Movies and Mental Illness: Using Films to Understand Psychopathology

Product Description

• The popular and critically acclaimed teaching tool - movies as an aid to learning about mental illness - has just got even better!
• Now with even more practical features and expanded contents: full film index, "Authors' Picks", sample syllabus, more international films

Films are a powerful medium for teaching students of psychology, social work, medicine, nursing, counseling, and even literature or media studies about mental illness and psychopathology. Movies and Mental Illness, now available in an updated edition, has established a great reputation as an enjoyable and highly memorable supplementary teaching tool for abnormal psychology classes. Written by experienced clinicians and teachers, who are themselves movie aficionados, this book is superb not just for psychology or media studies classes, but also for anyone interested in the portrayal of mental health issues in movies. The core clinical chapters of Movies and Mental Illness each use a fabricated case history and Mini-Mental State Examination along with synopses and scenes from one or two specific, often well-known films to explain, teach, and encourage discussion about the most important disorders encountered in clinical practice.

Each chapter also includes:

• Critical Thinking Questions (to consider when viewing the core movie/s)
• "Authors' Picks" (Top 10 Films)
• "What To Read if You Only Have Time to Read One Book/Paper"
• Suggested topics for class discussions

Other features of the new, expanded edition:

• Full index of films
• Sample course syllabus
• Ratings of more than 1,250 films (expanded by 25%!)
• Other fascinating appendices, such as "Top 50 Heroes and Villains", psychotherapists in movies, misconceptions about mental illness in movies, recommended websites

New:

• Also available as an e-book in Apple's iBookstore and through Barnes&Noble for the nook.
• Do you want to propose a film for the 4th edition of Movies and Mental Illness?
• Have a look at the authors' blogspot! They welcome all comments on the films they already plan to discuss, or suggestions for films to include in the new edition!

From the Forewords:

"A particularly useful teaching tool for the diagnosis and understanding of the various psychopathologies for students of the helping professions. I commend it to the reader, be the reader student or professor."
Allan Barclay, PhD, St. Louis, Missouri

"A classic resource and an authoritative guide….Like the very movies it recommends, Movies and Mental Illness is a powerful medium for teaching students, engaging patients, and educating the public. Wedding, Boyd, and Niemiec have produced an invaluable guide for all those committed to understanding the human experience."
John C. Norcross, PhD, University of Scranton (Editor, Journal of Clinical Psychology; 2009 President of the Society of Clinical Psychology)

From the reviews:

"This book is a great reference point with excellent teaching material [...]. The book is an excellent adjunct teaching tool for people studying psychology."
Nancy Little in Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, Vol. 34, 2011

"Practitioners and trainees in mental health and related services can also benefit from films. Guiding the use of theatrical films for training is the aim of [...] Movies and Mental Illness, 3rd Edition (M&MI-3), written by three mental health educators. [...] I applaud the authors [...] As an educator and critic of mental healthrelated films, I have valued M&MI-2 [the previous edition], which sits among my small collection of most-used reference volumes. I consider M&MI-3 [the new edition] to be much better for teachers."
Roland Atkinson, MD, Prof. Em. of Psychiatry School of Medicine Oregon Health & Science University, Portland in Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, Vol. 18, 2011

"Movies and Mental Illness is a handbook for anyone who wishes to use film to understand and teach psychopathology. It offers a comprehensive account of the depiction of mental illness in non-documentary cinema. [...] This book's enthusiastically delivered central message that film can be used in the teaching of psychopathology is persuasive and it equips its readers well."
Dr. Stephen Ginn in the Journal of Mental Health Vol. 19, No. 6, 2010

"With a variety of films being easily accessible via streaming video and rental, having this manual as a guide is an excellent teaching tool [...] for people studying psychology. The authors have arranged the book and suggested syllabus in a way that makes it easy for a teacher to insert film portrayals of mental illness and treatment into a psychology curriculum. Stimulating discussion questions and additional readings are presented for each film. [...]
Movies and Mental Illness is a great reference point with excellent teaching material."
Nancy Little in the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, Vol. 34, No. 3, 2011

"One of the most significant challenges to teaching [abnormal psychology] this subject matter is facilitating students' understanding of what the experience of mental illness is like. […] In the third edition of Movies and Mental Illness: Using Films to Understand Psychopathology, [the authors] use films as an instrument for increasing students' understanding of how individuals with diagnosable psychological disorders might experience their lives. […] One of the strengths of this book is that it is written such that nonstudents will find the information contained within easily comprehendible. […] Another notable strength of Movies and Mental Illness has to be its inclusion of sample client evaluations presented at the beginning of each chapter […] [which] offer the reader a glimpse into the psyche of the person of interest and provide a level of understanding of psychopathology that core texts of abnormal psychology do not always make available. […] Another strength of Movies and Mental Illness is the authors' willingness to address not only the disorders but also related issues (e.g., stigma). […] a significant contribution of Movies and Mental Illness is its inclusion of appendices that include (in addition to a sample syllabus) an extensive (over 1,000 entries) list of movies that […] illustrate the manifestation of a psychological disorder."
Chammie Austin in PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 55, 2010

"This reviewer agrees with the authors that nothing can have a greater impact on students than a realistic or insightful depiction of human conditions as seen in a film. The close-ups show emotions, and transmit empathic understanding. Characters and events are placed in context, and time can be transcended by condensing or shifting of perspective. Discussions following a film viewing [...] provide a good opportunity to stir curiosity for further learning. [...] I recommend this volume not just to teachers of psychiatry and psychology, but also to lay people who might be concerned and interested in the issues involved."
Béla Buda, Md, PhD in Crisis, Vol. 31, No. 4, 2010