22 Things Movies Get Completely Wrong About Mental Illness

Movies, you're wrong.
22 Things Movies Get Completely Wrong About Mental Illness

It's a losing fight, going up against the myths pop culture perpetuates. But, dammit, someone has to do it. Because left unchecked, people go around spewing every dumb thing they learn from movies and shows that are really just using mental illnesses to advance a plot and make a buck, instead of teach us anything useful.

So, dig in, because it's time drop a knowledge bomb on your ass.

(As always, thanks to AuntieMeme for the magic she works putting these together.)

22 Things Movies Get Completely Wrong About Mental Illness
IN Fight club, the narrator has a split personality. That's not how multiple personalities work. Those with disassociative identity disorder don't jus
Adrian Monk suffers from OCD. Actually, no. He really doesn't. It's easier to remember what Monk is not afraid of than what he is. He lists germs, nee
The charismatic psychopath is everywhere. They won't stay charming for long. So many TV and movie villains are portrayed as charming ladies' men. Even
IN Black swan, Nina suffers from a host of conditions. Real people don't have them all at once. The film gave Nina the ballerina a cocktail of disorde
on Full House, DJ gets over an eating disorder in 3 days. ME In the real world, it can lake years. On the very special episode Shape Up, all it take
Hearing voices? They'll make you do terrible things. It actually depends on your culture. A Stanford researcher polling those suffering from auditory
HOLLYWOOD loves a sad, brooding love interest. Real depression kills relationships. That sad character being portrayed as romantic would actually be r

Total Recall

In Total Recall, Quaid suffers from a schizoid embolism. Il's complete mumbo-jumbo. The story in the 1990 film is that Doug Quaid goes to get some hap
A bunch of TV shows rely on criminal profiling. That pretty much never works. In the real world, getting inside criminals' heads only leads to arrests

Psycho

Norman Bates is obviously a psychopath, right? Not according to psychologists. Researchers who studied movie depictions of psychopaths determined that
IN The visit, Kids are terrorized by schizophrenics. But schizophrenics aren't masterminds. In the Shyamalan flick, children are trapped in a house wi
IN star Trek V, sybok cures people's brain pain. Epiphanies never cure people. Yes, using memory regression to control people and create a Cult foll
Movies depict shock therapy as brutal and barbaric. Il's actually mild and effective. Electro-convulsive treatment is shown in the movies as savage do
Walter sobchak is willing to kill anyone, any time. Thal's not how PTSD works. John Goodman's character from The Big Lebowski is a negative and inaccu

Mental Health

If a character is mentally ill, they're usually violent. That's the opposite of how it really is. Movies like Se7en, Silence Of The Lambs, and Fight C
In silver Linings Playbook, love cures bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder doesn't work that Way. Being in a good relationship is a positive influence
IN The AcCOuntant, Ben Affleck plays an autistic killer. DISCOUNTS A/R MTD MTD A/R DEPOSIT DAILY FEES TOTAL 0200 S 11.37175 1473.75 6.818.00 8.291.76
The coOl thing about Rain Man is that he's a savant. Thal's actually insanely unlikely. In the Dustin Hoffman I Tom Cruise film, Raymond is clearly me
Will Hunting has to deal with his past to get healthy. Letting go of the past isn't a magic bullet. Most people picture psychiatry as a doctor encoura
In A Beautiful Mind, Nash willpowers himself back to sanity. x+O'x kg +O33 X That doesn't work. In the movie, John Nash suffers from schizophrenia and
Buffalo Bill kills because he is transgender. In the real world, he'd be a victim. The depiction of the villain in Silence Of The Lambs, who murdered

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