Henderson, NC (Met my wife here) Abindgon, VA
There must be a gazillion movies out there that attempt to show us symptoms of psychopathology (mental illness). The main element for many of them, especially the “serious” ones and what I call the “Lifetime Channel” ones (think “My Lover My Son”) is their gross distortion of the phenomena that they are attempting to portray. Think of the last Batman movie, the “Dark Knight.” Heath Ledger is unbelievably good as the joker. But as a representation of psychopathology, his character just adds to the myth that all people who are experiencing significant psychopathology (crazy people) are dangerous. The movie is fun, but it delivers a great disservice to us. It entertains, but it reinforces stereotypes of the connection between violence and mental illness. However, our good fortune has it that there are a bunch of wonderful and entertaining movies out there that demonstrate psychopathology to us in an appropriate and fun manner. People usually get excited about the serious movies. I don’t generally like the serious ones like “Beautiful Mind”, “Ordinary People,” "Rain Man," "Girl Interrupted," "Sybil" or “As Good As It Gets.” I like (love?) the horror ones, the sci-fi ones, the bizarre ones that show us the symptoms of psychopathology while entertaining us. These movies require us to use our imaginations a little more than we do with the serious ones. I have listed a few of my favorites and I’m always finding new ones (think “Shutter Island”). The fact that I have mostly listed movies that depict sociopaths may tell you something about me and the type of movies I like. So, watch some of these rather than getting your news from Dr. Phil or Oprah.
(Dr. Danny Wedding worked at ETSU in the past.)
American Werewolf in London. This is a horror movie, so David is not psychotic. It’s really happening! This is my all-time personal favorite of what it must be like to be psychotic (it’s only happening to you and nobody else.) This is a must see for clinical students.
A Clockwork Orange
Ah, Clockwork Orange; if you're not uncomfortable watching the violence in this one, there is something wrong with you. There are also some of those very intrusive behavioral techniques for behavior change.
Agoraphobia and the creepiest sociopath of all time in one movie. And it’s not violence that creeps us out; it’s his words and manipulation. Another must see for clinical students.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
THE classic. This is very close to being one of the “serious” movies that I told you to avoid. Do I have to say that this is a must see for clinical students?
Brad Pitt’s character, Early Grayce, is a perfect picture of a violent sociopath. It’s not as violent as Clockwork Orange or Natural Born Killers, but it’s close. His girlfriend, Adele, played by Juliette Lewis is excellent as a person who is extremely passive and dependent. It’s a must see.
A young Alec Baldwin is a perfect example of a less violent, but still violent, sociopath
Sociopaths ripping off old people. It’s the bad behavior without the violence.
Glenn Close's character is the best mixed personality disordered person (mostly Borderline) that I have ever seen in a movie until the end, when she turns into Michael Myers. Watch it for the manipulation, not the violent ending.
More amnesia than you thought could exist, but much more to this movie than that. This is a David Lynch (Twin Peaks) movie, so be prepared to watch it a second or third time to see the things you missed the first or second time.
There’s a phobia, there’s some psychotic stuff, Carole (Catherine Deneuve) is showing us a bunch of stuff. This was Roman Polanski’s first English language film in 1965.
Amnesia that’s way too bad! I especially like the scene where the bartender, who doesn’t like Leonard, spits in his drink, but he can’t remember it.
Dissociative Disorder with Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. It’s violent, but it’s no slasher movie.
It’s not about DSM. It’s about family dynamics. It’s an award winning drama that tells the story of two boys dealing with the divorce of their parents. I promise – there’s no slasher violence here, only family dynamics and the pathology that lies there.
More of the award winning serious family stuff. It has top notch acting with major league actors, but it’s very serious.
OK, here’s a serious one. This is a 1986 Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie titled “Promise.” This is what it is like to live with a loved one who is experiencing a Schizophrenic disorder. There’s no romanticism, no excitement, no creative genius, only the agony, distress and the despair of caring for a severely affected family member. It stars James Garner and James Wood. OK, I’ll say it; this one is a must see if you can find it.
The Odd Couple. Here’s one for you comedy lovers who can’t take the violence and/or the thrilling action. Felix is the anal retentive one and Oscar is the anal expulsive one. There was also a TV show of the same name.
OK, here it is. This is the one that most of my students have seen from my recommended list. This is the movie that starts out as a comedy and ends up looking pretty serious to anyone who has ever worked with manipulative people. But it’s overall funny. Bob is a combination of nearly everything you will study when you think Personality Disorder.
This one’s funny, but it’s not funny. I think all the science fiction writers of the 1950’s and 1960’s were prophets. Let’s hope this story of the world becoming stupid is not going to come true. Or maybe you think it has already come true. This one is very frightening if you let yourself think about it. It is one of my all-time favorites.
It’s in the spirit of American Werewolf. This is really happening. But this kind of stuff doesn’t really happen in real life. This would be what it would be like to be psychotic.
You have to decide. Is Johnny Depp’s character really Don Juan or is he experiencing some significant psychopathology? Marlon Brando’s psychiatrist character gives us some faith that there might be a psychiatrist out there who really talks to people
Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, and Jude Law with Ernest Borgnine in a supporting role; how bad can it be? It’s science fiction; it has some scares; it’s a thriller; there’s some space travel. I talk about this one in every abnormal psychology class I ever teach. This movie is not about psychopathology or the DSM. I mention this movie as an example of what the future will look like, not what it might look like, but what it will look like. When I ask students a question like, “Do you think the world would be better if we could manipulate genes to the point where we would never have another person experience a disorder such as Schizophrenia?” The answer is nearly always a resounding “yes.” This film gives us the other side of the question. This movie presents a vision of a society driven by liberal eugenics where potential children are selected through preimplantation genetic diagnosis to ensure they possess the best hereditary traits of their parents. Characters in Gattaca struggle both with society and with themselves to find their place in the world and who they are destined to be according to their genes.
Before they were famous Josh Hartnett, Elijah Wood, and Salma Hayek star with famous people like Piper Laurie (The Promise; see my list of movies), Famke Janssen (X-Men), Bebe Neuwirth (Cheers), Robert Patrick (T-2, XFiles), Usher Raymond (Usher), Jon Stewart (Jon Stewart). The aliens are really possessing faculty. This is really happening in the movie, but of course, that can’t really happen can it? So, this would be what it would be like to experience delusions and hallucinations whose theme would be the possession by aliens of the otherwise high functioning, bright, adaptive, pretty, and free of significant psychopathology faculty. That’s all true isn’t it?
A ballet dancer wins the lead in "Swan Lake" and is perfect for the role of the delicate White Swan - Princess Odette, but she slowly loses her mind as she becomes more and more like Odette's evil sister, Odile, the Black Swan. This is probably what it is like to experience a Schizophrenic Disorder. There’s great acting, wonderful dancing, and a bunch of confusion. It’s rated “R”, but not so much for the violence as for the “F” word and some scenes with sexual content.
The Notebook is a 2004 romantic film directed by Nick Cassavetes. The movie stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as a young couple who fall in love during the early 1940s. Their story is narrated from the present day by an elderly man played by James Garner (see the Promise), telling the tale to a fellow nursing home resident, played by Gena Rowlands. This is a very touching story that shows us a senile or old age dementia. Just remember while watching that most of us do not end up demented. I love this type of movie, the old fashioned love story, but be sure to bring the tissues. You're going to cry.
Primal Fear is a 1996 American crime drama and thriller film which tells the story of a defense attorney, Martin Vail (Richard Gere), who defends an altar boy, Aaron (Edward Norton), charged with the murder of a Catholic archbishop. Norton's character fakes a Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personalities) and Norton is extremely good. I bet he had a bunch of technical support from psychologists and psychiatrists. I highly recommend this as a picture of D.I.D. I don't think any layperson out there could fake it this good though.
As Good as It Gets is a 1997 romantic comedy. It stars Jack Nicholson as a misanthropic, obsessive-compulsive novelist, Helen Hunt as a single mother with an asthmatic son, and Greg Kinnear as a gay artist. The film was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won the Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress. It is the second film of the 1990s to win both of these awards, following The Silence of the Lambs (1991; Silence of the Lambs), which is also on my recommended list, but for other reasons. As Good as it Gets is ranked 140th on Empire magazine's "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time" list (click here for list).
Roy Waller (Nicolas Cage) is a con artist who alongside his partner and protege Frank (Sam Rockwell), operates a fake lottery, selling overpriced water filtration systems to unsuspecting customers; in the process, Roy has collected over one million dollars. Roy suffers from several mental disorders, including agoraphobia, mysophobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder and a tic disorder — not to mention the fact that he yells, "Pygmies" whenever something surprises or upsets him. After Roy experiences a violent panic attack, Frank suggests he see a psychiatrist. This one is directed by the mighty Ridley Scott who gave us Alien, The Duellists, Blade Runner, Legend, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, Black Hawk Hawk Down, Hannibal, and American Gangster among others.
Hammer is a London based film production company and a legendary British film brand. They are important to us in that they “redid” all the classic horror films like Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Mummy. They added color, a bunch of action, and a lot of fake blood. That sounds like fun doesn’t it? But they also gave us a legitimate picture of what a mental asylum must have looked like in the 1800’s when techs were called guards and patients were tied up and locked down. There was a lot of psychosurgery at the time, which somehow counted as treatment. There was not much in the way of psychotherapy and psychotropic medications were many years away. The movies regularly starred Christopher Lee (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars Episode III) most often as the evil guy like Count Dracula and Peter Cushing (Star Wars Episode IV) most often as the good guy like Dr. Van Helsing. The depiction of the “hospitals” is very frightening.
