List of films featuring mental illness

Many films have portrayed mental illness or used it as a backdrop for other themes. Here is a list of some of these films, sorted by illness, regardless of whether the disorder is portrayed accurately or not. For example, although 50 First Dates presents a case of anterograde amnesia, the type depicted does not really exist.

This film-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Dementia

Alzheimer's disease

• En sång för Martin (A Song For Martin) (2001)
• Iris (2001)
• De Zaak Alzheimer (2003)
• Away from Her (2006)
• The Notebook (2004)
• Thanmatra (2005)
• U Me Aur Hum (2008)
• Before We Forget (2011)
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Amnesia

Anterograde amnesia

A person with anterograde amnesia is unable to form new memories.

• Clean Slate (1994)
• Winter Sleepers (1997)
• Memento (2001)
• 50 First Dates (2004)
• The Lookout (2007)
• Ghajini (2005)

Retrograde amnesia

A much-used plot device, retrograde amnesia occurs when a person forgets part or all of his or her past.

• I Love You Again (1940)
• Sullivan's Travels (1941)
• Random Harvest (1942), in which Ronald Colman's character suffers from the condition not once but twice.
• Crime Doctor (1943)
• Anastasia (1956)
• RoboCop (1987)
• Overboard (1987)
• Regarding Henry (1991)
• The Majestic (2001)
• The Addams Family (1991)
• The English Patient (1996)
• Mulholland Drive (2001)
• The Bourne Identity (2002)
• Finding Nemo (2003)
• The Number 23 (2007)
• Spider-Man 3 (2007)
• Unknown (2011)

Psychogenic amnesia

Psychogenic amnesia is memory loss caused by psychological stress.

• Spellbound (1945)
• The Snake Pit (1948)
• Shadow on the Wall (1950)
• Marnie (1964)
• Mirage (1965 film)
• Mister Buddwing (1966)

Lacunar amnesia

Lacunar amnesia is the loss of memory about one specific event.

• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Agoraphobia

• Grey Gardens 1975
• Copycat (1995)
• Naked Fear (1999)
• Frozen with Fear (2000)
• Public Domain (2003)
• Ocean's Twelve (2004)
• N.H.K ni yôkoso! (2006)
• Nims Island (2008)
• Restraint (2008)
• Tokyo! (2008)
• Oleander Punch (2011)

Protect the Boss [Drama] (2011)

Anxiety disorders

• Ordinary People (1980)
• Mrs Dalloway (1997)
• Session 9 (2001)
• Elling (2001)
• White Oleander (2002)
• Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

Autistic disorder

• The Boy Who Could Fly (1986)
• Rain Man (1988)
• Little Man Tate (1991)
• House of Cards (1993)
• What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
• Cube (1997)
• Mercury Rising (1998)
• Molly (1999)
• Bless the Child (2000)
• Elling (2001)
• I am Sam (2001)
• Miracle Run (2004)
• Mozart and the Whale (2005)
• Marathon (2005)
• Snow Cake (2006)
• Ben X (2007)
• The Black Balloon (2008)
• Dark Floors (film)(2008)
• Adam (2009)
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009 film) (2009)
• The Girl Who Played with Fire (film) (2009)
• The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (film) (2009)
• My Name Is Khan (2010)
• Temple Grandin (2010)
• Ocean Heaven (2010)
• Dear John (2010)
• Fly Away (2011)
• Exodus Fall (2011)
• Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011 film) (2011)

Bipolar disorder

• A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
• Mr. Jones (1993)
• Michael Clayton (2007)
• Observe and Report (2009)
• The Informant! (2009)

Clinical depression

• The Fire Within (1963)
• Interiors (1978)
• Ordinary People (1980)
• An Angel at My Table (1990)
• The Butcher Boy (1998)
• The Virgin Suicides (1999)
• On the Edge (2001)
• Prozac Nation (2001)
• The Hours (2002)
• The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004)
• Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)
• Revolutionary Road (film) (2008)
• Shrink (2009)
• Veronika Decides to Die (2009)
• Helen (2009)
• It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010)
• Melancholia (2011)

Dissociative disorders

• Hangover Square (1945)
• A Double Life (1947)
• The Three Faces of Eve (1957)
• Psycho (1960)
• Persona (1964)
• Sybil (1976)
• Angel Heart (1987)
• Raising Cain (1992)
• Fight Club (1999)
• Manichitrathazhu (1993) (in Malayalam)
• Color of Night (1994)
• Never Talk to Strangers (1995)
• Primal Fear (1996)
• Shattered Mind (1996)
• The Hurricane (1999)
• Me, Myself & Irene (2000)
• Passion of Mind (2000)
• A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
• Identity (2003)
• Secret Window (2004)
• The Machinist (2004)
• Anniyan (2005) (in Tamil)
• Hide and Seek (2005)
• The Jacket (2005)
• 2:37 (2006)
• Thr3e (2007)
• Mad Detective (2007)
• Numb (2007)
• The Number 23 (2007)
• Dark Floors (2008)
• The Uninvited (2009)
• Frankie and Alice (2010)
• Peacock (2010)
• Black Swan (2010)
• Sucker Punch (2011)
• The Ward (2011)

Eating disorders

• The Best Little Girl in the World (1981)
• Kate's Secret (1986)
• An Anorexic's Tale: The Brief Life of Catherine (1988)
• The Karen Carpenter Story (1989)
• For the Love of Nancy (1994)
• 301, 302 (1995)
• When Friendship Kills (1996)
• Dying to be Perfect: The Ellen Hart Pena Story (1996)
• Perfect Body (1997)
• A Girl is a Girl (1999)
• Requiem for a Dream (2000)
• Sharing the Secret (2000)
• Slender Existence (Short Film) (2000)
• NOVA: Dying to Be Thin (Documentary) (2000)
• Dying to Dance (2001)
• Hunger Point (2003)
• Perfect Illusions: Eating Disorders and the Family (Documentary) (2003)
• Thin (Documentary) (2006)
• To be fat like me (2007)
• Dana: The 8 Year Old Anorexic (Documentary) (2008)
• Black Swan (2010)
• Cruel Intentions (1999)

Obsessive–compulsive disorders

• Secrets of a Soul (1926)
• Cat People (1942)
• What About Bob? (1991)
• As Good as It Gets (1997)
• K-PAX (2001)
• Matchstick Men (2003)
• Dirty Filthy Love (2004)
• The Aviator (2005)
• Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005)
• Black Swan (2010)
• The Stepfather (2009 film) (2009)

Personality disorders

Borderline personality disorder

• The Fountainhead (1949)
• Play Misty for Me (1971)
• Fatal Attraction (1987)
• Poison Ivy (1992)
• Single White Female (1992)
• The Crush (1993)
• Mad Love (1995)
• The Cable Guy (1996)
• Girl, Interrupted (1999)
• Swimming Pool (2003)
• Allein (Germany, 2004)
• Notes on a Scandal (2006)
• The Tracey Fragments (2007)
• Chloe (2009)
• Black Swan (2010)

Antisocial personality disorder

• A Clockwork Orange (1971)
• The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• Kalifornia" (1993)
• Natural Born Killers (1994)
• American Psycho (2000)
• Irreversible (2002)
• No Country for Old Men (2007)
• Dirty Rotten Scoundrels ("successful" antisocial personality disorder criminals)
• Cruel Intentions" (1999)

Narcissistic personality disorder

• A Clockwork Orange (1971)
• Wall Street (1987)
• Small Sacrifices (1989)
• Basic Instinct (1992)
• To Die For (1995)
• White Oleander (2002)
• Cruel Intentions (1999)

Schizophrenia

• Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
• Images (1972)
• Videodrome (1983)
• Drop Dead Fred (1991)
• The Fisher King (1991)
• Benny & Joon (1993)
• Angel Baby (1995)
• Clean, Shaven (1995)
• Conspiracy Theory (1997)
• Pi (1998)
• Julien Donkey-Boy (1999)
• The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)
• Me, Myself & Irene (2000)
• A Beautiful Mind (2001)
• Donnie Darko (2001)
• K-PAX (2001)
• Igby Goes Down (2002)
• Spider (2002)
• Identity (2003)
• Keane (2004)
• Spider Forest (2004)
• Shabd (2005)
• 15 Park Avenue (2005)
• Danika (2006)
• Reprise (2006)
• I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006)
• Mr. Brooks (2007)
• My Name Is Alan and I Paint Pictures (2007)
• The Soloist (2008)
• Mirrors (2008)
• Shutter Island (2010)
• Black Swan (2010)
• Sucker Punch (2011)

Learning disabilities

• Taare Zameen Par
• Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Delusional disorder and other psychotic disorders

• Repulsion (1965)
• The King of Comedy (1982)
• Fatal Attraction (1987)
• Misery (1990)
• Alien 3 (1992)
• Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
• Obsessed (2009)
• Black Swan (2010)
• Swimfan (2002)

Miscellaneous and unspecified

• The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
• A Page of Madness (1926)
• The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)
• Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
• Harvey (1950)
• Vertigo (1958)
• Head Against the Wall (1958)
• Oil Lamps (1971)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
• Face to Face (1976)
• Taxi Driver (1976)
• Brazil (1985)
• The Dream Team (1989)
• Crazy People (1990)
• Germinal (1993)
• What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
• Blue Sky (1994)
• Nell (1994)
• The Madness of King George (1994)
• 12 Monkeys (1995)
• Proof (1995)
• Patch Adams (1998)
• The Other Sister (1999)
• Secret Cutting (2000)
• The Others (2001)
• He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not (2002)
• May (2002)
• The Hours (2002)
• Radio (2003)
• Garden State (2004)
• Enduring Love (2004)
• Tideland (2005)
• Solace (2006)
• The Night Listener (2006)
• Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
• Running with Scissors (2007)
• Codex Atanicus (2008)
• The Happy Housewife (2010)

Dissociative Identity Disorder

• Fight Club (1999)
• Sybil (1976)

• Mental illness in film
• Mental illness in fiction

References

• Hesse M, Schliewe S, Thomsen RR (2005). "Rating of personality disorder features in popular movie characters". BMC Psychiatry 5: 45. doi:10.1186/1471-244X-5-45. PMC 1325244. PMID 16336663. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-244X/5/45.