UDSKRIFT 🔗
Justin: Welcome and thank you for joining Between Sessions with Justin and Challee
Challee Saltsman, LMSW: Just a quick disclaimer before we start. This podcast is for educational and conversational purposes only. It's not intended to replace therapy, counseling, or professional mental health care. We are sharing lived experiences and reflections, not prescriptions, and we encourage our listeners to seek professional guidance when needed.
Justin: Welcome back. No. Welcome back. Thank you for joining this week. We have a bit of a fun episode. I'm so excited. We are gonna be talking about Harry Potter characters and what they need to unpack. Maybe what a diagnosis would look like. my gosh. Kind of their mental health. Let's break this down. So this week, Harry Potter characters go to therapy. Why is this so exciting for me? Because I am unhealthfully obsessed. with Harry Potter and if you are like, yeah, I love those movies and have never read the books, don't talk to me because I have read every single book, I'm not even kidding you, at least ten times. Like I just go through, I just cycle through. Yeah. I just cycle through it. Now like I would read them. Now I do audible. So now I cycle through and that's how I go to bed every night is I listen to a couple of chapters. So and I've listened to the books probably close to like seven times. So I love Harry Potter so much. And I've been dying to do this episode. So we're finally doing it. And I haven't touched one. So I am locked in to be able to hear. I know like general, slightly general of who the characters are, but This isn't dead No he doesn't. He thought that Voldemort had a last name of Putin. Why wouldn't he and the others do? Voldemort Putin All right. Well, okay. Let's at least start with the one that I know the most about. And then we might work down the list. Because some of these names I don't think I've ever heard. And we're gonna have fun pronouncing them. Harry Potter. Okay. Harry Potter. I mean, this depends on at what age he decides to go to therapy because if he's, you know, in the first book and he decides to go to therapy, they should have therapy at Hogwarts. Like the trauma that these kids go through. But, anyways, if it was his first year, I would say grief because of his parents dying at such a young age. trauma from neglect. He was never abused. Wasn't he under the staircase? So, like a big point of this, it was like he was under the staircase. He was in the cupboard under the stairs. Yeah. Yes. Yum. So definitely some neglect. A lot of neglect. it can still be neglect even though his basic needs were met, it can still be emotional neglect. yes. my gosh, 100%. Plus, he was never told about his parents or the magical world or how they died until he was 12. 11 or 12. And he met Hagrid, and Hagrid was like, no, they weren't killed in a car crash. so that was a lot. To unpack, I'm sure. Harry Potter towards the end of the series. my god, I don't even he's got a lot to unpack.
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He'd be like a twice-a-week client, I think. Because I mean, he had so many people that wanted to kill him. Like it wasn't just Voldemort. Like, like Melfoy was messing around with him, and you know, h my gosh, his dating life was a mess. Ugh, so but I think grief and trauma definitely a top two. Okay. Mm-hmm. What do you think he struggled with the relationships with? Was it trust or was it like beliefs? No, he was just dumb. Yeah, no. Not like dumb, like like cute dumb. Like he was young and he was just like cute and nervous, and I'm like, maybe if he had worked with a therapist with like for like self-esteem, he could have like built up the courage to ask Cho to the dance and not wait until the last freaking minute to get a date. Stressed me out. Fun fact for Halloween one year, I did dress up as Harry Potter. Not because I watched the movies, but it was the least scary costume they had. That is a fun fact. Yep, and I already wore glasses, so I I could pull it off. Did you write- did you do a scar? Yes. Nice! No clue what it meant, but I did do the scar. Good. Good. Earned some points here. my goodness. So, yes, I would, if I had to give him one diagnosis, probably PTSD. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Next on my list is Ron Weasley. Ronald! Okay, so. He is the youngest son of the Weasleys. He does have a younger sister, but he's the youngest boy. And he struggled with they were living in poverty or what they consider poverty. I thought that they were living the life. I don't know. Like they made such a big deal out of like I had to go to the second hand store. Like, girl, that's where I go all the time. Like, we're fine. But he definitely had a lot of pressure from his brothers because. if he didn't do as well as them, it was a big deal. But if he did do as well as them, it wasn't any big deal because his brothers had already done it. So there was a lot of like inferiority. Ooh, always in the shadows. Yes, and he f faced that with his family, but then also his best friend was this famous wizard. So he went from always being in the shadows with his family to always being in the shadows of his best friend. So I feel like some type of inferiority work would have been good. Maybe also some self-esteem boosts. maybe some communication so that he could communicate better to Hermione. But yeah. So, segue into Hermione and Granger? Yes. Okay. I gave him this list ahead of time and he was like, what? How do you spell this? and I'm like, listen, I know everybody's middle name. yes, Hermione. my goodness, perfectionist. Like to a fault. Can we talk about the third book for a minute? Like, Homegirl was burnt out from the Time Turner. Because and see this is why the movies suck. Because you didn't see how like just mad she had become from having to constantly go back in time, double, do double the classes. She had to like she had three final exams at the same time. and so she was exhausted and it was just crazy. So we would definitely talk about like perfectionism. Yeah. And the yeah, how far you're willing to go to be number one. Well, and then that burnout would just kind of keep you there too, because it I mean, how do you ever get ahead when you're just constantly feeling burnt out? You just completely lose motivation. It can be so hard to like see a different path because it's you're so focused on well, we're having perfectionist, you know, you're so focused on completing one thing or or making one thing work that it might even be really hard to take a step back and realize that that one thing might not be working. Yeah. She did chill out after that though. She dropped for her. She she dropped two classes well, she had dropped divination in the middle of the year, but she dropped another class so that she could just have a normal schedule. And I do feel like she calmed down a tad bit little bit for the following years. Probably some type of like generalized anxiety disorder because she was constantly anxious about grades all the time. How can that affect our mental health? So breaking out of her a little bit, but I feel like this is something that is so, so common with a lot of like the teens and kids that we work with. Like how that like excess pressure, how can that like impact mental health? Negatively. Yeah. it depends. It's hard. Like as a mom, I'm trying to find that balance. Yeah. You know, because like I know my son can do it. So if he gets like a a not so good grade, I'm like, dude, come on, you should be getting hundreds in this class. this stuff. But also balancing it with did you try your best? Or did you do you feel like you slacked off and that's why you did bad? let's find out why we got the grade we did and see if we can fix it. But that's something I'm working on in my own life is not because he's so smart. I've told you everyone that he is a genius. And I assumed he'd be getting all hundreds and he got like a ninety on a math quiz and was so disappointed in himself. And I had to be like, okay, first of all, a ninety is still really good. Plus, you're getting used to this new format. Plus, sometimes we misread a question or we misread an answer. But if you can identify what you did wrong, that'll help you in future tests. But I'm not gonna sit here and be like, I can't believe you're gonna nine there. Yeah. So I think that is so so relatable for so many people. And and parents, I appreciate you sharing that side of it too. And as the parent of like, well, you know you can do better, but was it just an off day? Because those exist too. Yeah. Perfection, it does not exist. Progress. All right. Neville Longbottom. What a funny name. Right. Okay, so Neville has one of the saddest backstories in Harry Potter. I feel that it is. Sadder than Harry's story. So I'm gonna give a little background. So the prophecy that Harry and his friends they stole or took or whatever in the fifth book, the that prophecy referred to a boy born at the end of July whose parents had defied Voldemort three times,
and that boy would be the boy that destroys Voldemort. Okay, with that information, Voldemort went after Harry's parent, or yeah, Harry's parents and him. To kill Harry. But there were actually two boys that year, born at the end of July, whose parents were aurors and stark wizard fighters, and had defied him three times. Guess who the other boy was? Neville. Neville Longbottom. So he could have been in Harry's shoes. Okay. However, he wasn't. Voldemort went after Harry, marked him as his equal. That is who the prophecy refers to. However, Neville's parents, after Voldemort was destroyed, they were tortured by Bellatrex Lestrange, her husband, and Barty Crouch Jr. And they were tortured with the Cruciatus curse so bad that they ended up incapacitated. So they're alive, but they have no memory. They can't they're in they're in St. Mungo's hospital permanently. They're on like the permanent ward because they lost Pretty much all function. So Neville was raised by his grandmother. So I'm gonna say trauma from his childhood, because he was the same age Harry was when he essentially lost his parents. Wow. Right. Cause loss may not be through death, but loss of the way that things were. That changed. Yeah. wow. And also his grandmother always made him feel like he wasn't good enough. at first they didn't even think he was a wizard when he was little because he wasn't giving s any signs. And then one of his uncles like threw him out of a window and luckily he bounced because of his magical powers, but like they didn't know if he was gonna bounce or not. So yeah, definitely some family dynamics and some trauma. Yep. Okay. So do you think family sessions would work? Or is that is that not even I don't know because by the end of the series, he was a hero. He killed the snake. That was the last horcrux. So he really helped save the wizarding world. So I feel like if that point, if grandma's not proud of you, there's nothing I can do. We need to ditch grandma. But I believe she was. Very proud of him, especially after what happened at the ministry where he helped Harry. She was a lot prouder of him. Okay. Mm-hmm. Kind of a happy ending with him at least. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And he married Hannah Abbott and became the herbology professor at Hogwarts. Wow. Yes. Patricia Petunia Petunia Petunia Darcy. Petunia Darsley. Do you know who that is? Yeah. Okay. That is Harry's aunt that he lived with. Was his mother's sister. Okay. So when they were children, I know. Complex dynamic. When they were children, they were very close. However, Lily, the sister, Harry's mom, was a witch. Petunia was not. So Lily got to go to Hogwarts. Petunia actually wrote Dumbledore a letter begging him to let her into Hogwarts also. Okay. So she won, and that is why she resents magic and the wizarding world so much. So, definitely some resentment towards her sister. Okay. holy moly and also grief. A lot of people forget, like, regardless of what the relationship was. Harry lost his mother that night, but she lost her only sister. So there's definitely some grief. and parenting skills. Like Homegirl and I, we gotta talk about parenting skills because we all saw how Dudley turned out, and it was not the vibe. And it was, I believe it was 100% because of the parenting and how he was raised. Really? my god, he was spoiled, literally rotten. he was just, he could do no wrong. no accountability. Zero accountability. Like they would get reports home about bullying, and she would be like, Not my debuts, he's just misunderstood. He wouldn't hurt a fly. And he's like beating the shit out of kids. my goodness. So yeah, we need some accountability, Patinya. Next one would be Nymphedora Tonks. Tonks. Tonks. I love her. She is one of my favorite characters. I just love her so much. okay, so she is a megamorph magi, which means she can three times fast. Which means she can change her appearance appearance at will. that's so cool. It is super rare and it is you're born with it. And so I think some like identity work would need to be done because she's constantly changing her hair color, she's constantly changing her facial features, like she can change her nose, she's changing her entire body. So like at one point she was an old lady, like disguised. It's very cool. And she she's also an aura. So you know, to disguise yourself in like in the snap is very helpful, but I do feel like having lived with that your whole life, you're probably going to have some identity crisis. what is my true identity? Right. So yes, I feel like that. Also, her family, her mother is pure blood which means she's related to pretty much all the purebloods. So like she's related to Bellatrix. She's related to The Melfoys, and so her mother is was wonderful and she actually married a muggle. So like the family kind of disowned them because they were blood traitors, because they didn't marry pure blood. Which, if you really look at it, is gross because you're you're like marrying your cousins at this point because there's so few left. So yeah, like Sirius says that like Every pureblo related somehow because there's so few left. So if you're only letting your kids marry purebloods, you're marrying within the family. What do you think would do you think there's a diagnosis there? I don't know. I'm also a little meh by her because she left her newborn baby to come fight in the war. So she could she was like very into Remus Lupin, which is fine, like be in love, but I don't know. I'm a little judgy because she like left her newborn to go fight with him in the war. Like she got there, she's like, Where is Remus? And I'm like, Where is your baby? And her baby ends up parentless. he he ends up not having any parents because they both got killed in the war. Mm-hmm. So to me that stung a little bit. I I get it. You're defending the wizarding world, but they probably would have been fine without you. Sorry, I am so harsh with a cut. I'm not like this with real life people, I
swear. I'm very compassionate. Ooh. The last one, who apparently doesn't have a last name, Faltimore. Or nose. He doesn't have a nose or a last name. No. He is actually a lot scarier looking than the movies portray. the books describe him as way scarier. he doesn't have lips either. Yeah, in the book, he's described as not having any lips. So yeah. Think about that tonight when you're trying to go to bed. Okay, so Voldemort, aka Tom, Marvelo Riddle. He my goodness. So he w he's the last descendant of Salazar Slytherin, so a very well-known Pure Blood family. his mother had a crush on one of the muggle guys that lived near her and gave him a love potion so that he would fall in love with her. Because she was not how did they describe her? She was very homely. She like she was, you know, I don't want to like be judgmental, but they described her as like, like I said, the purebloods are kind of like inbreeding. So they described her as not. Prettiest thing. And this muggle man was just like the most handsome thing ever. And he was very rich and known around the town. And so she gave him a love potion so he would fall in love with her. And she kept giving it to him. And they ran away together. And it was a huge scandal of the town because he ran away with the town tramp and whatever. And then she got pregnant. And then for whatever reason, she stopped giving him the love potion. And he freaked out and went home to his parents. And so then she like stopped using her powers because she was so depressed. This backstory is very important. And then she gave birth to Tom in a orphanage and died. So he was an orphan from birth. He was just angry. He grew up in a muggle. Orphanage. And you know, as kids are growing up as wizards, if they don't know they're wizards, or if they do, they show like little signs like how Harry let the snake out, stuff like that. He knew there was something different about him, and he was using it to torture other children in the orphanage. So red flag from the beginning. Dumbledore never should have let him into Hogwarts, but you know, he lets everybody in. He needed therapy. If they had gotten him therapy, some hardcore therapy in his first year, they maybe would have been able to help. But he didn't. So yeah. Was he just like had a mean streak? Yeah, no, there was definitely something there. I don't even know. I feel like we'd have to go into the DSM 5 and look up like The borderline personality disorders that I am not super familiar with off the top of my head, but this would not be like a general anxiety. I feel like this would be a very I don't want to say like a super serious one because everything is serious. It's complex. But thank you. That was he would definitely have some complex lot of layers to that man, it sounds like a lot of layers. I mean, come on, you trying to kill a Baby, that's cringe. Weird. because you thought this baby was gonna like defeat you. Okay, Valdy, whatever you think. But yes, he I mean, he got his revenge. He killed his dad and his uncle. Or no, he didn't kill his uncle. He killed his he killed his dad and framed his uncle. Mm that's what I want. Did he ever actually even end up happy though? No, Harry killed him. He ended up just being dead. But in the last book, Harry did say, like, if you can feel remorse, you can start to heal. And he was like, F that. And so then Harry was like, Well, okay, expell Yarmus or whatever, and tried to I don't know. Yeah. So No Man or no Nose. No no. Seems like no heart and no last name. No heart. They attributed all of this to him being born out of a love potion. They contributed it that. Okay. So that would definitely have to be something we had to take into account too. Is kind of like external. Well, you know, like babies that are born addicted, they have extra struggles. So baby born out of a love potion, I'm sure. Yeah. Talk about complex. So complex. Still in a hole. Just because he is not responsible for what happened to him, he is responsible for his moving forward. Mm-hmm. Mm. Yes, yes. He did not heal. He did not he did not heal. okay. So I loved getting to do this. It is so fun being able to I don't know, take a different perspective. A lot of times we're talking about pretty serious things. So being able to I I loved the Disney princess one we did. So if you didn't listen to the Disney characters go to therapy episode, please check it out because that was so much fun. But Harry Potter was way funner. All right. Thank you guys for joining. If there's any other like characters or my gosh, please give me any characters that you want me to talk about. And if you guys, if you comment enough, Justin will let me do another of these episodes. So comment please. Okay. Thank you guys for joining. Bye.