Review:
According to Greta: This film stars Hilary Duff as Greta, a rebellious teenage girl who is preoccupied with suicidal thoughts and impulsive behaviors. When Greta is sent by her mother to live with her grandparents for the summer she vows to kill herself before summer’s end and keeps a diary of the potential methods she may employ. Her sarcastic attitude and wild behaviors become tempered as the summer progresses through the appreciation she develops for the life that she has.

 

This movie would be valuable for adolescent girls who are working on gaining perspective on life and who are working on understanding the consequences of their behaviors on others. There are several points in the movie where Greta has insights about the importance of valuing what is going well in her life, despite the struggles that being a teenager entails. Focusing on what is going well can help adolescent girls step out of their "problem saturated stories” and gain perspective that life is full of both ups and downs. Throughout the movie she also comes to understand the impact of her actions on others. The concept of behaviors having consequences is explored and could open discussions about this in the counseling setting. Clips from this film would also be applicable for counselors-in-training who are studying how suicidal thoughts emerge and ways to address them with teenage clients.