Mental Health in Movies

Over the last few decades there have been a few attempts at depicting mental health struggles in characters in movies. Some have managed to do it really well and others… not so much. But is any portrayal better than no portrayal? Long story short, no. Bad portrayal is worse than none at all. A poor representation of a mental illness or mental health struggles can promote stigma and discrimination towards the people experiencing them by the uninformed audience consuming the material. In regards to the people themselves struggling, a bad representation can make them feel unseen and generalized and impair their self-esteem, their want to get better or improve, and their likeness to reach out due to fear of judgment. But, good representation in movies and television can be informative for those who otherwise would have a hard time understanding the perspective of someone struggling. It can also help those struggling have something to watch where they feel understood. 

Now, we’re going to go through a couple examples of movies that do a good job of depicting a character with mental health struggles, and a couple that don’t.

A Good Depiction: Charlie in Perks of Being a Wallflower

The main character in the Perks of Being a Wallflower, Charlie, struggles with depression and grief as a result of his best friend committing suicide and childhood trauma involving his now deceased aunt. The movie does a great job depicting his depression by not making it the only thing of note about the character. Rather, it shows how depression is an aspect in Charlie's life as he navigates highschool and builds new relationships. The movie shows him living his life with fun experiences, mundane days, and harder depressive days. This helps show the audience that depression and grief don’t necessarily look all consuming and can come in waves seemingly out of nowhere. 

A Bad Depiction: Kevin in Split

Kevin, of Split, is a man with Dissociative Identity Disorder, also known as DID. This movie has the most general, stereotypical, stigmatizing portrayal of DID possible. In the film Kevin has over 23 personalities that he “splits” between at a moment's notice. In the film he kidnaps two girls with the intent of harming them. The film essentially paints Kevin as an evil person because of his DID with him having no character traits besides it. This film insinuates people with this disorder are a danger to others and the portrayal of him “splitting” into his different identities is simply inaccurate.

A Good Depiction: The family of Little Miss Sunshine

In the film, each member of the family is going through a different struggle that they try to put aside to help Olive get to her pageant. The film highlights characters struggling with depression, suicide, and anxiety and does so in a very realistic way. Depression and anxiety are highlighted through characters failing and experiencing the consequences of their actions. The movie also does a great job highlighting mutual struggle, almost everyone in the movie besides Olive is struggling with depression, suicidal thoughts, or anxiety. At the beginning of the movie they tear each other down and are hostile, but by the end of the movie, they learn how to help each other out and show the power a good support system can have on someone struggling. 

A Bad Depiction: Norman in Psycho

Similarly to Split, Psycho uses Norman’s mental health issues as the reason why he is a murderer. In fact, at the end of the film it is even said that Norman didn’t kill the woman, his “split-brain mental illness” did. He is an entirely one note character, and the film makes the insinuation that people with mental illness are dangerous. The film is also widely regarded as making the word “psycho” a popular descriptive word for people with mental illness.

Unfortunately, there are currently many more bad representations of mental health than good ones in the media. Hopefully as time goes on and mental health becomes more normalized and destigmatized, its representation will become more accurate. Until then it’s important to educate yourself on mental health matters, and take what you see in movies and television shows with a grain of salt.   

Thinking about therapy? Schedule your free consultation with Mayra today and see how she can help you.