5 Films That Depicted Mental Illnesses COMPLETELY Wrong
Didn't quite get the picture...
We may look to films as a form of escape but also at times to feel included, especially if you dealing with problems that isolate you.
Mental health illness are a sensitive and vulnerable topic. When a film portray stories about people living with a mental illness, you only hope that they represent it properly.
These films tried to do just that, but missed the mark. See why they got it wrong below:
Me, Myself, and Irene
This film stars Jim Carrey who plays Charlie/Hank—a Rhode Island State Trooper who deals with a mental breakdown after he deals with a disappointing event in his marriage. Carrey's character battles with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that involves the breakdown of emotion, behavior, and thought.
Where the film missed portraying this serious mental health issue, is that Charlie deals with a split personality disorder, implying it stemmed from the schizophrenia. According to the National Alliance of Mental Health, "Me, Myself, & Irene perpetuates a myth that schizophrenia—a severe, biologically-based brain disorder—is a split personality."
The movie shows Carrey's character as a violent and aggressive person, which paints a bad picture for people who have schizophrenia. It's also inappropriate that the film is portrayed as a comedy.
A Beautiful Mind
Based on a real life story of John Nash—a math genius who later earned a Nobel Prize in Economics—the movie shows Russell Crowe as Nash dealing with paranoid schizophrenia.
Where the movie gets it wrong, is that it shows Nash experiencing visual hallucinations throughout the movie. People who have schizophrenia may experience auditory hallucinations not visual.
The Visit
Mental illness is portrayed as a scary thing in this horror film. The movie is about two teenage kids who go to visit their grandparents. After a turn of events, they find out their grandparents aren't who they say they are.
They end up finding out that patients from a psychiatric hospital have escaped. The movie shows a horrible depiction of people who have psychiatric illnesses as scary, murdering beings. The film is not mindful at all of mental health.
The Three Faces of Eve
This film is based on a true story about a woman who has been diagnosed with dissociative personality disorder, or multiple personality disorder.
Dissociative personality disorder is when someone has the presences of two or more personalities. This may be triggered by trauma in order to hide or avoid memories. This disorder can't be cured but treatments like talk therapy can help.
In the film, Eve White is going to therapy for her split personality but once she is reminded of tragic events, she is miraculously cured. This does not show a true depiction of someone who has dissociative personality disorder, mainly because there is no cure, only treatments to help the patients manage their personalities.
Girl, Interrupted
Angelina Jolie stars in the film where her character is being treated at a mental hospital. Jolie's character, Lisa, has an antisocial personality disorder also known as sociopathy.
Antisocial personality disorder is a mental condition where someone has no regard for right and wrong. Someone who this condition might also pay no attention to the feelings or right of others. Psychotherapy and lessons on behavior modification can help.
The film does not portray the proper treatment for this mental condition.