What about the movie American Psycho. Was that way off or was there some truth to his problems? What is that diagnosis called.
Can ‘I am Sam’ also be included as a Psychology movie?

I’ve seen most of the movies that you’ve listed and they are all great films. Another classic Psychology Movie is Sybil, played by Sally Fields which was based on a book. She had Multiple Personality Disorder (Dissociative Disorder)… too many personalities to count. After that movie was released, people have coined terms like “she sounds like Sybil” or “she must be related to Sybil” when encountering someone who changes their personality from one moment to the next.

I loved Identity and A Beautiful Mind. Two other of my favorites are Hide and Seek, and Gothika!

What about Girl, Interrupted?
An excellent book and movie.
The actresses were outstanding and it was a very realistic portrayal. The characters individually are lovely enough, but the group dynamics (so, so human) made that movie.

How can you leave out Fight Club from this list? Fight Club deals with an schizophrenic man who creates a ‘fight club’ as his psychotherapy.

how about fatal attraction, the ultimate borderline character disorder movie?

Good list of enjoyable movies. What Dreams May Come is actually based on the Richard Matheson book by the same name. I can imagine Matheson was inspired by Dante, though.

It’s not Disassociative Disorder, it’s Disassociative Identity Disorder (DID). Disassociative Disorders cover a broad category of disorders, including Fugue, DID, Depersonalization, and Amnesia. It may not seem like a big deal, but it can be very confusing to someone who might be trying to find info about it.

and of course I spelled it wrong which causes more confusion…it’s Dissociative Identity Disorder and Dissociative Disorders…Not Disassociative..

Oh, and another good psychology movie: Girl Interrupted.

@ Mira,
That’s a good point. Unfortunatly, I have not seen the movie yet. Thanks for commenting.

@ Paul
I have to admit that “Fight club” is one of my favorites.

@ C. Fraser,
Thank you for the clarification and your comments.

what’s eating gilbert grape.

I love The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
I don’t get what you mean about it portraying psychology. I thought it was more from a medical standpoint, although I can see the psychological aspects of the story.

Twelve Angry Men is a great movie and relates well with social cognition (i.e. eyewitness testimony) & psych and law.

PS Last I heard there’s still a huge controversy over whether DID should be considered it’s own disorder. Some people say that many DID patients can be given more appropriate diagnoses, but we won’t go there. Suffice it to say, that it’s probably the most misunderstood disorder in Hollywood.

Fun fact…Sybil didn’t have DID. Like other patients with the disorder, it was an elaborate hoax, cooked up by some evil psychologist who wanted fame and fortune (I personally think the real story would make an excellent movie)

Donnie Darko. If you haven’t seen it, you really should.

Oh yeah, forgot…surprised no one mentioned Silence of the Lambs, Secret Window, Good as it Gets, Reign Over Me, Fearless, Lucid, The Unsaid, Ordinary People, etc.

A few good others (if watched with the proper mindset) would be Seven, Crash, Hotel Rawanda

If you want a decent view into the sad history of mental healthcare, check out an old movie called The Snake Pit.

Looks like no one has mention one of my favorite psychological movie. I very much like that movie, Machinist, with 90 lbs Christian Bale. I also loved, “23″ though it wasn’t as good towards the end, but I loved to the touch of comicbook style like the psychological shooter game, Max Payne. The movie Max payne, however, sucked.

@Paul -

haha, well, fight club is the definition of psychological movie. My psychology teacher made us watch that and analogy it for HW. I guess ppl figured it’d be redundant to mention it? XD

What about K-pax. Great 2001 movie with a great cast with the classic ‘is he isn’t he’ an alien. Mental health issues need to be more openly discussed.

I’m quite partial to Memento, even with the plot holes.

Although there are tons of good psychological movies out there, I’d like to add “The Three Faces of Eve.” The movie was released in 1957. It’s based on a true story of a woman with DID. I would have never known it existed until I found out that the little girl in it was played by my aunt.

@ Kellyg - that’s awesome! This is one of the best psychological movies. We watched it in my abnormal psych class in college and it was awesome! A lot of these movies that people are listing are not about psychological disorders at all (Donnie Darko, crash, hotel rwanda, etc) DEFINITELY As Good As it Gets is a great one! And same with What about Bob? A beautiful mind is okay, but it exaggerates a lot of the symptoms for someone with paranoid schizophrenia.

most of em ive watched as an assingnement but recently watched Changelling it is a good movie n wat abt Saw 123…..?

What about The Machinist????? PTSD, yes?

A few of my favorite psychology movies not listed are:
- Reign Over Me
- Canvas
- Good Will Hunting

Here are a few others worthy of consideration: Rebel Without a Cause [adolescent angst and peer pressure],The Wild Child [nature/nurture],David and Lisa [adolescense and therapy]and finally a real sleeper on race,adult identity and personal worth: Nothing But a Man.
I have used all of these successfully in high school Psychology classes.

The 2002 movie, Spider, is a very good portrayal of a Type II schizophrenia. It’s a response to A Beautiful Mind, a ridiculously inaccurate portrait of Type I schizophrenia.

“Play Mistly for Me” (Clint Eastwood’s directoral debut in the 70’s, is another great portrait of borderline personality disorder. It’s the original “Fatal Attraction”. ‘Mad Love” with Drew Barrymore and “Blue SKy” with Jessica Lange, are both pretty good movies about Bipolar Disorder type I.

Oh yeah, and a movie called “Numb” with Matthew Perry was about a Dissociative Disorder…

i’m doing a phycology paper on the movie awakenings with robin williams and robert Deniro and its good i just dont know where to begin as far as the physcology issues. there are so many of them.

@ Jennifer - You should check Dr. Oliver Sacks webpage. His is the character Robin Williams plays. Additionally, Dr. Sacks is a great author (one of my favorites)

@Jack V. -
I like the movie although my fiancee found it a bit disturbing.

These are some good movies to check out… i also recommend a movie called “stay” and “vanilla sky” the movie stay is one of my favorites, not very well known though, but I would check it out.

prozac nation with christina ricci was good, though quite different from the book, deals with depression/bipolar. based on the true story/autobiography book by elizabeth wurtzel.

the soloist, which just came out recently with robert downey jr and jamie foxx is based on a true story about a homeless musician with schizophrenia. very good and touching story.

hey! guys i’m impressed by the screenplay and performance of russels crowe(a beautiful mind) which drew me to search for more phycology based movies and i come across this web site showing best physcology related movies ,n find 6th sense is missing, where story revolves aroud a school boy who sees dead, its a must and should watch movie.

how about:
@The Number 23
@The Butterfly Effect
@The Prestige
@The Pianist
@8mm - 1,2
@The eternal sunshine of a spotless mind -it’s also a great movie.in wich Jim Carrey played extraordinary as a psycho.
and i will not forget my favourite :
@A Beautiful Mind ,.i love that movie!

@The Perfume

I LOVE PSYCHOLOGY!!!

FYI i can not believe “”Lars and the Real Girl”" wasn’t on any of the list it’s an excellent film about a man {Lars}….just know that it’s a must see i can’t give you a summary without spoiling it for you wonderful wonderful movie

OVER ALL, I LOVE :
1. THE GOOD SON
2. HIDE AND SEEK
3. PSYCHO
4. SAW (this movies i think “psycho film, very best movie in the world)
5. TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE

Hei…..how about THE HOUSE OF WAX ?? BEST!

Hi, interesting things n amazing movies,. I’m doing this research on the “HISTORY ” of psychology.
These movies r all real good buh does anybody know any good movies regarding the early days of Psychology, the history of psychology????

will guyzz thnk you so much u help m a lot in my movie review….i dont watch a lot of movie related to abnormal psych..i am also a psychology major..thnks

I liked a lot the following psychology movies:

@The Matrix
@Dark City
@Thank you for smoking
@Revolver

Thanks,
Sam

PSYCHO is the all-time psycho movie, ever

Das experiment (based on a true psychological “Stanford prison experiment”)

Antichrist …. sick controversial psycho drama/horror (must watch!)

Anybody know what the girl in the uninvited had? I’m pretty sure it’s schizophrenia but I could be wrong.

I am a “good movie” collector, and aslo study PSYC. I think, just for the heck of it, the movie “Shrink” (came out not long ago) is a good movie to watch.

@Agus Prattama -
Hey ,Augus Prattama…thank you!I watched the movies you mentioned!
Awesome…
I think “Girl interupted” is also a good movie!

A Clockwork Orange. How is that NOT on here? It’s about a 15 year old boy, Alex, who is obsessed with violence and rape and gets sent to a revision program where they give him drugs that make him sick when he sees violence or naked women. When he gets out of prison he runs into the people he hurt before. GREAT MOVIE. Must see.

Hey everyone, I was wondering if y’all could help me out. I’m trying to find this move I saw many many years ago. It’s probably from the 80’s/early 90’s. It’s about a woman who is trying to help a young man who was severely abused by his father when he was young. Some brief things I remember: something about how spaghetti reminds him of brains (linked to a memory of his father beating his sister until he cracked open her head); also, there is a scene where the young man comes onto the psychologist(?) woman, calling her ‘mom,’ and she tells him she’s not his mother…

Deep stuff, but I want to find it and watch it again. It strongly affected me.

Great movies…n may I add I more? Note on a Scandal…

The Fisher King.

I would add:

Sleepers

The Unsaid

The Dreamcatcher

Girl Interrupted

Sylvia

The Butterfly Effect

I’m teaching a 300 level Organizational Psyc class. I’m looking for movie recommendations appropriate for Organizational Psych topics. Thanks!

what about the movie Sybil!

@Kelley - Excuse me,I dont get the point

When I was in high school we watched Rain Man in psychology class.

The Butterfly Effect. Great series, but 1 and 3 are the best. And Saw I-VI; I consider them psychological as well.

Hei,

does anyone know what is movie called, where at the end she opens his car glove department and finds the same rings as she got from him. Many copies of the same ring. He is maniac.

The beautiful mind is a genius movie. Watch the specials at the end of the DVD where you can see and hear the actual John Nash and his wife talking about their difficulties and the way they conquered it.

I have always loved those guys who were so driven by an idea, notion and they were in the state of constant “flow” to solve a problem or to get solution. And, that was their true happiness.

I`ve seen some of these movies…and i liked most of them . But the search that brought me here was : i was searching movies like Psych and The Mentalist…two shows that show about the coolest things about psychology and interpretation of human condition.This kind of movies…in my opinion are fun to wach and helpfull to learn(if one tryes to do that) some things usefull in real life! can you give me something like that?

Shutter Island…amazing movie

Psych major,

Cant believe these movies havent been mentioned:

American Me (1992)
Goodfellas (1990)

Thank you all for your posts, Iv made my list of ones to watch from all the above mentioned movies!
Id like to share my suggestions too!

Seriously surprised noone excet CHAR mentioned Clockwork Orange! ts a beautiful blend of psych and law!

And Im surprised noone mentioned THE SHINING!!! and ABOUT SCHMIDT, wich many may find slow, but beautiful portrayal of oldage and their psych again by Jack Nicholson.
and REQUIEM OF A DREAM? talks a lot of the psychology of teenage and oldage both!!
So my fav list would be:

Fight Club
A clockwork Orange
Requiem of a dream
The shining
Ordinary people
One flew over the cuckoos nest
About Schmidt
As good as it gets

the fountain

Shutter Island, 12 Monkeys, Hustle (series)

Instinct [1997] - In my opinion a great psychological lesson

The Minority Report

I also think you need to add Benny & June, maybe Gilbert Grape too. Such great movies!

Nobody has mentioned Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind!? Great movie about memory and relationships

A Scanner Darkly is a good psychology movie too if you’re interested in substance abuse disorders. Philip K. Dick (who wrote the book that the movie is based on) studied the psychopharmacology of amphetamine psychosis and experienced it himself.

in my opinion these movies are great!

1)Secret Window
2)Flight Plan
3)The Manchurian Candidate
4)Passengers
5)The Machinist
6)Gothika
7)The Butterfly Effect
8)The Orphan
9)The Talented Mr. Ripley
10)The Game

“GASLIGHT” is an old classic (1944) that clearly illustrates a sociopath’s trickster maneuvers (Charles Boyer) when he snares a naive victime (Ingrid Bergman)–a must-see. “The Innocents” another old classic with Deborah Kerr–is she crazy? or are the children she’s the nanny for, deeply disturbed? A must-rent. And for comic relief “Analyze This” with Billy Crystal as the “shrink” to the Mafia Kingpin, Robert de Niro is superbly done–they touch on therapy technique–somehow they pull it off-because it’s hilarious.

Number 23
Zodiac
Stay
Slipstream
Revolver
Half light
The machinist
Fight Club
Doubt.. etc

oh ya and i forgot Shutter Island xD

hey even butterfly effect and fight club is also a great movie

Max Payne is my favorite game and i also like the movie.”‘`

I really liked some of the movies listed. I agree with most of you movies like butterfly effect, fight club, Shutter Island and 12 monkeys are great.

Its also important to realize that most of these movies are pop psychology. Hollywood tends to make it all glitzy and glamorous when in reality those disorders are hellish the patients.

Out of the names I’ve read, the only psychological depictions that can hold up according to the DSM-IV would be Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction as Borderline Personality Disorder (actually many psychologists have questioned whether or not she had some of the criterion for the disorder because she played the character so well) and Leonardo DiCaprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

Also, to everyone that mentioned A Beautiful Mind, please do a history lesson. Granted I will give Russell Crowe an applause for his ability to deal with the stress and turmoil with having Schizophrenia. However, the movie is way off to what really happened. Do yourself a favor and look up the history of John Nash. For instance, he never had visual hallucinations - only auditory!

what about Shutter Island it`s a sick movie..