other activity. Over the past few years I’ve been incorporating fictional characters into Superhero Therapy. For me these characters hold a deep and personal meaning, after all, some of them actually helped me recover from my own traumatic history.
Are you excited for The Walking Dead series? Did you ever wonder what happened to Rick when he started hallucinating? Does Rick have PTSD? Does Michonne? Check out the video below to find out
Most people are afraid of something, whether it’s a fear of public speaking, fear of flying, or fear of insects. In the video below I explore common phobias, face my own fears, take on a flying cat.
I’ve received a lot of requests to do a post on CW’s Arrow. Being that it’s one of my favorite currently running shows, I’m happy to do it. Both the show and the Green Arrow comics do a wonderful job at demonstrating the psychological processes that this superhero experiences.
Did you ever want to be a Superhero? Did you ever wish that you could possess magical powers, like Harry Potter, or travel around the world in a time machine, called the T.A.R.D.I.S. with an alien who calls himself The Doctor? What if you could, in a way?
Many of us wish we had some kind of magical or extraordinary abilities, and many of us strongly identify with fictional characters, like Batman, Superman, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, characters from Harry Potter, Firefly, and many others. Recent research findings suggest that identifying with fictional characters can actually be extremely beneficial as it can teach us empathy, remind us that we are not alone in our painful experience, inspire us to eat healthier, and allow us to better cope with difficult life transitions.
Anyone who’s read the Harry Potter series and/or watched the movies will probably agree that throughout their years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry and his friends come face to face with some of their biggest fears on numerous occasions. The series does such an outstanding job of demonstrating how different characters cope with anxiety and fear, that I couldn’t resist using these examples in my work with patients with anxiety. Here is how Harry Potter can be incorporated into therapy and what we can learn from the series about facing our own fears. Continue reading Psychology of Harry Potter: Post 2 of 3 (Anxiety)
In the past mental illness was largely misrepresented in the media, especially in the movies and comic book industry, where the villains were usually ones with mental illness. We know that someone with a history of mental (or physical illness) can be a superhero too and I’m glad that more films, TV shows, and comic books are now starting to demonstrate this point. In Iron Man 3, Tony Stark appears to have symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and while he is struggling, he is able to do what’s necessary to protect others. Similarly, in Gail Simone’s version of Batgirl, Barbara Gordon struggles with PTSD and her paraplegia due to the fact that Joker brutally shot her in The Killing Joke. And now there is a new hero with mental illness, Aura.
Continue reading Aura – the superhero with mental illness and migraines
