Mental Health Disorders In The Movie Suburbicon

Film portrayals of the mentally ill, have contributed to the stigma faced by people with these conditions. Films tend to create and reinforce the same certain stereotypes of the mentally ill. The film Silver Linings Playbook, is a refreshing departure from from this pattern. Exaggerated cinematic portrayals have largely bypassed mental illnesses , such as; Bipolar disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Depression, etc. This film Silver LInings PLaybook, accurately depicts these common disorders among several characters in this film. The three main characters that blatantly show this depiction, are; Pat, Tiffany, and Pat’s best friend Danny Mcdaniels.

On the other hand, there are movies on mental health that inspire people but there are also many misconceptions in some of these movies. In the comedy movie, “Billy Madison”, casts the well known hollywood star, Adam Sandler. Adam Sandler acts as a man but with a 5-year old mentality. He’s a spoiled man that will never grow up and the viewers of the movie are only watching it for entertainment which there is no problem about it. Though Adam Sandler isn’t assigned to play as a man with a mental disorder, he acts like he does in the movie. Yeah people want to watch a movie for entertainment and that’s okay. What isn’t okay is that the directors of the movie doesn’t explain why Adam Sandler is

How would you react if you found your wife in the shower with another man? Any sane person would furious, but would you lose control and beat the other man senseless? Bradley Cooper’s portrayal of bipolar disorder in The Silver Linings Playbook how untreated the disorder can take control of a person’s life giving them manic episodes and major depressive episodes. This film aims to accurately display the struggles any person with bipolar disorder will deal with in their daily life while trying to manage the extensive mood swings they experience. The intended purpose of this paper is to analyze not only in what ways the director and cast accurately display the everyday life of an individual with bipolar disorder, but also the quality of the film. Throughout the movie themes of divorce, medications, the need for social support when dealing with mental disorders and a person’s unwillingness to accept help, will all be brought up in order to help an individual manage their disorder.

-Introduction includes a thesis statement in which a clear claim is made about a character with a diagnosis of a mental health disorder.

Hollywood and its film makers have long attempted to portray a variety of traumatic events, historical affairs, and even a variety of fictional moments in its studios. Creators of these films conduct extensive interviews, years of research and travel thousands of miles to far away destinations in order to gain a better sense of what it was like for the people who experienced the event. When it comes to the numerous films and television adaptations of those who suffer from a mental health illness, the subjects for study do not require severe lengths be traveled to interview. It was recently reported that, “approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. -43.8 million, or 18.5%- experiences mental health in a given year” (National Alliance on Mental Illness). This staggering statistics affects not only those diagnosed but their families as well.

The portrayal of people being sickly creatures has been used in Hollywood film for a very long time. This has been in the endeavor of putting the viewing public in the shoes of the patient and entertain them with over the top portrayals of disease. For patients that are women in particular this has been achieved by defining them along the lines of vague terms such as them being over emotional and unstable. Despite the advancement experienced by the society, women have not yet fully seen the goal of equality realize fruition. With the expansion of the psychiatric and psychological terminologies, there now additional ways via which mental illness can be ascribed as a weakness for men and women portrayed in Hollywood film. This is best

Mental illness is heavily stigmatized in mainstream media sources, such as articles, books and movies. The character who is suffering from a mental disorder, which is stigmatized is often exaggerated for the sake of entertainment. The stigmatization of mental disorders is unfair to those who have mental disorders. The viewers of media are viewing those suffering from the disorders as “psychotic” or “crazy”, which is inaccurate and unjust to those affected. The media representation of the disorder provides vague and inaccurate causes and treatments. In the movie series “The Dark Knight Rises” and television series “Dexter”, the characters Joker and Dexter are afflicted with the mental disorder antisocial personality disorder; in which it creates

Past Research on the Effects of Psychotherapy Portrayal There are relatively few studies that have attempted to gauge these depictions and their impact on the viewer empirically. Pirkis et al. (2006) conducted a review of the literature on fictional portrayals of mental illness, mental health professionals, and treatment for mental illness. They concluded that there were “no studies systematically examining the portrayal of on-screen psychotherapy” (p. 12). There have, however, been a number of studies that have shown the impact the media has on the viewer’s perception of those with mental illness and the treatment of mental illness. Granello and Pauley (2000) support this claim in their finding that negative attitudes about the mentally ill increase as a function of the amount of exposure to

While “movies, newspapers, magazines, television shows, books, radio programs, and advertisements have all been vehicles for communicating the experience of…mental illness” it usually “[tends] to be a misrepresentation of the experience” (Corrigan 201). This has a major negative impact on people suffering from mental illnesses because they feel sentiments of “societal scorn and discrimination” which ultimately “leads to diminished self-esteem, fear of pursuing one’s goals, and loss of social opportunities” (Corrigan 201). There seems to be a revival in the world of movies and television of depicting forms of exploring the minds of serial killers which started in the 60s with the creation of the Horror film genre. There is almost a strange fascination amongst audiences to know more about the minds of murderers and those who are too sick to see the wrong they are doing. Films depicting mental health have a great impact on the lives of those suffering from mental illness and also the perceptions of those who do not suffer from mental illness. The mostly negative stigma surrounding those who suffer from mental disorders gives them a bad reputation that impacts most aspects of their lives.

Understanding mental illness for the average person can be challenge or even unattainable. Unknown aspects from each individual illness grasps differing urges that are unrelated to the majority of people. The film industry, however, is used as a productive machine of creating empathetic relationships between its audience and the people being portray in the film. A combination of the film industry and the implementation of characters struggling with mental illness delivers a provoking message to an audience of people willing to learn the situations of all people. The movie A Beautiful Mind manages to fulfill the dramatic effects of a film and the realities within an individual suffering through mental illness.

Shutter Island portrays multiple mental illnesses in the main character as well as in supporting characters. One might call it an abnormal psychology “goldmine.” It takes place at a water-bound psychiatric facility, Shutter Island, housing the criminally insane. The plot is about a man who refers to himself as Teddy. He believes he and his partner are detectives, on the island, to investigate the disappearance of a patient. He is also in search of a patient named Andrew Laeddis, who Teddy believes murdered his wife. The detective becomes paranoid that the facility is treating the patients unfairly and performing experimental lobotomies. The delusion goes on for several months, Teddy never realizing he is actually a patient, until he is brought back to reality at the climax of the movie. His delusion ends. He realizes he’s a patient for a very short amount of time before he goes back to believing he’s a detective. The delusion starts all over again. Throughout most of the film, viewers see his delusion as a reality, until the twist at the end when it is revealed that he is actually a patient.

“I’m hurting, but no one cares or sees me; instead of speaking verbally, I’ll just hurt other people at any cost.” (JaLeah Jordan) For the final essay, the topic of mental health followed by abuse in cinema would be an ideal theme. The approach for researching this topic would be based upon two films, Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock and Precious by Lee Daniels. It would be interesting to see how both film compare and contrast in regards to this issue from the 60s to present day. When most people think of mental health in cinema, in some instances, it’s shown in a comical way. Today’s society is under the impression that mental health is to be swept under the rug if it’s not dealing with you. Very seldom, adult mental health is ever talked about;

Movies and other forms of popular entertainment sources have often presented varied information and as well as misinformation about schizophrenia, most specifically in regard to its negative portrayals, which can lead to confused public opinion. In summary, majority of movies and popular entrainment media sources portrays people with schizophrenia as violent and with homicidal and suicide thoughts. In addition, most characters in these media sources are portrayed as Caucasians, males, and with supernatural abilities (Gaebel, 2011).

The movie I have chosen to do my psychological film disorder assignment on is Girl Interrupted which is a psychological drama directed by James Mangold. The movie takes place in a mental institution for troubled women. All of the characters in this movie suffer from one or more mental illnesses such as depression, borderline personality disorder and schizophrenia. The movie gives us an inside look on how poorly these women are being treated and how they are treated as if they are abnormal because they are in this institution. Similarly the women are faced with their own personal and outer issues within the institution. The director gives us an inside look on how the patients are being treated poorly are

In most cases, people who are portrayed with mental illnesses are commonly exhibited as being violent and/or aggressive, but are also frequently depicted as eccentrics, seductresses (in the case of women), self-obsessives, objects for scientific observation, simpletons and/or failures. One or more of these such labels can reasonably be applied to the characters examined in both The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Holy City... As such, a skewed, and ultimately rather unsavoury, picture of mental illness is often presented to the public. There is plenty of evidence that these pervasive negative portrayals can have harmful effects, particularly effects they might incur through perpetuating the stigma associated with mental illness as well as potentially reducing the likelihood that those with mental illness will seek out the appropriate help. In April 2005, a psychological review put together by Jane Pirkis, R Warwick Blood, Catherine Francis and Kerry McCallum examined the effect of fictional portrayals of mental illness. They made reference to studies that have employed surveys and focus groups to examine the sources of community attitudes towards mental illness, having found that the media in general are perceived as the root of such