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Intersession Course Proposal:
A Public Mental Health Perspective on Mental Health and Illness in the Movies
Course Learning Objectives
 Be critical consumers of film and media in their portrayal of mental illness.
 Discuss and identify how film and media’s portrayal of mental illness influences
public mental health
 Learn about and be able to intelligibly discuss common mental illnesses and
mental health problems
Content
TV Shows
Girls
(OCD): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmG8badcE2s https://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=V2Jld0IXe_k
Monk (OCD) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s6fTrSnoIw
Pretty Little Liars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xVTcOoCaS8
Black Box (bipolar): http://www.tvwatchus.com/review/review-black-box-abc-stayaway-depressing-show/
 Which shows “get it” wrong?
 Which shows “get it” right?
 What do you think is the best approach to portraying serious mental illness on
television? Does it add to or reduce stigma?
 Where does one draw the line when mixing education with entertainment?
Still Alice
1 hour 41 minutes
Discussion Focus: Alzheimer’s/Dementia
 When Alice becomes disoriented in Harvard Square, a place she's visited daily for
twenty-five years, why doesn't she tell John? Is she too afraid to face a possible
illness, worried about his possible reaction, or some other reason?
 What do you think of Alice's reaction to the diagnosis? Why does she disassociate
herself to the extent that she feels she's having an out-of-body experience?
 Alice and the members of her support group, Mary, Cathy, and Dan, all discuss
how their reputations suffered prior to their diagnoses because people thought
they were being difficult or possibly had substance abuse problems. Is preserving
their legacies one of the biggest obstacles to people suffering from Alzheimer's
disease? What examples are there of people still respecting Alice's wishes, and at
what times is she ignored?
Silver Linings Playbook
2 hours 2 minutes
Discussion Focus: Bipolar Disorder
 Does Pat’s relationship with his therapist, Cliff Patel, challenge or reaffirm your
view of therapy?

Is it smart to package such serious content in a comedy, populated almost entirely
by characters with personality disorders ranging from subtle to severe? Do you
think it works as a means to open up a more robust discussion about mental
illness?
Rain Man
2 hours 13 minutes
Discussion Focus: Autism
 Why choose to portray Raymond’s “Autism” inaccurately? What does the movie
get out of its particular (wrong) portrayal of autism?
 Why did Father Babbitt keep Raymond a secret for so long?
End of Week Reflection Due Friday at midnight
Girl, Interrupted
2 hours 7 minutes
Discussion Focus: Mental Institution, Self-harm, Suicide, Eating Disorders, Anxiety
 How do people react when Kaysen tells them of her hospitalization? How does
she cope with their reactions?
 In what ways does Kaysen cast doubt on whether she was actually mentally ill?
Why does she create this doubt?
 How does Kaysen describe McLean's "keepers"--its nurses, doctors, and
therapists? How do you account for the difference between the hard-bitten fulltime staff and the wide-eyed student nurses?
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
2 hours 14 minutes
Discussion Focus: Mental Institution
 What is the purpose of EST (ECT?) in the context of patients’ individual
treatments?
 How does the film make the viewer question the accepted definitions of “sane,”
“insane,” “sick,” and healthy”?
 Does our modern system of insane asylums seek cures or does it simply keep
people confined?
A Beautiful Mind
2 hours 20 minutes
Discussion Focus: Schizophrenia
 What scenes in the drama best illustrate Nash's underdeveloped social skills? How
does he describe himself in relationship to other people? How does society
support or marginalize socially-challenged individuals like Nash?
 What treatments were utilized with John Nash and how effective do you think
each were/why? What treatments might be used today?
 What ‘clues’ made you first suspect that there was something ‘not right’ about
Nash (your own social perceptions)?

John’s wife plays an important role in his life and with his coping of this disease.
What would you do if someone you cared about was diagnosed with a mental
illness? How would you try to help them? How would you try to help yourself?
End of Week Reflection Due Friday at midnight
Grading
Attendance 30%
In Class Participation 30%
End of Week Reflection (2 x 20%)
One page, single-spaced paper including your thoughts and insights on the content
of the movies and discussion from the previous week.
Standard Questions to Ask
What elements of the public mental health wheel do we see throughout the film?
How does this film inform the public?
How does this film misinform the public?
What is the public health impact/burden of this disorder?
How do you think society in general views these disorders or particular situations?
How do you think the movie/show has reinforced or contradicted that view?
“Lecture” Content to Guide Discussions
Overview of disorder(s) portrayed in film
 Symptoms
 Treatment options/services
 Prevalence
 Public Health burden/cost
Readings
 DSM criteria for each disorder
 http://www.vulture.com/2016/09/what-tv-gets-wrong-about-mental-illness.html
 http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/12/21/mental_illness_finally_got_resp
ect_on_tv_in_2015.html
 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/portraying-mental-health-ontv_us_56799f08e4b0b958f6583e21
 http://www.mtv.com/news/2284490/tv-shows-mental-health-issues-wrong/
 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/19/opinion/the-tvcure.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=storyheading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-leftregion&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0
 Psychology at the Movies by p. 44-49 found online
 Movies and mental illness: using films to understand psychopathology Book, by
Danny Wedding, Mary Ann Boyd, and Ryan M. Niemiec.
 “A diagnostic bind: Movie mania and John Nash’s schizophrenia” by G. Parker
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“Talking about stigma towards mental health professionals with psychiatry
trainees: A movie club approach” by Kalra Gurvinder
“Dementia in the movies: the clinical picture” by Debby L. Gerritsen, Yolande
Kuin, and Jessika Nijboer
“Movie Crazy: Insanity and the Cinema, 1900–1930” by Eric Smoodin
“Narrative Processing of Entertainment Media and Mental Illness Stigma” by
Nicole Mossing Caputo and Donna Rouner
“Fighting Against Stigma Attached to People Suffering From Mental Illness
Using Entertainment-Education Strategy” by Ute Ritterfeld and A. Jin Seung
“We Are Still Flying Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Steven H. Moffic