Psychiatry in the Movies

[MDhasbeen]

Wanted to formally start a thread about films, fiction and non-fiction, with prominent psych themes.

Just saw The Bridge last night. Beautiful cinematography and obviously moving topic. It amazed me the number of families of victims (victims themselves, no doubt) who had pretty much given up entirely for lack of a way to convince someone to keep living. Also, after the umpteenth person who jumped with few if any other-person intervention attempts, I started to question the ethics behind it. I had read that the camera people were trained on how to talk down individuals who appeared to want to jump. But the camera was set up so far away that it was unrealistic of them to get there in time for much-- not to mention the trauma the camera people would invariably go through watching someone commit suicide. Anyone else see it?

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[OldPsychDoc]

So has anyone seen "The Soloist" yet? Good/not good?

 

[MDhasbeen]

So has anyone seen "The Soloist" yet? Good/not good?

That sounds really good. Will put that on my Netflix cue whenever it comes out on DVD. If you're interested in schizophrenic musicians, there's a terrific documentary on Wesley Willis that I bought called Wesley Willis: The Daddy of Rock 'N' Roll. The commentary from his acquaintances was really interesting, especially the part where they mentioned his medications by name.

 

[BigDrizzle]

That sounds really good. Will put that on my Netflix cue whenever it comes out on DVD. If you're interested in schizophrenic musicians, there's a terrific documentary on Wesley Willis that I bought called Wesley Willis: The Daddy of Rock 'N' Roll. The commentary from his acquaintances was really interesting, especially the part where they mentioned his medications by name.

Best documentary regarding mental illness with a musical tie-in (IMHO) is The Devil and Daniel Johnston. Definitely worth the cost of rental.

 

[MDhasbeen]

Best documentary regarding mental illness with a musical tie-in (IMHO) is The Devil and Daniel Johnston. Definitely worth the cost of rental.

Saw this recently. Good stuff!

 

[sidsarkar2]

Though many movies are made in the field, I was most captivated by "Requiem for a dream". It deals with a family where mother becomes addict of slimming pills and the son of intravenous drugs
And the life spirals down with each shot and sniff and pill and becomes very morose towards the end.

 

[kugel]

great movie about impaired medical professionals, very entertaining:
Dead Ringers

 

[pingouin]

bumping...

Has anyone seen/heard of Adam? It's an indie film about a man with Asperger's who falls in love with his neighbor. Trailer is available via the link. It did well at Sundance, and looks like it'll be fairly good. I just hope its 7/29 "limited release" isn't so limited that it doesn't show up in my neck of the woods.

 

[michaelrack]

great movie about impaired medical professionals, very entertaining:
Dead Ringers

great movie about the developmentally disabled, very entertaining:
The Ringer
http://movies.about.com/od/theringer/a/ringer122205.htm

 

[chameleonknight]

bumping...

Has anyone seen/heard of Adam? It's an indie film about a man with Asperger's who falls in love with his neighbor. Trailer is available via the link. It did well at Sundance, and looks like it'll be fairly good. I just hope its 7/29 "limited release" isn't so limited that it doesn't show up in my neck of the woods.

I saw the trailer; despite his Asperger diagnosis, he seemed pretty adept at reading people's body language and emotions. Also, the Asperger pts I've seen were way, way way way way more annoying. Like...yeah....

 

[pingouin]

I saw the trailer; despite his Asperger diagnosis, he seemed pretty adept at reading people's body language and emotions. Also, the Asperger pts I've seen were way, way way way way more annoying. Like...yeah....

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they've done the disorder justice and am trying to withhold too much criticism until I get the chance to see the whole thing. A quick Google search showed some positive response from members of the ASD/family community, which is saying something.

This movie is particularly interesting to me as I'm coming off a summer research rotation working in a lab studying ASD adult and adolescent populations. Our subjects were affected to different degrees, some of whom are similar to the portrayal in the trailer. However, if I were basing my experience only on persons like my affected coworker, then I would agree with you 100%.

 

[calmdown504]

Chamelonknight.. I'm in New Orleans as well. Born and raised pre-med at Xavier University... how's LSU's Psych program? I'm very interested in pursuing Psych after med school.

 

[chameleonknight]

Chamelonknight.. I'm in New Orleans as well. Born and raised pre-med at Xavier University... how's LSU's Psych program? I'm very interested in pursuing Psych after med school.

CD, PM me. I'm actually in Oklahoma now, but I'd be happy to answer any questions about the LSU/Ochsner program.

 

[futureapppsy2]

moved to its own theard.

 

[TenaciousGirl]

Wanted to formally start a thread about films, fiction and non-fiction, with prominent psych themes.

Just saw The Bridge last night. Beautiful cinematography and obviously moving topic. It amazed me the number of families of victims (victims themselves, no doubt) who had pretty much given up entirely for lack of a way to convince someone to keep living. Also, after the umpteenth person who jumped with few if any other-person intervention attempts, I started to question the ethics behind it. I had read that the camera people were trained on how to talk down individuals who appeared to want to jump. But the camera was set up so far away that it was unrealistic of them to get there in time for much-- not to mention the trauma the camera people would invariably go through watching someone commit suicide. Anyone else see it?

I haven't seen the bridge. It sounds interesting, though. Most of the psych movies I've seen are "hollywoodized" but interesting nonetheless. I recently saw The Uninvited which is a thriller/horror film but the ending was really interesting. I also enjoyed The Talented Mr. Ripley ... i find ASPD pretty fascinating. Girl interrupted is also another good one. There are others I've seen like: Abandon, Murder by Numbers, etc. These movies should be taken with a grain of salt, I guess ... but the underlying themes or portrayals stem from serious psych issues.