Movies and Mental Illness: Using Films to Understand Psychopathology - Softcover

Danny Wedding; Ryan M. Niemiec

Softcover

ISBN 10: 088937371X ISBN 13: 9780889373716

Publisher: Hogrefe & Huber Pub, 2009

Synopsis

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, and 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'; and, suggested topics for class discussions. Other features of the new, expanded edition include: Full index of films; Sample course syllabus; Ratings of more than 1,250 films (expanded by 25 per cent!); and, other fascinating appendices, such as 'Top 50 Heroes and Villains', psychotherapists in movies, misconceptions about mental illness in movies, and recommended websites.

About this title

Review

[T]his book provides plenty of thought-provoking material both for teachers and for students. It is highly recommended. ... [It is] interesting and extremely helpful in developing and delivering curricula using films to teach about specific psychiatric conditions [and] to teach psychopathology to medical students, psychiatry trainees and other mental health professionals. --Dinesh Bhugra, King's College London, UK, in International Journal of Social Psychiatry, Vol. 59, 2013

To the best of this reviewer s knowledge Movies and Mental Illness is the only book of its kind [...] learning psychopathologies through viewing their portrayal as a moving image [...] the full spectrum of psychopathology is covered via the citations of over 1000 films. [...] In short Movies and Mental Illness is definitely worth a place on the bookshelf of the clinician with any interest at all in this area which is probably most of us. --Lt Col NK Cooper, FRCSEd FFOM RAMC, Consultant Occupational Physician Bielefeld, ROHT, in the Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, Vol. 157, 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

Edition details

• Publisher: Hogrefe & Huber Pub
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 088937371X
• ISBN 13: 9780889373716
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 337