There are countless films that depict inaccurate and exaggerated behaviours of mentally ill people. The media can be a very powerful tool for spreading the message of mental health, but can it do more harm than good? Can lay people distinguish truth from entertainment?
"The Myth of Mental Illness in the Movies and Its Impact on Forensic Psychology" https://augusta.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/the-myth-of-mental-illness-in-the-movies-and-its-impact-on-forens attempts to expose and discuss various false depictions of mental illness. It also aims to explain how this can have devastating consequences for forensic psychologists.
Another interesting article, "Psychopathy and the Cinema: Fact or Fiction?" - https://www.sakkyndig.com/psykologi/artvit/leistedt2013.pdf investigated the relationship between cinema and psychopathy. The authors assessed the degree to which the portrayal of fictional psychopaths in films was realistic from the clinical and psychopathological viewpoint of psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and
mental health professionals.
What do you think, are films getting more realistic at portraying mental illness? Is there a film you'd recommend that accurately depicts mental illness or psychopathy?