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Asked by anon-204922 to Sally, Lucy, Louise, James, David, Dan on 5 Mar 2019.
Question: what film that you have seen best represents psychological studies on relationships?
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Sally Tilt answered on 5 Mar 2019: last edited 8 Mar 2019 6:43 pm
Hmm – it’s not an adult film, but I quite liked the concepts presented in the children’s film Inside Out!
Some colleagues of mine have also made a youtube video about what it is like to be a forensic psychologist, and they talk about the importance of building relationships – you might be interested in checking it out
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Lucy Maddox answered on 6 Mar 2019:
It’s not a film and it doesn’t show therapy in the way I do it (the therapist is a bit of a rebel and ends up doing all sorts of naughty things) but I have enjoyed a TV series called In Treatment, where it shows 4 days of therapy sessions and then the 5th day is the therapist talking about his own problems. I like it because it shows the therapist is human and struggling with many of the same things he is helping his clients with.
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Dan Taylor answered on 6 Mar 2019:
I can’t really think of one to do with relationships to be honest. There’s a few out there that have looked at “unusual” sexual behaviour, but they’d be rated 18+ anyway, your parents may very well have seen them though as a few have been quite famous!
I think psychology is often misrepresented in popular culture, mental illness is used as a plot point or used as an explanation for the serial killers erratic ways, outdated or fake psychology is often a focus – so sick of Freudian psychology taking a role in mainstream pop culture.
In terms of series, I think Crazy Ex-Girlfriend does a fab job of highlighting some of the relationship difficulties often associated with borderline personality disorder, and I think Sex Education did do a job of handling things like gay relationships and teenagers discovering their sexuality. -
Louise Rodgers answered on 7 Mar 2019:
Well, Sally has mentioned the first film I thought of – Inside Out. Its such a brilliant was of thinking about emotions and memory that my colleagues and I collect examples of Inside Out work and displays in the schools we work in! We are obsessed with it! It is a kid’s film, but don’t let that put you off you haven’t seen it. The main advisor on the film was Paul Ekman who is worth a google … he’s a psychologist who has some really interesting films on his website about how to spot lying, amongst other things!
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James Munro answered on 10 Mar 2019:
An aspiring film-maker eh Dan? :). Psychological conditions or areas of research appear in a LOT of films. Unfortunately they are usually pretty dark! Here are some suggestions, but bare in mind some will be rated 15 / 18 in the UK.
Shutter Island – Dissociative personality disorder
No Country for Old Men – The main baddy in this one was votes the most realistic portrayal of psychopathy in film by psychologists: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1556-4029.12359
Girl on the train – Excellent portrayal of gaslighting – which is an awful form of emotional abuse where someone is made to believe their version of reality isn’t actually real. It can be used to control them.
Girl, Interrupted – A young female in an institution for her mental health has to decide if she wants to “stay insane” so she can stay with her friends and comfort zone, or to accept she is “cured” and rejoin the world outside.
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s nest – This is how Jack Nicholson got big. He pretends to have a psychological problem in order to escape jail time. Instead he going to a psychiatric ward where he does not agree with how things are handled. VERY good, very classic movie.
50 first dates – A fun but emotional look into retroactive amnesia.
Memento – A crime thriller where the main character has amnesia and tattoos clues onto his body so he will know what to do next.I hope you enjoy some of these 🙂
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