— Overview
The notes stay with first-session care, confidentiality, the risk of labels and dual relationships, and a wish to use group work, Gestalt, and CBT tasks.
— Contents and key concepts
Adam, and a fifty-percent chance
The notes take up Jonathan Levine’s film 50/50, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the lead. They follow Adam, who has a spinal peripheral nerve sheath tumor, and whose chance of survival is put at fifty percent.
Beside him is a trainee counselor, still a doctoral student. The film, as they read it, is not only a medical story. It is also a study of how a young counselor meets someone in the middle of that fear.
First sessions, paper, and a label
They mark a few ethics from the early sessions. There is reassurance at the first meeting. There is confidentiality, including paper that should not go out without consent. There is care with the word “shock,” which can become a label. And there is caution about a dual relationship.
They also keep a good moment of simply staying with Adam, rather than rushing to fix him. The counselor’s work, in that beat, is presence.
A fish, and the work the writer would use
They keep a metaphor from the notes: fishing, versus giving someone a fish. The therapist’s role, they write, is not only to hand over a catch, but to help a person fish.
The writer of the notes would use group counseling, Gestalt work, and CBT tasks. The fuller Korean version sits on CampusDown.
Sources
- Student notes on the film 50/50, read through Adam, a trainee counselor, and counseling ethics.
Last updated 15 November 2026
Frequently asked questions
Who do the notes follow in 50/50?
Adam, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and a trainee counselor who is still a doctoral student. Adam has a spinal peripheral nerve sheath tumor, and a fifty-percent chance of survival.
What ethics do they mark in the first sessions?
Reassurance at the first meeting, confidentiality (including paper that should not go out without consent), care with the label “shock,” and caution about a dual relationship. They also keep a good moment of simply staying with Adam.
What would the writer of the notes use in counseling?
Group counseling, Gestalt work, and CBT tasks. They also keep a fishing metaphor: the therapist’s role is not only to give a fish, but to help a person fish.
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