© 2009 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Why psychiatrists should watch films (or What has cinema ever done for psychiatry?)
Peter Byrne is a consultant liaison psychiatrist and film studies graduate. He devised and produced the short film 1 in 4 (available at www.rcpsych.ac.uk), which achieved a UK cinema distribution in 2001. His principal research interest is the stigma of mental health problems and the effects of prejudice and discrimination. He is Director of Public Education for the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Correspondence: Correspondence Dr Peter Byrne, Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist, Newham University Hospital, London E13 8SL, UK. Email: p.byrne{at}ucl.ac.uk.
Cinema is at once a powerful medium, art, entertainment, an industry and an instrument of social change; psychiatrists should neither ignore nor censor it. Representations of psychiatrists are mixed but psychiatric treatments are rarely portrayed positively. In this article, five rules of movie psychiatry are proposed, supported by over 370 films. Commercial and artistic pressures reduce verisimilitude in fictional and factual films, although many are useful to advance understanding of phenomenology, shared history and social contexts in psychiatry. Acknowledging some negative representations, three areas are explored where cinema gets it mostly right: addictions, bereavement and personality disorder. Although there are excellent representations of psychosis on film, film-makers have more often portrayed it violently – ultimately demonising people as psycho-killers in more than 100 films cited. When people with mental illness are stigmatised through stereotypes, examining unwelcome depictions can uncover important truths. Psychiatrists’ engagement with film will ensure professional and artistic gains.