Am J Psychiatry 1977; 134:613-620
Copyright © 1977 by American Psychiatric Association
Images of the mind: psychiatry in the commercial film
I Schneider
There are many striking temporal and cultural parallels in the development
of commercial films and psychiatry. The psychiatrist has been depicted in
widely varying ways--as madman, as a powerful force for tinkering with the
soul, and as a wonder worker who cures patients by uncovering a single
traumatic event. The early years, in which psychiatric issues were often
treated simplistically or sensationally, were followed by a "latency
period". After the war there was a deluge of psychological films, which
also began to deal with emerging social issues. Contemporary films tend to
focus on madness as a metaphor or on the struggle of seemingly normal,
successful people to find fulfillment. Psychiatry and film are "toys that
have grown up together," along with the consumers of both.
