Psychology in Films

Psychology is prevalent and relevant in everyone's lives. I like to consider the psychological concepts explored in the films I watch. (may contain spoilers!)

Black Swan
I think this is a brilliant film and very relevant to psychology and mental illness. The film follows ballet dancer Nina (played by Natalie Portman, an excellent actress who has a Psychology degree from Harvard University!) as she prepares for her lead role in Swan Lake. The stress of this is too much for her to cope with and she suffers from psychosis, in the form of horrible hallucinations and delusions. The film also includes ideas of eating disorders, which are often associated with ballerinas. The idea that the pressure of the show triggers Nina's mental breakdown is congruent with the diathesis-stress model of mental disorders i.e. she could be biologically predisposed to such disorders but it takes an environmental event to cause her psychosis.

Fight Club
This film contains ideas of multiple personality disorder (or dissociative identity disorder). Like with other cases of this disorder, the different identities have different characteristics and personalities and the sufferer is unaware of the existence of the other identities.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Charlie is an anxious character who shows symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, such as flashbacks to the death of his aunt. Also, it is uncovered that he had repressed memories of sexual abuse by his aunt from this childhood.

Silver Linings Playbook
I really enjoyed this film. The protagonist suffered bi-polar disorder and had recently been released from a psychiatric unit. This included the idea of environmental factors leading to a psychotic break down (his wife cheated on him) and triggers causing the sufferer to panic (in this case a specific song). The story shows how a friendship can be based on neuroses, after he meets someone in a similarly unstable mental state. This film also demonstrated how positivity can be found, even when life seems very negative.

I am planning to watch more Psychology related films and add to this post!