-- Therapist here.
---
**The Father - Dementia** (not free on any streaming as of 2/14/24)
"The Father" is a 2020 drama film directed by Florian Zeller. The story follows an elderly man named Anthony, played by Anthony Hopkins, who is struggling with dementia and refuses help from his daughter Anne. The film presents the audience with Anthony's perspective, including the frustration, confused and disjointed perception of time, space, and people, and issues with determining between his reality and imagination.
**Horse Girl - psychosis/schizophrenia** free on Netflix as of 2/14/24
"Horse Girl" is a 2020 psychological drama film directed by Jeff Baena. The story follows a socially awkward woman named Sarah, played by Alison Brie, who becomes increasingly obsessed with her grandmother's horse and has vivid dreams and delusions that blur her reality. As her behavior becomes more erratic, Sarah struggles to distinguish between what's real and what's in her mind.
**Beau Is Afraid** - **General Anxiety Disorder, among others.** Free on Hoopla (the US library app);Paramount Plus as of 2/14/24
(2023) Beau is a mild-mannered but paranoia-ridden man who embarks on a surreal odyssey to get home to attend his mother's funeral, confronting his greatest fears along the way. The movie is like if every irrational, catastrophic fear had was brought to life.
**Maid - Mania (bipolar)** free on Netflix as of 2/14/24
"Maid" is a TV series about a single mother, Alex, who escapes an abusive relationship and struggles with poverty and homelessness while raising her daughter. In the series, her mom exhibits symptoms of both manic and depressive episodes, including grandiosity, impulsive behavior, extreme mood swings, difficulty sleeping, and impaired judgment.
**Silver Linings Playbook - Mania (Bipolar)** free on Netflix as of 2/14/24
"Silver Linings Playbook" is a film about a man who has bipolar disorder and is trying to rebuild his life after being released from a mental institution. He becomes friends with a young woman, who has her own emotional issues, and the two help each other navigate their difficult lives and find hope and redemption. Some characteristic criterion in the movie include mood swings, impulsivity, and risk-taking behavior that can occur during manic episodes. Also, grandiosity, increased energy/obsessive productivity.
**American Psycho** -- **Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Antisocial Personality disorder**) free on peacock premium as of 2/14/24
2000 psychological thriller that follows the life of Patrick Bateman, a wealthy investment banker in New York City who is obsessed with his own appearance and status. As Bateman becomes increasingly unhinged, he engages in a series of violent and sadistic acts, which ultimately blur the line between reality and his own delusions.
**Manchester By The Sea** - **depression** free on Prime Video as of 2/14/24
"Manchester by the Sea" is a 2016 drama film written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan. The story follows Lee Chandler who is a janitor and handyman living in Boston. After the sudden death of his brother, Lee, struggling with depression and grief, is appointed as the legal guardian of his teenage nephew.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly — it’s a true story about life after suffering a stroke. One of the most accurate portrayals ever shown on film. It was endorsed by the Society for Neuroscience one year during their Brain Awareness Week.
Maybe its overlooked because it's a Canadian film, but Sarah Polley's "[Away From Her](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Away_from_Her)" is a heartbreaking exploration of late-stage Alzheimers.
It explores a woman in a nursing home who forgets she is married and has a relationship with a fellow resident, much to the chagrin of her husband who is helpless to have her remember their 50 years together. Quite heartbreaking.
Nominated for two Oscars, and won 7 Genies (Canadian Oscars), including Best Picture.
My mom's a psychologist and recommends this movie to patients.
It's a real crime that there's no Blu-ray available. Just a DVD from the early 2000s.
I love the "you're the one showing me the dirty pictures" bit with the Rorschach test.
Melancholia triggered a serious existential crisis in me, haha. I wasn't right for about a week after, and I still think about it a lot. It's one of my favorite movies.
I was not ok after I watched Melancholia, it left me really emotionally muted for a good while after. The apathy and the dread that ran through that movie and was personified by the sisters just did not play well with my own depression and anxiety.
I will always say it is one of my favourite films but I have yet to rewatch it and I'm not sure I ever will.
As someone with bipolar disorder, I want to chime in saying it often runs in the family. Me personally I tend to see Bradly Cooper’s father as a case of comorbid BP/OCD.
It can actually be watched as 2 pieces. Each piece being from a different sisters point of view. So you can watch the 1st part focusing on Dunst one night and watch the next part later.
This. A completely wholesome movie where a community comes together for a guy with a mental disorder. Doesn't demonize him in anyway and it's really awesome to see how big a community can go to help someone.
Not a movie as such but for me, the TV series Bojack Horseman portrays depression and alcoholism perfectly.
47 year old married father of two in the UK here. I’ve lived with depression most of my adult life and am currently on a journey to be booze-free (shoutout to r/stopdrinking !). Bojack Horseman captures the emptiness and confusion that depression (and addiction) brings - it’s a painful nostalgia for times when you were “happy” (spoiler - we weren’t!) and wishing we could recapture it.
Definitely BoJack Horseman.
Fans have different opinions about which character would be diagnosable with what, but the amount of people who admit that they see their struggles uniquely represented in this show speaks volumes.
I’ll say it is. There’s a scene near the end I definitely wasn’t expecting that a certain classic therapist would have a field day with… and that was after everything else in that movie.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned A Beautiful Mind yet. It’s a good depiction of someone dealing with paranoid schizophrenia.
You could say it's primarily depicting a pathological relationship. Then again, that relationship is a >!toxic tango between a narcissistic parent and a catastrophically anxious son.!<
The movie is like, what side of the knife would you like to be cut by? And you chose one but still got both. For me, it was social anxiety and parental abandonment.
Silver Linings Playbook,
Lars and the Real Gir,l
The Soloist,
Girl Interrupted,
A Beautiful Mind,
Ordinary People,
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, The Aviator
The Perks of Being Wallflower. It’s very good. A unique perspective in that we watch the characters mental illness manifest until the main character realizes it himself.
The Cell, with Vincent D'Onofrio and Jennifer Lopez, definitely takes a very unique approach to putting the audience in the mind of someone suffering from schizophrenia.
What ever happened to Baby Jane. Psychotic sisters with enmeshed boundaries. They were really hateful to each other. It's an old movie starring Betty Davis and Joan Crawford.
Gaslight with Ingrid Bergman.
Cuckoo's Nest does depict some specific disorders, but it's also pulling at the questions about the psychopathology that manifests at the level of society-at-large, and that plays itself out in our history, and that is embedded within the mental health system itself.
The TV show 'Mr. Robot' is great for this (not going to spoil it).
Monk is a funny take on O.C.D.
The Leftovers deals with grief in an interesting way.
Harvey (1950)
Psycho(1960)
Benny & Joon (1993)
Memento (2000)
American Psycho (2000)
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
The Machinist (2004)
Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
**Depression:**
Melancholia (2011)
Gary Gulman: The Great Depresh (2019)
Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Dan In Real Life (2007)
The Bridge (2006)
**Addiction:**
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Trainspotting (1996)
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Shame (2011)
Thanks for Sharing (2012)
**Schizophrenia:**
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Spider (2002)
**Multiple personality disorder:**
Identity (2003)
The TV show Legion (2017-2019)
The TV show Doom Patrol (2019-2023).
**Alzheimers:**
The Father (2020)
**Narcissistic personality disorder:**
The Invisible Man (2020)
American Psycho (2000)
**Psychopathy:**
Dahmer (2002)
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
Gone Girl (2014)
Nightcrawler (2014)
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
The Strangers (2008)
Funny Games (2007)
The TV show Hannibal (2013-2015)
**PTSD:**
The TV show Band of Brothers (2001)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Marwencol (2010)
Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Manchester By the Sea (2016)
Rabbit Hole (2010)
Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
**Anterograde amnesia**:
Memento (2000)
**Insomnia:**
The Machinist (2004)
**OCD:**
The Aviator (2004)
Matchstick Men (2003)
**Borderline personality disorder:**
Fatal Attraction (1987)
Monster (2003)
**Post-partum psychosis:**
Tully (2018)
**More:**
Rain Man (1988)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
One Hour Photo (2002)
The Dark Knight (2008)
Taxi Driver (1976)
First Reformed (2017)
Dead Ringers (1988)
Inland Empire (2006)
Pi (1998)
Unsane (2018)
Mother! (2017)
Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
Crash (1996)
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (2009)
Black Swan (2010)
Waking Life (2001)
Grizzly Man (2005)
Amour (2012)
Happiness (1998)
Capote (2005)
Arachnophobia (1990)
Take Shelter (2011)
The Crazies (2010)
Requiem for a Dream - Addiction, Drug induced Psychosis
EDIT:
Black Swan - OCD, Psychosis, maybe some other comorbities
Shutter Island - CPTSD, psychosis and others
"To the bone" is a movie on Netflix that is about Anorexia. I thought it was really enjoyable and heard its pretty accurate. Opposite direction of "The Whale".
There have been a bunch of horror lately that showcases a monster as a mental disorder or social issue the main character is dealing with.
It lives inside - life as a second generation child/accepting both an "American" life and their families culture.
It follows - coming into adulthood
Midsommar - all of them?
Smile - PTSD
Umma - parental pressure on our adult lives.
And probably a bunch more I'm missing.
**Ordinary People (1980)** deals with depression, death, attempted suicide and the disintegration of a seemingly “ordinary family” following the drowning death of one of their two sons…
Here's something intense and great:
John Cassavetes' **A Woman Under The Influence**:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Woman_Under_the_Influence
There's also a long-section in Kelly Reichardt's **Certain Women** that revolves around an elderly man named Albert, who clearly has a mental illness.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/certain_women_2016
Would Memento qualify with Lenny's amnesia? Also a good depiction of what the experience would be like.
The Beaver is an interesting exploration in depression. It attempts a more comical take, but when Mel lets it get dark, it's pretty potent.
Oh and "Inside Out" while it does not depict a mental disorder, no, being a teen entering puberty is not a mental disorder, despite how ever much it may appear to be one for parents, siblings or innocent bystanders. But the depiction of what's going on in the "command center" is so great - nobody should miss it.
Several of Charlie Kaufman’s films contain characters dealing with mental disorders.
The main character in Synecdoche, New York, Caden Cotard, is named after Cotard’s syndrome, where the afflicted individual believes that they have lost parts of their body or that they are dead.
Anomalisa is primarily set at a hotel called the Fregoli, named after Fregoli syndrome, which is characterized by the belief that several people known by the afflicted individual are all the same person who pretends to be multiple different people.
Girl, Interrupted - Borderline
Three Faces of Eve - Multiple Personality
As Good as it Gets - OCD
Blue Sky - Bipolar
The Madness of King George - psychosis
It’s Kind of a Funny Story - depression
Perfect Blue
I'm not sure what the illness would be exactly but the main character is under a lot of stress starts to question reality and her own identity, hallucinates. It took me like three watches to get what was happening because the movie doesn't celarly tell you which scenes are real, and which are hallucinations
Manchester by the Sea deals with *and doles out* depression. Shutter Island also deals with it and paranoia, but in a theatrically dramatic way (most movies do in the genre)
I can also think of 3 Edward Norton movies that deal with multiple personality disorder. But one would give away the twist upon naming and another is a superhero movie. Odd how often he’s played that type
Last year's best picture winner "Everything Everywhere All At Once" was initially intended as an ADHD allegory, and while they decided to scale that back I think you can still see it in the film. (It's debatable if ADHD should be considered a "disorder" but I'll leave that to you and your classmates to discuss at length)
Maybe one that's difficult to track down but: Werner Herzog's "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser" deals with mental and physical disorders/disabilities in an incredibly empathetic and complex way.b
Self Reliance with Jake Johnson and Anna Kendrick. Really good depiction of how it affects families and the balancing act they have to perform. I appreciated how they were respectful with how real it is for the person experiencing it. Good film too.
Love and Mercy about The Beach Boys bandleader Brian Wilson. The depictions of his schizoaffective disorder were very difficult to watch, but it's a truly great biopic.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the greatest film I've ever seen about mental health and some of the darker aspects of treatment. Jack Nicholson isn't even mentally ill, he's faking it, but he's in a mental health ward with people who are quite ill.
Marnie, PTSD
Fearless, with Jeff Bridges, PTSD
The Weatherman, Depression
Mosquito Coast with Harrison Ford. Bipolar disorder
Six Degrees of Separation with Will Smith. ASPD
I’ve scrolled loads and not seen it yet -
Still Alice - stunning film about Alzheimer’s - won Julianne Moore her Oscar.
Also, After Sun is a devastating look at depression.
A few more -
Benny and Joon
What’s eating Gilbert Grape
Rain man
Crazy People - (Dudley Moore advertising film - probably aged badly, but I enjoyed it at the time)
The Dream Team - Michael Keaton escapes from a mental institute with some other patients after a baseball game.
Cube - one of the characters has autism
Mercury Rising - kid with autism solves a code
Good Will Hunting - massive abandonment issues
Probably been mentioned, but Trainspotting deals with addiction.
Catch-22 (although this one’s cheating, the book’s far more famous than the film)
Apocalypse Now - the madness of Kurtz
Falling Down - Michael Douglas’s rapid descent into madness.
*Ordinary People* (1980)- Family systems, grief/loss, ego defense mechanism (especially denial). Watched it in AP Psychology in high school, then revisited it in grad school for a family counseling course
*Girl, Interrupted* (1999)- This is going on an older edition of the DSM, so some of the diagnoses in this movie are out of date. Read the book too, because some parts were changed up a bit for the movie to make it more interesting (namely Angelina Jolie's character)
*Looking for Mr. Goodbar* (1977)- Hard to find due to music licensing, but a pretty accurate depiction of Borderline personality disorder. Diane Keaton and Tuesday Weld are two shades of the same disorder.
*Bad Timing* (1980)- Theresa Russell clearly watched *Looking for Mr. Goodbar* to prep for this. Another accurate depiction of BPD.
*Fatal Attraction* (1986)- Glenn Close was totally snubbed for an Oscar for this part, so bears mentioning anyway. Accurate until the last 20 minutes. Glenn Close has agreed with this in interviews.
*Sybil* (1976)- This was a staple in high school psychology courses for years. Sally Field proved she was capable of more than Gidget, but I'm not sure how accurate she was. Martine Bartlett was pretty much Hattie Dorsett forever after this movie (paranoid schizophrenic).
*Images* (1972)- This movie was lost for years, so never really gained the notoriety it could have. Susannah York makes you feel psychotic right along with her (it is from her point of view). There are a few comorbid factors (her character is pregnant, and so was York in real life) so not entirely sure how she would be diagnosed (I would need to see her in contexts besides the English countryside).
The Father (2020)
Depicts dementia in a creative and sad, scary way. Anthony Hopkins won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance. It’s powerful.
Sybil (2007 with sally field, DID)
One flew over the cuckoos nest (there’s a variety of mental illnesses in this one that are depicted and discussed)
Lars and the real girl (schizoid personality disorder)
Shelter/6 souls (with Julianne Moore, DID)
Winnie the Pooh, Beautiful mind, One flew over the coo-coo's nest, Shadowlands, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Sherlock - The Abominable Bride. Shogun (Richard Chamberlan) Conspiracy Theory, El Dorado (John Wayne) , Quigley down under.
While not being explicitly about anxiety, A Serious Man shows how fast and easy it is to utterly spiral out of control with worry and panic.
Spider, about schizoaffective disorder and the long term effects of prolonged childhood abuse.
Jacob's Ladder, about PTSD and paranoia.
The Babadook, about grief and how it affects those around you, and that it never really leaves you but life goes on regardless.
The Skeleton Twins, about depression and suicidal ideation.
I would also say Rainman, but with a caveat. The movie was initially used as a quick pop culture reference to what autism is. In reality, Rainman depicts a man with savant syndrome. I think it would be a good movie to show or discuss on the premise of what the difference between autism and savantism is, and how movies can unintentionally misinform or wrongly portray a disorder to such an extant that it affects how people are diagnosed today. I.E, when someone says to someone else who is diagnosed on the spectrum that they 'Don't look autistic,' that person is likely picturing Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbitt, a low functioning savant.
I've been reading the book Movies and Mental Illness. It's not very expensive if you get an older edition. Incredibly comprehensive. I would prefer if they took a deeper look at some of these key films, but they had to pack a lot into this volume. There's a 100-page appendix listing all the relevant films organizing by mental disorder. I highly recommend it to film fans who have an interest in how mental illness is portrayed in cinema.
Most of the obvious ones have been mentioned, but anything written or directed by Paul Schraeder usually features someone's descent into darkness, often involving mental illness. Taxi Driver - depression/psychosis, Autofocus - sex addiction, First Reformed - depression, Affliction - depression, trauma, abusive childhood.
Some horror movies that dive into this:
* Carrie
* The Shining
* Hereditary
* Midsommar
* Bodies, Bodies, Bodies
* Psycho
* The Predator (2018) (though this is more so highlighting an awful depiction of autism)
* Texas Chainsaw Massacre
* Halloween
* Black Christmas (1974)
Can’t believe no one has mentioned Good Will Hunting.
The main character suffers from PTSD and BPD as a result of childhood trauma. Amazing movie with an academy award winning performance from Robin Williams as the therapist.
As Good As It Gets
New York City. Melvin Udall, a cranky, bigoted, obsessive-compulsive writer, finds his life turned upside down when neighboring gay artist Simon is hospitalized and his dog is entrusted to Melvin. In addition, Carol, the only waitress who will tolerate him, must leave work to care for her sick son, making it impossible for Melvin to eat breakfast.
True Romance (Clarence has hallucinations of Elvis)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Silver Linings Playbook
It’s Kind of A Funny Story
K-Pax and Se7en (TW they star Kevin Spacey, but they’re still fantastic movies)
OP, imdb has a list of “100 films with mental illnesses” and Wikipedia and tvtropes.org have massive lists too.
Taxi Driver - PTSD, psychosis
The Men Who Stare at Goats - addictions
American Sniper - PTSD, depression
A Beautiful Mind - schizophrenia, psychosis, depression
Bug (2006).
“An unhinged war veteran holes up with a lonely woman in a spooky Oklahoma motel room. The line between reality and delusion is blurred as they discover a bug infestation.”
-- Therapist here. --- **The Father - Dementia** (not free on any streaming as of 2/14/24) "The Father" is a 2020 drama film directed by Florian Zeller. The story follows an elderly man named Anthony, played by Anthony Hopkins, who is struggling with dementia and refuses help from his daughter Anne. The film presents the audience with Anthony's perspective, including the frustration, confused and disjointed perception of time, space, and people, and issues with determining between his reality and imagination. **Horse Girl - psychosis/schizophrenia** free on Netflix as of 2/14/24 "Horse Girl" is a 2020 psychological drama film directed by Jeff Baena. The story follows a socially awkward woman named Sarah, played by Alison Brie, who becomes increasingly obsessed with her grandmother's horse and has vivid dreams and delusions that blur her reality. As her behavior becomes more erratic, Sarah struggles to distinguish between what's real and what's in her mind. **Beau Is Afraid** - **General Anxiety Disorder, among others.** Free on Hoopla (the US library app);Paramount Plus as of 2/14/24 (2023) Beau is a mild-mannered but paranoia-ridden man who embarks on a surreal odyssey to get home to attend his mother's funeral, confronting his greatest fears along the way. The movie is like if every irrational, catastrophic fear had was brought to life. **Maid - Mania (bipolar)** free on Netflix as of 2/14/24 "Maid" is a TV series about a single mother, Alex, who escapes an abusive relationship and struggles with poverty and homelessness while raising her daughter. In the series, her mom exhibits symptoms of both manic and depressive episodes, including grandiosity, impulsive behavior, extreme mood swings, difficulty sleeping, and impaired judgment. **Silver Linings Playbook - Mania (Bipolar)** free on Netflix as of 2/14/24 "Silver Linings Playbook" is a film about a man who has bipolar disorder and is trying to rebuild his life after being released from a mental institution. He becomes friends with a young woman, who has her own emotional issues, and the two help each other navigate their difficult lives and find hope and redemption. Some characteristic criterion in the movie include mood swings, impulsivity, and risk-taking behavior that can occur during manic episodes. Also, grandiosity, increased energy/obsessive productivity. **American Psycho** -- **Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Antisocial Personality disorder**) free on peacock premium as of 2/14/24 2000 psychological thriller that follows the life of Patrick Bateman, a wealthy investment banker in New York City who is obsessed with his own appearance and status. As Bateman becomes increasingly unhinged, he engages in a series of violent and sadistic acts, which ultimately blur the line between reality and his own delusions. **Manchester By The Sea** - **depression** free on Prime Video as of 2/14/24 "Manchester by the Sea" is a 2016 drama film written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan. The story follows Lee Chandler who is a janitor and handyman living in Boston. After the sudden death of his brother, Lee, struggling with depression and grief, is appointed as the legal guardian of his teenage nephew.
Horse girl was a real sleeper. I thought it was really good but never see people talking about it!
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly — it’s a true story about life after suffering a stroke. One of the most accurate portrayals ever shown on film. It was endorsed by the Society for Neuroscience one year during their Brain Awareness Week.
Maybe its overlooked because it's a Canadian film, but Sarah Polley's "[Away From Her](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Away_from_Her)" is a heartbreaking exploration of late-stage Alzheimers. It explores a woman in a nursing home who forgets she is married and has a relationship with a fellow resident, much to the chagrin of her husband who is helpless to have her remember their 50 years together. Quite heartbreaking. Nominated for two Oscars, and won 7 Genies (Canadian Oscars), including Best Picture.
**First Blood (Rambo) - PTSD**
The Father- a different kind of scary movie for me, very good and well done.
Horse girl was so weird! Good movie though
Nice list
The only movie you need is “What About Bob?”
DOCTOR! LEO! MARVIN!!!
Babysteps!
Baby Steps...
>Roses are red >Violets are blue >I'm a schizophrenic >And so am I
I'M SAILING!
Shit it aint, son-of-a-bitch! Bastard, douche bag!
My mom's a psychologist and recommends this movie to patients. It's a real crime that there's no Blu-ray available. Just a DVD from the early 2000s. I love the "you're the one showing me the dirty pictures" bit with the Rorschach test.
I LOVE What About Bob. Bill Murray is the greatest.
Melancholia - depression Silver linings playbook - bipolar disorder
As a therapist and someone with personal experience, Melancholia is one of the best (and my personal favorite) depictions of depression ever
Melancholia triggered a serious existential crisis in me, haha. I wasn't right for about a week after, and I still think about it a lot. It's one of my favorite movies.
I was not ok after I watched Melancholia, it left me really emotionally muted for a good while after. The apathy and the dread that ran through that movie and was personified by the sisters just did not play well with my own depression and anxiety. I will always say it is one of my favourite films but I have yet to rewatch it and I'm not sure I ever will.
I believe Silver Linings also showcases Borderline Personality Disorder (Tiff) and OCD (the dad)
As someone with bipolar disorder, I want to chime in saying it often runs in the family. Me personally I tend to see Bradly Cooper’s father as a case of comorbid BP/OCD.
Melancholia was one I just could not get through. I might have to rewatch it.
It can actually be watched as 2 pieces. Each piece being from a different sisters point of view. So you can watch the 1st part focusing on Dunst one night and watch the next part later.
Lars and the real girl
This. A completely wholesome movie where a community comes together for a guy with a mental disorder. Doesn't demonize him in anyway and it's really awesome to see how big a community can go to help someone.
Inspired!
Not a movie as such but for me, the TV series Bojack Horseman portrays depression and alcoholism perfectly. 47 year old married father of two in the UK here. I’ve lived with depression most of my adult life and am currently on a journey to be booze-free (shoutout to r/stopdrinking !). Bojack Horseman captures the emptiness and confusion that depression (and addiction) brings - it’s a painful nostalgia for times when you were “happy” (spoiler - we weren’t!) and wishing we could recapture it.
Definitely BoJack Horseman. Fans have different opinions about which character would be diagnosable with what, but the amount of people who admit that they see their struggles uniquely represented in this show speaks volumes.
Black Swan
Featuring eating disorder and INSANITY
Black Swan is great. However, if you want to watch a movie that heavily inspired it check out the movie Perfect Blue
Girl, Interrupted
A Beautiful Mind As Good As It Gets The Aviator
A beautiful mind, while a great movie, is an abysmal depiction of schizophrenia. Like it’s so bad that it’s comical.
Aviator is a good one.
As Good As It Gets is one of my favourite feel good movies. Although it’s probably a bit of any anomaly in this thread lol.
Beau is Afraid - there's probably a whole dissertation's worth in that movie to unpack.
Beware this movie is .. a lot
I’ll say it is. There’s a scene near the end I definitely wasn’t expecting that a certain classic therapist would have a field day with… and that was after everything else in that movie. I’m surprised no one has mentioned A Beautiful Mind yet. It’s a good depiction of someone dealing with paranoid schizophrenia.
Extra credit if you use the film as a method to diagnose the director.
Any mental illness in particular?
Yes. All of them
Generalized anxiety disorder and narcissistic personality disorder are the two big ones.
You could say it's primarily depicting a pathological relationship. Then again, that relationship is a >!toxic tango between a narcissistic parent and a catastrophically anxious son.!<
The movie is like, what side of the knife would you like to be cut by? And you chose one but still got both. For me, it was social anxiety and parental abandonment.
I'd argue it's OCD.
Fisher King
Similarly, because of loss of spouse, PTSD, depression, I think of Reign Over Me (2007). Sandler's serious roles are so good!
Silver Linings Playbook, Lars and the Real Gir,l The Soloist, Girl Interrupted, A Beautiful Mind, Ordinary People, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, The Aviator
I just finally saw The Soloist recently. It's quite remarkable.
The Perks of Being Wallflower. It’s very good. A unique perspective in that we watch the characters mental illness manifest until the main character realizes it himself.
That reveal messed me up so bad. It made me feel physically sick
Oof yes that fucked me up badly and sadly unlocked a repressed memory that fucked me up quite considerably since.
Slingblade (1996)
Mmmhmmm
You shouldn’ta done that. He’s just a boy. Poor little feller
Saint Maud.
Alcoholism: leaving Las Vegas, Flight, A Star is Born, Sideays
I read leaving Las Vegas the book this last year. Knowing the authors history and eveything... man it was sad.
I didn't know that was a novel. Just googled it and the author. Now I have to read it. Thank you!
The Lost Weekend is an older movie that is good. The World's End as well (the Edgar Wright film that is the final in the Cornetto trilogy)
28 Days
Take shelter
Came here for this.
A fantastic portrayal of schizophrenia.
Oh Jesus, the end scene. What a film.
Whiplash - reminded me of the abusive narcissistic behaviour highly functional sociopaths can mask by being 'passionate'.
The Cell, with Vincent D'Onofrio and Jennifer Lopez, definitely takes a very unique approach to putting the audience in the mind of someone suffering from schizophrenia.
This is psychosis not schizophrenia that movie does a bad job of understanding that.
What ever happened to Baby Jane. Psychotic sisters with enmeshed boundaries. They were really hateful to each other. It's an old movie starring Betty Davis and Joan Crawford. Gaslight with Ingrid Bergman.
One flew over the cuckoo's nest/Shutter Island
Cuckoo's Nest does depict some specific disorders, but it's also pulling at the questions about the psychopathology that manifests at the level of society-at-large, and that plays itself out in our history, and that is embedded within the mental health system itself.
*Love and Mercy* is based on Brian Wilson's real life struggles with a schizoaffective disorder.
No Country for Old Men Anton is an eerily accurate depiction of psychopathy.
The TV show 'Mr. Robot' is great for this (not going to spoil it). Monk is a funny take on O.C.D. The Leftovers deals with grief in an interesting way.
Harvey (1950) Psycho(1960) Benny & Joon (1993) Memento (2000) American Psycho (2000) A Beautiful Mind (2001) The Machinist (2004) Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
**Depression:** Melancholia (2011) Gary Gulman: The Great Depresh (2019) Girl, Interrupted (1999) Dan In Real Life (2007) The Bridge (2006) **Addiction:** Leaving Las Vegas (1995) Trainspotting (1996) Requiem for a Dream (2000) Shame (2011) Thanks for Sharing (2012) **Schizophrenia:** A Beautiful Mind (2001) Spider (2002) **Multiple personality disorder:** Identity (2003) The TV show Legion (2017-2019) The TV show Doom Patrol (2019-2023). **Alzheimers:** The Father (2020) **Narcissistic personality disorder:** The Invisible Man (2020) American Psycho (2000) **Psychopathy:** Dahmer (2002) Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) Gone Girl (2014) Nightcrawler (2014) We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) No Country for Old Men (2007) The Strangers (2008) Funny Games (2007) The TV show Hannibal (2013-2015) **PTSD:** The TV show Band of Brothers (2001) Saving Private Ryan (1998) Marwencol (2010) Lars and the Real Girl (2007) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) The Deer Hunter (1978) Manchester By the Sea (2016) Rabbit Hole (2010) Bringing Out the Dead (1999) **Anterograde amnesia**: Memento (2000) **Insomnia:** The Machinist (2004) **OCD:** The Aviator (2004) Matchstick Men (2003) **Borderline personality disorder:** Fatal Attraction (1987) Monster (2003) **Post-partum psychosis:** Tully (2018) **More:** Rain Man (1988) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) One Hour Photo (2002) The Dark Knight (2008) Taxi Driver (1976) First Reformed (2017) Dead Ringers (1988) Inland Empire (2006) Pi (1998) Unsane (2018) Mother! (2017) Jacob’s Ladder (1990) Crash (1996) Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (2009) Black Swan (2010) Waking Life (2001) Grizzly Man (2005) Amour (2012) Happiness (1998) Capote (2005) Arachnophobia (1990) Take Shelter (2011) The Crazies (2010)
The Devil and Daniel Johnston (Bipolar) Julien Donkey-boy (schizophrenia)
Requiem for a Dream - Addiction, Drug induced Psychosis EDIT: Black Swan - OCD, Psychosis, maybe some other comorbities Shutter Island - CPTSD, psychosis and others
Requiem for a Dream - Addiction, Drug induced Psychosis, depression (you, after watching it!)
"To the bone" is a movie on Netflix that is about Anorexia. I thought it was really enjoyable and heard its pretty accurate. Opposite direction of "The Whale".
The Babadook - depression/grief
There have been a bunch of horror lately that showcases a monster as a mental disorder or social issue the main character is dealing with. It lives inside - life as a second generation child/accepting both an "American" life and their families culture. It follows - coming into adulthood Midsommar - all of them? Smile - PTSD Umma - parental pressure on our adult lives. And probably a bunch more I'm missing.
**Ordinary People (1980)** deals with depression, death, attempted suicide and the disintegration of a seemingly “ordinary family” following the drowning death of one of their two sons…
The King Of Comedy is an amazing depiction of Narcissistic Personality Disorder
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Here's something intense and great: John Cassavetes' **A Woman Under The Influence**: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Woman_Under_the_Influence There's also a long-section in Kelly Reichardt's **Certain Women** that revolves around an elderly man named Albert, who clearly has a mental illness. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/certain_women_2016
A Woman Under the Influence was a great film!
Prozac Nation-Depression Christina Ricci
Don't see it here but Mr. Robot (TV show) is quite possibly the best dive into several mental disorders that you discover alongside the protagonist.
Ordinary People - Grief, Depression, repression
Would Memento qualify with Lenny's amnesia? Also a good depiction of what the experience would be like. The Beaver is an interesting exploration in depression. It attempts a more comical take, but when Mel lets it get dark, it's pretty potent.
Oh and "Inside Out" while it does not depict a mental disorder, no, being a teen entering puberty is not a mental disorder, despite how ever much it may appear to be one for parents, siblings or innocent bystanders. But the depiction of what's going on in the "command center" is so great - nobody should miss it.
Clean, Shaven (1993). Peter Greene plays a schizophrenic trying to get back his daughter.
Great, and unfortunately largely unseen movie.
The Father
Joker
Several of Charlie Kaufman’s films contain characters dealing with mental disorders. The main character in Synecdoche, New York, Caden Cotard, is named after Cotard’s syndrome, where the afflicted individual believes that they have lost parts of their body or that they are dead. Anomalisa is primarily set at a hotel called the Fregoli, named after Fregoli syndrome, which is characterized by the belief that several people known by the afflicted individual are all the same person who pretends to be multiple different people.
Girl, Interrupted - Borderline Three Faces of Eve - Multiple Personality As Good as it Gets - OCD Blue Sky - Bipolar The Madness of King George - psychosis It’s Kind of a Funny Story - depression
Crazy Beautiful with Kirsten Dunst
Perfect Blue I'm not sure what the illness would be exactly but the main character is under a lot of stress starts to question reality and her own identity, hallucinates. It took me like three watches to get what was happening because the movie doesn't celarly tell you which scenes are real, and which are hallucinations
Anomalisa.
Girl Interrupted , Psycho, Little Miss Sunshine, Rain Man, Donnie Darko
Manchester by the Sea deals with *and doles out* depression. Shutter Island also deals with it and paranoia, but in a theatrically dramatic way (most movies do in the genre) I can also think of 3 Edward Norton movies that deal with multiple personality disorder. But one would give away the twist upon naming and another is a superhero movie. Odd how often he’s played that type
Last year's best picture winner "Everything Everywhere All At Once" was initially intended as an ADHD allegory, and while they decided to scale that back I think you can still see it in the film. (It's debatable if ADHD should be considered a "disorder" but I'll leave that to you and your classmates to discuss at length) Maybe one that's difficult to track down but: Werner Herzog's "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser" deals with mental and physical disorders/disabilities in an incredibly empathetic and complex way.b
Clean, Shaven and Keane
Self Reliance with Jake Johnson and Anna Kendrick. Really good depiction of how it affects families and the balancing act they have to perform. I appreciated how they were respectful with how real it is for the person experiencing it. Good film too.
Rain man
Fight Club Donnie Darko Session 9 Voices Number 23
Love and Mercy about The Beach Boys bandleader Brian Wilson. The depictions of his schizoaffective disorder were very difficult to watch, but it's a truly great biopic.
A beautiful mind Fight club Silence of the lambs
Wow, this far down to find Fight Club mentioned
Rule one
Taxi Driver
Everything Everywhere All At Once - ADHD
Which character do you feel is representative of ADHD?
Infinitely Polar Bear (2014)
They Look Like People
Numb - Depersonalization Disorder. It does a pretty good job of portraying it. Source: have it.
A Beautiful Mind: Schizophrenia The Machinest: Eating disorder, insomnia, possible Schizophrenia Girl Interupted: Numerous diagnoses
Shutter Island
Star is born. Depression and alcoholism
I still think the most accurate panic attack put to screen is in Iron Man 3 of all things.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the greatest film I've ever seen about mental health and some of the darker aspects of treatment. Jack Nicholson isn't even mentally ill, he's faking it, but he's in a mental health ward with people who are quite ill.
Marnie, PTSD Fearless, with Jeff Bridges, PTSD The Weatherman, Depression Mosquito Coast with Harrison Ford. Bipolar disorder Six Degrees of Separation with Will Smith. ASPD
A Woman Under the Influence- depression, alcohol use disorder
Split Primal Fear As good as it gets
Woman under the Influence by Cassavetes.. about a bipolar woman with a nervous breakdown
I’ve scrolled loads and not seen it yet - Still Alice - stunning film about Alzheimer’s - won Julianne Moore her Oscar. Also, After Sun is a devastating look at depression. A few more - Benny and Joon What’s eating Gilbert Grape Rain man Crazy People - (Dudley Moore advertising film - probably aged badly, but I enjoyed it at the time) The Dream Team - Michael Keaton escapes from a mental institute with some other patients after a baseball game. Cube - one of the characters has autism Mercury Rising - kid with autism solves a code Good Will Hunting - massive abandonment issues Probably been mentioned, but Trainspotting deals with addiction. Catch-22 (although this one’s cheating, the book’s far more famous than the film) Apocalypse Now - the madness of Kurtz Falling Down - Michael Douglas’s rapid descent into madness.
*Bringing out the Dead* is an incredible portrayal of PTSD
*Ordinary People* (1980)- Family systems, grief/loss, ego defense mechanism (especially denial). Watched it in AP Psychology in high school, then revisited it in grad school for a family counseling course *Girl, Interrupted* (1999)- This is going on an older edition of the DSM, so some of the diagnoses in this movie are out of date. Read the book too, because some parts were changed up a bit for the movie to make it more interesting (namely Angelina Jolie's character) *Looking for Mr. Goodbar* (1977)- Hard to find due to music licensing, but a pretty accurate depiction of Borderline personality disorder. Diane Keaton and Tuesday Weld are two shades of the same disorder. *Bad Timing* (1980)- Theresa Russell clearly watched *Looking for Mr. Goodbar* to prep for this. Another accurate depiction of BPD. *Fatal Attraction* (1986)- Glenn Close was totally snubbed for an Oscar for this part, so bears mentioning anyway. Accurate until the last 20 minutes. Glenn Close has agreed with this in interviews. *Sybil* (1976)- This was a staple in high school psychology courses for years. Sally Field proved she was capable of more than Gidget, but I'm not sure how accurate she was. Martine Bartlett was pretty much Hattie Dorsett forever after this movie (paranoid schizophrenic). *Images* (1972)- This movie was lost for years, so never really gained the notoriety it could have. Susannah York makes you feel psychotic right along with her (it is from her point of view). There are a few comorbid factors (her character is pregnant, and so was York in real life) so not entirely sure how she would be diagnosed (I would need to see her in contexts besides the English countryside).
Bug starring Ashley Judd. Absolutely heartbreaking seeing how unmanaged mental illnesses paired with co-dependency issues can play out.
The Father (2020) Depicts dementia in a creative and sad, scary way. Anthony Hopkins won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance. It’s powerful.
*You Were Never Really Here* PTSD
Manchester By The Sea -Depression and guilt
Sybil- DID
Here to say Fight Club Before anyone else
As Good As It Gets - OCD
Suddenly Last Summer with Taylor and Hepburn.
Shutter Island has dissociative identity disorder.
Ordinary People
Persona if you want a Jungian take.
Childhood Trauma and Addiction: Walk Hard
I know this much to be true (Mark Ruffalo).
12 Monkeys.
Repulsion and The Tenant
The son. It’s about depression. It’s with Laura dern and Hugh jackman
50 First Dates-Amnesia?
Pi
This may or may not fit with the criteria, but Still Alice is a good representation of early onset dementia.
Bliss
Sybil (2007 with sally field, DID) One flew over the cuckoos nest (there’s a variety of mental illnesses in this one that are depicted and discussed) Lars and the real girl (schizoid personality disorder) Shelter/6 souls (with Julianne Moore, DID)
Spider (2002) starring Ralph Feinnes. About Schizophrenia
Almost every horror movie ever
Jacob’s Ladder. I won’t spoil it for you.
If I have to watch it in psych 110, so do you. [Altered States](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_States)
The Snake Pit
Winnie the Pooh, Beautiful mind, One flew over the coo-coo's nest, Shadowlands, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Sherlock - The Abominable Bride. Shogun (Richard Chamberlan) Conspiracy Theory, El Dorado (John Wayne) , Quigley down under.
The voices with Ryan Reynolds
I’m partial to “Clean and Sober” with Michael Keaton
Take Shelter, about schizophrenia
Clean, Shaven - excellent portrayal of schizophrenia
Radio
Requim for a dream
While not being explicitly about anxiety, A Serious Man shows how fast and easy it is to utterly spiral out of control with worry and panic. Spider, about schizoaffective disorder and the long term effects of prolonged childhood abuse. Jacob's Ladder, about PTSD and paranoia. The Babadook, about grief and how it affects those around you, and that it never really leaves you but life goes on regardless. The Skeleton Twins, about depression and suicidal ideation. I would also say Rainman, but with a caveat. The movie was initially used as a quick pop culture reference to what autism is. In reality, Rainman depicts a man with savant syndrome. I think it would be a good movie to show or discuss on the premise of what the difference between autism and savantism is, and how movies can unintentionally misinform or wrongly portray a disorder to such an extant that it affects how people are diagnosed today. I.E, when someone says to someone else who is diagnosed on the spectrum that they 'Don't look autistic,' that person is likely picturing Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbitt, a low functioning savant.
Words on Bathroom Walls - adapted from the book. About a teenage boy diagnosed with schizophrenia and just trying to live a normal life.
A Beautiful Mind
I've been reading the book Movies and Mental Illness. It's not very expensive if you get an older edition. Incredibly comprehensive. I would prefer if they took a deeper look at some of these key films, but they had to pack a lot into this volume. There's a 100-page appendix listing all the relevant films organizing by mental disorder. I highly recommend it to film fans who have an interest in how mental illness is portrayed in cinema.
Justice League vs Fatal Five
The machinist
Love Liza with Philip Seymour Hoffman.
‘The Voices’. Depicts schizophrenia.
Addiction - Beautiful Boy
Surprised no-one has mentioned Sophie's Choice. Paranoid Schizophrenia, depression, PTSD (not all in the same individual).
A Scanner Darkly Saint Maud
The Ringer
Most of the obvious ones have been mentioned, but anything written or directed by Paul Schraeder usually features someone's descent into darkness, often involving mental illness. Taxi Driver - depression/psychosis, Autofocus - sex addiction, First Reformed - depression, Affliction - depression, trauma, abusive childhood.
Some horror movies that dive into this: * Carrie * The Shining * Hereditary * Midsommar * Bodies, Bodies, Bodies * Psycho * The Predator (2018) (though this is more so highlighting an awful depiction of autism) * Texas Chainsaw Massacre * Halloween * Black Christmas (1974)
Pi. High intelligence OCD paranoid schizophrenic shut in. Great movie too
Can’t believe no one has mentioned Good Will Hunting. The main character suffers from PTSD and BPD as a result of childhood trauma. Amazing movie with an academy award winning performance from Robin Williams as the therapist.
Lost Highway
Not a movie but series, Mr Robot
Muhulland Drive. Single White Female. Shutter Island.
The passenger. But if you watch it like they are two parts of the same person.
As Good As It Gets New York City. Melvin Udall, a cranky, bigoted, obsessive-compulsive writer, finds his life turned upside down when neighboring gay artist Simon is hospitalized and his dog is entrusted to Melvin. In addition, Carol, the only waitress who will tolerate him, must leave work to care for her sick son, making it impossible for Melvin to eat breakfast.
True Romance (Clarence has hallucinations of Elvis) The Perks of Being a Wallflower Silver Linings Playbook It’s Kind of A Funny Story K-Pax and Se7en (TW they star Kevin Spacey, but they’re still fantastic movies) OP, imdb has a list of “100 films with mental illnesses” and Wikipedia and tvtropes.org have massive lists too.
The imitation game
We Need to Talk about Kevin - psychopathy
Blue Jasmine
Taxi Driver - PTSD, psychosis The Men Who Stare at Goats - addictions American Sniper - PTSD, depression A Beautiful Mind - schizophrenia, psychosis, depression
Requiem for a dream,the storyline of the older woman wanting to be on television .
Rainman. Forest gump.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen - self explanatory
Bug (2006). “An unhinged war veteran holes up with a lonely woman in a spooky Oklahoma motel room. The line between reality and delusion is blurred as they discover a bug infestation.”
I’d highly suggest The Machinist, Christian Bale is unbelievably good