Case of Mr. Lin (The)

A documentary filmed 1955 therapy session a twenty-something gay male pianist, Mr. Lin (a pseudonym) discusses homosexual feelings, self-image and daily life with Dr. Carl Rogers.

Produced for the Psychological Cinema Registry at Penn State, this unusual film is an actual documentation of a gay college student’s first therapy session with the pioneering psychiatrist Dr. Carl Rogers. “Mr. Lin” is a twenty-something piano student at the University of Chicago, where Rogers was a professor. Nerdy but handsome, the bespectacled and chain-smoking Mr. Lin slouches in his chair and fusses with his glasses as he talks about his struggle to overcome his homosexual tendencies (“My problem is homosexuality. I want to change.”), as well as his depression and fear of being excluded from society (“When you say that you’re queer it automatically sets you apart.”) A fascinating document, The Case of Mr. Lin intimately offers a glimpse into the internal life of a young gay man in the mid-1950s. Known as the originator of client-centered psychology, Carl Rogers demonstrates his groundbreaking method of “unconditional positive regard,” in which the therapist reflects back in positive ways what the patient has expressed, employing active listening and affirmation. It is especially notable that in 1955, decades before the eventual 1973 removal of homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association's DSM, Rogers validates the experience of his patient. Jenni Olson

There was a trailer...but, it has since disappeared.