Memory, Therapy, Depression and Therapy in the Butterfly Effect
Psychology 155-22
Professor Perno
Hao Lam
November 20, 2012

Abstract
This paper revolves around the four main psychological aspects of the 2004 movie The Butterfly Effect which are memory retrieval in Evan, trauma in the characters, depression, and Evan's therapy. In memory we will look through the protagonist's, Evan, past and how he represses his memory and retrieves them back as adult. In trauma we will look at the different events Evan's friend Lenny experiences and how it affects his life and gives him traumatic disorders. Next, we will examine depressive symptoms in the character Kayleigh. Finally, we will look at the …show more content…

This explains why Lenny, after so many years, was still in his room building model airplanes after Evan goes back home to him. Also, when Evan asks Lenny to described what happened during that event Lenny violently threatens him to kill him if he ever mentions it again. Model airplanes is a hobby he enjoys and it helps keep him distracted from all his thoughts, which is why his room contained over one hundred models. If he keeps himself preoccupied with the model planes, those thoughts of killing the mother will never cross his mind. Not only does Lenny and his model airplane hobby distract him from the trauma but it also show a very distinct relationship between dissociation and trauma. Constance J. Dalenburg conducted an experiment which shows “that there is strong empirical support for the hypothesis that trauma causes dissociation (a perceived detachment of the mind from the emotional state or even from the body), and that dissociation remains related to trauma history when fantasy proness is controlled (Dalenberg 2012)”. After experiencing the two traumas Lenny enters a dreamlike state where he completely separates himself from the world by staying in his room all day and doing nothing else. Even when Evan comes to visit him in his bedroom or in the insane asylum he never displays any emotions, speak to him or even acknowledge he is there. During the dog blackout Lenny witnessed Tommy burning Evan's dog alive and