Speak (film, 2004). This is a story about a girl who experiences and overcomes the trauma of sexual violence, but no one knows about it because she is silent. This film is about how trauma can convince a person of his most destructive beliefs; about how such events easily plunge a person into despair, make a person cynical, make him lose faith in relationships, people and the opportunity to get help from them. During the film, we see how the characters offer the main character, Melinda, to work through her symptom in different ways ( silence, detachment, inhibition and closedness in communication): - Parents withdraw (probably this is a family way of reacting to stress, or a completely habitual way of living). The mother is giving her daughter double, conflicting messages and may not actually be that interested in her. “I won’t even ask” is the mother’s phrase with which the film begins. - A history teacher who tries to force Melinda to speak by threatening her with bad grades and summer school. I associate this with the situation in psychological offices, when a specialist offers his clients quick ways to solve symptoms, without understanding the true reasons for their appearance. The problem is not that Melinda is silent. This is a symptom that is helpful and necessary for the main character. The problem is that she cannot find words to describe some suffering in her life, cannot trust someone with this information, cannot say something out loud, does not want to acknowledge what happened as a fact. - A friend helps Melinda defend her right to keep her symptom, to cope with the trauma in the ways that are available to her. Yes, Melinda's symptom is very inconvenient for others, but it is what allows her psyche to somehow cope with the catastrophic event. At the same time, a friend finds an approach to Melinda: at the right moment he offers her the idea of ​​​​the harm of her silence for herself. He does this not through force, but through an attempt to understand her suffering and care for her. - The art teacher presents Melinda with the opportunity to talk in a different way about her pain - in a way that is accessible to her, to the extent that it is accessible to her, without judgment . The teacher gives a task for the year: to focus on one subject (a tree) and turn it into art. As fate would have it, the tree is what is associated in Melinda's psychic world with the event of trauma. So Melinda spends the whole year honing her skill of talking about her pain - again and again she depicts a tree. Approximately the same thing happens in therapy, when the psyche returns to a traumatic event again and again, this is the only way to work through it. Gradually, Melinda’s internal readiness to bloom the fruits of the truth grows. Her root system and inner core (internal supports, ego) will strengthen to the necessary extent to express in words what has been ripening in her all this time. There comes a moment when she can share what happened to her, because she has already partly processed this trauma within herself. If something causes suffering to a person, takes a lot of energy, causes intense emotions, then it is worth looking in this direction, trying it understand, sincerely think about it with yourself, talk about it. Also in therapy. There is no ideal time to start it. You don't have to reach certain levels of pain to ask for help. The desire to come to a psychologist’s office and start somehow talking about what’s bothering you is quite enough. However, this film is not only about what happens to a person in a situation of a single injury. This is the story of the development of a young girl, albeit in some places post-traumatic development. The way that Melinda automatically (unconsciously) chooses to overcome her trauma is something inherent to her. Probably reacting by leaving the relationship and remaining silent to stress was a pattern that had been growing in her throughout her entire life. This was influenced by her innate characteristics and the family system, which cemented in her the inner conviction that it is impossible to ask for help or.