Stutz Provides a Fresh Take On Therapy and Mental Health

Mental health and therapy is without a doubt becoming less taboo and widely spoken about. There are apps and resources on meditation, online therapists and what seems like endless books and shows on the topic. Despite this, it's been a while since I've been exposed to different ways of thinking about mental health treatments, outside of the mainstream ideas. Stutz is a Netflix documentary that presents a new, avant-garde way to conceptualise mental health through the lens of a charismatic psychiatrist, Phil Stutz directed by Jonah Hill. Through the conversations, Stutz's illustrations and terminology, Hill (of Wolf of Wall Street fame) presents Stutz's way of explaining the human condition. It also explores Stutz's life and Jonah's own journey to deal with his unhappiness despite his massive Hollywood successes.

It's an unconventional documentary, with Hill being an actual patient of Dr Stutz, his therapist. They obviously have a lot of love between them, and the motivation behind making the film, which apparently was 5 years in the making, is the positive benefits that Hill got from the treatment and 'tools'. I found it insightful, intimate, practical and engaging. As a bonus Stutz's humour was heartwarming.

If you'd rather be surprised and watch the doco with an untainted lens, I'll warn you that I'll be sharing spoilers of "the tools" and terms that Dr Stutz uses to describe our condition. To start, the Tools are described as a dynamic set of results-oriented practices that transform someone's pain into potential. Hill credits them to changing his perception and life.

Introducing Part X.

Stutz labels our critical inner selves, Part X. We all have it inside us, and it's addicted to negative flow and grasping onto anything. Unfortunately, it creates a black cloud above us, which makes it difficult for us to see the sun above it. This resonates with a lot of conventional mental health and mindfulness concepts about our critical inner voice, that hold so many of us back. Stutz has personified this aspect of our personality, and I think this helps a lot of us to understand, it is in us, but it is not us.

Part X likes to foster a victim mentality, which encourages us to focus on the injustice, as opposed to our blessings.

When we are in this state and stuck in the negativity and consumed by uncertainty, Stutz's remedy is practical and accessible. We need to shift our focus and be intentional.

Queue: Life Force Energy (LFE).

We each have the power to work on our life force energy, any time that we feel stuck, sad or lost. Stutz illustrates the building blocks of LFE as a pyramid, with the base being our relationship to our body, the next level up being relationship with other people, and the tip of the pyramid being our relationship to ourselves.

While simple, and seemingly obvious, that is the genius of it. This breakdown is accessible and important parts of what connects us to our environment and society. For those of us who have felt the depths of sadness, depression or anxiety, this narrow focus can give intention and purpose.

3 Aspects of Reality.

Stutz shares his own fair share of life challenges and hurdles. His parents and upbringing, as with everyone's is unique and something that has left a lasting effect on his life as he describes with his romantic relationships. He shares that we each encounter the consistent reality of pain, uncertainty and constant work. I can only interpret that this is a way to accept these factors, which we often blame our unhappiness on. If we can accept them, and not try to reduce or minimise them, we can focus on the areas that are in our control.

The Maze.

"Life is fleeting. We don't have time to be caught up in the bullshit of waiting for someone else to change, to change our circumstances".

Stutz uses the terminology "Maze" to describe our experience of being caught up with the past or perceived injustices. Some people never get out of the maze, and continue to struggle with their never ending unhappiness. Part X wants to keep us in the maze and focused on the negativity and contingent thinking. By staying in the maze, we put our lives on hold, by waiting for something external to change before we move on.

Our Shadow Self and Our Perfect Snapshot.

Our experiences are wholly our own and only we have the experience of remembering and perceiving them. Our past experiences can have an on-going and destructive effect on us. Stutz describes our shadow self as a part of us that we want to hide from the world the most. It comes from a time in our lives where perhaps we felt inferior, rejected, despondent, embarrassed or ashamed. Understanding and connecting with our shadow selves can help us to connect with our true selves.

On the other end, our Perfect Snapshot is an idealised version of ourselves. Who we aspire to be. This is the us that we envision, and believe that life will be great, once we attain it (remember, wherever you go, there you are). Stutz says we might even reach this snapshot... and still feel the discomfort. We fall into deeper depths of disappointment, sadness or depressed. We overcome this, by understanding that perfection is not attainable. Progress is.

Life is a String of Pearls.

This very elegantly conveys that every action in our lives are equal in value, no matter how large or how small. The important thing is that we are putting in effort. However an important feature of this analogy is that within every pearl, is a 'turd'. This is to show that nothing we do can be perfect. Our focus should be on moving forward and putting the next pearl on the string.

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I was pleasantly surprised by how real and grounding this documentary was. It highlights the reality of our struggles, no matter what level of success you reach. It is informative, humourous and importantly takes therapy and the importance of taking care of our mental health to the forefront.

I'm passionate about making tools like this more accessible to more people, and I think with a fresh lens and engaging format, the contents are education and potentially life changing for many people

Drop your preconceived notions and approach the documentary with an open and introspective mind. Let me know how you find it! I'd love to know.