able to continue using what they have learned about self-dis-
covery when watching films.
Although group members usually are empathic witnesses,
working with one’s psychological issues in any kind of thera-
peutic environment requires a certain amount of courage, emo-
tional honesty, and trust. I frequently hear from people that
they are playing with the idea of joining my cinema therapy
group, but they fear sharing their inner truths openly. When
some of them eventually come to our meetings, they gradually
discover that they are not as fragile as they thought, and their
participation is very rewarding for them. They recognize that
many of their pains and joys are not unique and gain new per-
spectives by listening to others. Talking about the movie expe-
rience first serves as a bridge to dare riskier reflections about
their inner world. Eventually, creative emotional openness
develops.
Group versus Individual Cinema Therapy Work
It can be very beneficial to use the movie experience and work
with the exercises in this book in solitude. Group interactions
add an important component because they are helpful in over-
coming our inherent tendency toward selective blindness and
self-deception.
Other group members’ observations can be invaluable,
especially if you want to learn from your projections on movie
characters about those parts of yourself of which you are at
least partially unaware (Chapters 8 and 9). The greatest temp-
tation in the process of self-discovery is to keep focusing on
those items of which you are already aware, whereas the great-
est progress is often made by unearthing new discoveries.
Other group members can help you extend your boundaries of
self-knowledge beyond your blind spots. When the group func-
tions well, others can help you to move past the layers of “obvi-
ous” understanding to more challenging areas of growth — the
very areas that are easiest to miss, ignore, and undervalue when
Creating a Cinema Therapy Group 177