Cinema and psychiatry's relationship through time and its role in current medical education

Abstract

Cinema has been a source of entertainment and recreation for decades, and usually the themes depicted in films have roots in society itself. Films featuring psychiatrists and the mentally ill abound. Most early interpretations tended to be negative contributing to the stigmatization of mental illness, or overly positive furthering misinformation among the general public. Fortunately, nowadays there is an increasing number of films able to provide realistic depictions of psychopathologic disorders, being reasonably accurate and therefore suitable for psychiatric teaching purposes. Over the last three decades, psychiatry trainers have attempted to use films as an educational tool for teaching medical students and psychiatry residents for a number of mental health conditions. Films can be used to engage students' attention, emphasize learning points in lectures and illustrate symptoms of a disorder. Cinema constitutes not only an important source of entertainment, but also an educational tool and a significant influence on people's attitude towards mental illness.