What about Bob

 

         There are Psychologists all over the world who help others deal with their problems, but what about their own problems? You’ve probably heard a joke about a shrink having their own shrink, but if you are not able to function trying to solve other’s problems why would you be a shrink anyways?

     In the movie “What About Bob”, Leo Marvin is a successful, intelligent, ignorant, greedy psychologist who thinks he has it all: the fame, the glory, the perfect family, and that nothing can go wrong. He thinks he is flawless. He is going to get interviewed for his book called “Baby Steps”, and he is ecstatic about it. Again, he thinks everything is unblemished and naught can go mistaken.

     Bob shows up, in need of psychiatric help, but Dr. Marvin is going on vacation. Marvin decides to go ahead and interview him even though he will not be able to start sessions with him for a month.

    This can be looked at from both sides. Dr. Marvin is a psychologist who probably needs some help himself, who has a dysfunctional family because of lack of trust, care, communication, and because he is too absorbed into himself. All he seems to care about is being famous; not caring about his family, and who knows how he actually treated his patients.

    Then there is Bob, who has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He is anti social, except talking to his fish, Gill. Agoraphobic, in which he will not touch public door knobs with his hands, will not shake hands with people without a napkin and hardly leaves his apartment. He sees a psychologist in need of overcoming stressful situations, which in his case is everything that has to do with life.

      Dr. Marvin, being a psychologist, is not as impressive as he should be and does not see disaster lurching ahead. He does not realize that Bob gets attached easily once he is comfortable with his surroundings. Bob ends up following them to their vacation home in order to see Leo. Leo’s family gets attached to Bob as tightly as he does with them, only made matters worse. Leo starts going crazy when Bob refuses to leave. When he did leave, he made excuses to go back to talk to Dr. Marvin, which is probably a sign of not wanting to be alone. It drove Leo out of his mind seeing Bob doing things with his family that he is not able to do, such as sailing with his daughter and getting his son to dive off the dock. When Leo sets eyes on that, he blows up and decides to take Bob to a mental hospital, but he gets along with everyone so well that Leo is called to get him, which makes Leo furious.

     Dr. Marvin is under stress in with he can not control. He also can not handle it, seeing how absorbed with himself he is; he probably never had to deal with anyone as bad as Bob when it comes to clinging and in need of human company. Bob may be anti social because of is agoraphobia, but he is crying for help on the inside, but does not know how to ask for it on the outside. He is in need of human compassion, and communication to others whom are not a fish in a bowl. I think in a weird way, Bob knows that Dr. Marvin needs help himself, and that is why he sticks around as long as he does. Bob makes new friends whom he does not freak out on if they touch him, and is comfortable enough to not need to use any germ preventing things to get around the house either.

      I have always been OCD in a way. I wash my hands constantly and only hug people I am comfortable with. I have to have things even or as close to being even on both sides, I continually fix my hair, my jewelry, and my clothes until it feels right to me. If it does not, ill do it a hundred times over until it does. I also have a lower level of agoraphobia, fearing being in big crowds such as school hallways put me into a panic attach, as well as a fear of heights, and I live off of a planned schedule that I follow every day. Saying this, I am showing that I can relate to Bob on a certain level. Bob learns to deal with his problems and overcomes a few of them, just like I have been trying to do. It is certainly not the easiest thing to do, and it is great knowing that I am not alone in the world when it comes to things like this.

     Bob and Dr. Marvin have a lot of issues in their lives, but in the end it worked out for the one whom it matters most, which in my opinion is Bob. Bob did not do anything wrong, he just asked for help by a man who deals with people similar to him, and Leo treated him like a bad guy. Leo, being self centered, in a way deserved what he got, but did not in the other way. Bob was cured and that is what matters the most, and maybe, just maybe Leo Marvin learned to show love and compassion. If not, I am sure that Bob could use his new treatment to cure Dr. Marvin like he cured him. In the end, everything seems to work out just it should.