Wedding / Niemiec Movies and Mental Illness

Using Films to Understand Psychopathology
4. Auflage 2015
ISBN: 978-1-61334-461-3
Verlag: Hogrefe Publishing
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 475 Seiten

This popular and critically acclaimed text, using movies to help learn about mental
illness, has been fully updated with DSM-5 and ICD-10 diagnoses, dozens of
evocative and informative frame grabs, a full film index, “Authors’ Picks,” sample
syllabus, more international films and shorts….
Films can be a powerful aid to learning about mental illness and psychopathology
– for students of psychology, psychiatry, social work, medicine, nursing, counseling,
literature or media studies, and for anyone interested in mental health. Movies and
Mental Illness, written by experienced clinicians and teachers who are themselves
movie aficionados, has established a great reputation as a uniquely enjoyable and
highly memorable text for learning about psychopathology. The new edition has
been fully updated to include DSM-5 and ICD-10 diagnoses.
The core clinical chapters each use a fabricated case history and Mini-Mental
State Examination along with synopses and discussions about specific movies to
explain, teach, and encourage discussion about all the most important mental
health disorders.
Each chapter also includes: Critical Thinking Questions; “Authors’ Picks” (Top 10
Films); What To Read if You Only Have Time to Read One Book or Article; and Topics
for Group Discussions.
Other features of the new, expanded edition include:

• Full index of films
• Sample course syllabus
• Ratings of around 1,500 films
• Fascinating appendices, such as “Top 50 Heroes and Villains,” psychotherapists
in movies, misconceptions about mental illness in movies, and recommended
websites, plus listings of the PRISM Awards for Feature Films and the SAMHSA
Voice Awards.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wedding, Danny

Niemiec, Ryan M.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychotherapie / Klinische Psychologie Psychopathologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmtheorie, Filmanalyse
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizinische Fachgebiete Psychiatrie, Sozialpsychiatrie, Suchttherapie

Leseproben

Foreword to the Fourth Edition I have been a fan of the Movies and Mental Illness from the first edition, so I am delighted to write this Foreword with Ruth Richards. Prior to becoming a psychologist, I worked for over 20 years in Hollywood as a television writer and producer. I saw firsthand how powerful TV and of course, movies, can be in impacting viewers. I was lucky enough to work as a writer on The Mary Tyler Moore show, which was seen by many women as a breakthrough depiction of a woman who “could make it on … [her] own.” I also worked on Room 222, an Emmy-winning show, where some episodes I wrote were used in schools of education for teaching. An episode of Silver Spoons I wrote about a child who was being physically abused by his father triggered thousands of calls to a hotline by abused children. Based on my experience both professionally and personally, I suggested the concept of audience flow could apply to watching television and movies. Audience flow is defined as watching “in an active and mentally engaged state that may allow insights and new perspectives to develop. … A ‘conversation’ develops between the viewer and the work that is so engaging that all sense of time is lost. This cognitive engagement means that being part of an audience can be enjoyable, educational, active and creative” (Pritzker, 2007). An example of the emotional power of film to influence the viewer was described to me by a Saybrook University Creativity Studies doctoral student. He said that he was watching a scene in the movie Good Will Hunting in which Will Hunting (Matt Damon) is talking to his psychologist (Robin Williams) about Will’s foster father coming up the stairs to beat him. His psychologist repeatedly tells him: “It’s not your fault, it’s not your fault, it’s not your fault …” until Will finally breaks down and cries. The student who told me this story found himself crying as he connected the scene to his mother coming up the stairs to beat him with a belt, and he realized for the first time it really was not his fault. What is interesting about the hundreds of films in Movies and Mental Illness is the pervasive fascination with psychopathology. It is a testament to how deeply mental illness touches almost everybody’s life in one form or another. Screenwriters and psychologists have a great deal in common in trying to understand the dynamics of mental illness, which is a positive development because understanding can lead to compassion. Steven R. Pritzker, PhD Professor and Director, Creativity Studies Specialization Saybrook University President, Division of Aesthetics, Creativity, & the Arts American Psychological Association Co-Editor-in-Chief, Encyclopedia of Creativity Steve and I teach together at Saybrook University and started one of the first graduate programs in psychology with a specialization in creativity, offering certificates and MA and PhD degrees. We do not offer these just for fun (although it often is fun), but because we truly believe that the process of creating can change lives. It can bring us more fully into the present moment, aware, open, flexible, and adaptive – more in tune with life, its richness, beauty, and potential, and with our many life options. Creative process, all else being equal, tends to be healthy and good for us. As Steve notes, being in “flow” with the movies, as an active and aware observer, can also fit our criteria for creativity, including originality and usefulness. Creativity can be good for us – and for society as well. I am a psychiatrist as well as educational psychologist and professor, and have studied issues of creativity and mental health for quite a few years – in schools, clinics, and in our spiritual lives. I am cheered by how much people can learn about psychopathology at the movies – and how the best movies can even change how culture views certain disorders and treatments. Take, for instance, Silver Linings Playbook, with Jennifer Lawrence winning Best Actress for 2013 for both the Oscars (7 other nominations) and Golden Globes (3 other nominations). The film received 5 out of 5 stars in Movies and Mental Health. Most people would never curl up on Saturday night with a diagnostic and treatment manual, yet they might well say, “let’s go to the movies – what was that new Oscar winner …?” Every person and every experience is different, yet in Silver Linings, I was immediately struck by the authenticity of the characters. A well-done film can give a real three-dimensional flavor of the lived experience of a psychiatric disorder, along with the distinguishing central features. Meanwhile it can show real people, their lives, and their individual patterns and challenges – along with hopes and ways of coping. This one touched a great many of those bases – as do selected others receiving high ratings in Movies and Mental Illness. In Silver Linings, Bradley Cooper played a young man with bipolar disorder, type I (manic-depressive illness), and Ms. Lawrence’s character suffered from her own challenges. We see disruption of lives, why medications can make a huge difference (and what happens without them), the magic of a good therapist (meds don’t do everything!), major influences of (and effects on) family and friends, and on the larger community, and even the value of – and behavioral benefits, resilient coping, and triumph possible from – creative work. Talk about overcoming adversity; how marvelous when this young and creative couple … well you need to see it for yourself. As Steve suggests, we can learn not only by living our own challenges, but by living them through the lives of others, by entering the magic of film and imagination, and enlarging our experience, consciously as well as vicariously. Our “empathetic” mirror neurons jump right in to know that mood swing, that awkwardness or desperate fear of loss; suddenly the pain becomes our own. Film can meanwhile impart vital information – and perhaps even save lives. For instance, it turns out that enhanced everyday creativity (originality of everyday life) can be found associated with certain forms of psychopathology – yet the message is relatively more about health than illness – as I, with Dennis Kinney and other colleagues at McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, among others, have shown (see Kinney & Richards, 2011). The results of these studies do support a higher rate of everyday creativity, on the average, among persons falling on the bipolar spectrum than among control participants. Yet this is in connection with higher function (not with greater illness). The chance of creativity is enhanced with milder compared with the more severe bipolar spectrum disorders (e.g., the milder cyclothymic disorder compared with full manic-depressive syndrome, again on average), or for a particular person during better functioning states, compared with very ill states (e.g., mild hypomania versus mania). We see this last difference in Silver Linings. It is important that treatment may not only reduce terrible suffering, but also potentially free a hindered potential, toward a richer life and more productive contributions to society. Yet how many people at risk for bipolar disorder think it is a matter of “the sicker, the better” with regard to creativity – a serious misunderstanding. Some even refuse treatment. This can be dangerous. Please note these findings potentially generalize to millions of people. Before leaving this example, let us be careful to note that there are many routes to creativity, and not just ones linked to personal or familial psychiatric disorder. It is human to be creative. Meanwhile what an important chance the movies have to lower the stigma of mental disorders, in general, to raise self-esteem, and to share accurate information, including information about treatment, and renew hope in life. Movies and Mental Illness helps us find just those films of the greatest value. I was privileged to speak on the topic of the arts and self-expression in mental health at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta, for the Mental Health Program chaired by Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. This Carter Center program has related objectives for improving how mental illness is understood, viewed by, and treated in society, goals that resonate with the objectives of Movies and Mental Illness. Finally, while we moviegoers can learn bitter truths about mental illness, and see how people learn to cope with their painful symptoms, do we not also want to see how people triumph and overcome, how they build on their strengths, passions, and positive qualities? Do we not wonder how suffering individuals try to find meaning in life, perhaps a greater good, or even transcendence? Unfortunately, individuals’ strengths sometimes get overlooked by well-meaning mental health professionals who are more focused on what has “gone wrong” than what could “go right.” It seems enough to some clinicians to reverse the depression, psychosis, loss and heartbreak, substance abuse, stress, or crippling anxiety. Yet who needs the hope more than the struggling patient? As can be seen in the companion book Positive Psychology at the Movies 2 by the same authors, themes of resilience, resurrection, and renewal are often found in the movies. We in the audience can again live the drama, this time ascending to a higher human...