Movies That Do a Poor Job Portraying Mental Health Conditions

The following article discusses several mental health conditions.

In cinema, it’s common to stereotype mental health and categorize characters as “unstable” due to their perceived or actual mental health illness(es). The problem with Hollywood telling stories involving mental health conditions is the villainization of characters with these issues. These inaccurate portrayals lead to unfair stigmatization against those suffering from these conditions in real life. Even in films where mental health disorders aren’t villainized, inaccurate portrayals are harmful due to the way they shape audience expectations.

Such inaccuracies can lead to further stigmatization of the conditions the movies are depicting. For example, films about characters with genius-level intellect or sensationalized and exaggerated quirks don’t portray the lived-in reality of people with these actual conditions. Consequently, the misinformation spread through these films can be damaging. Unfortunately, even excellent movies such as A Beautiful Mind and The Shining can inaccurately portray mental health illnesses.

Updated on September 17, 2024, by Robbie Robinson: Many movies rely on mental health to be a central plot of movies or even the central arc of specific characters. Some movies are able to craft realistic and eye-opening portrayals of different kinds of mental health disorders. However, plenty of movies do terrible jobs of portraying anything and everything. Whether movie watchers want to avoid these listed movies or watch them to see for themselves, this list has been updated to include five more movies.

20 Girl, Interrupted Missed the Mark With BPD

However, It’s Likely a Case That Highlights Inaccuracies With Being Diagnosed

Based on Susanna Kaysen’s memoir, Girl, Interrupted is set in a psychiatric facility during the ’60s. Susanna is diagnosed with BPD and the movie covers her time and struggles at the facility. Girl, Interrupted has been praised for a multitude of reasons. The portrayal of the mental health facility is accurate to the time that the movie takes place, and many viewers have agreed that the behavior of the workers towards the patients is also accurate.

However, the real issue lies with Susanna’s diagnosis. While it certainly wasn’t uncommon for women to be inaccurately diagnosed during those times, Susanna’s BPD is minimal. The movie only highlights very specific aspects of BPD, such as being hypersexual, and Susanna doesn’t really tick off a lot of other boxes. Once Susanna is in the facility, her BPD becomes less apparent for no clear reason. Many viewers think the other characters in Girl, Interrupted are good representations, but it’s a shame that Susanna doesn’t quite match them.

19 Music Is Terrible For a Lot of Reasons

This Movie Never Should’ve Been Cleared

The singer-songwriter Sia tried her hand at making a movie called Music. The movie is about a young girl, Music, who has autism. While Sia perhaps had good intentions about this movie and tried to make some kind of attempt at portraying autism, it’s a horrifically done movie. Many viewers and critics thought that it would have been best for Sia to cast a person with autism as Music. However, Sia thought that it was more important to cast a dancer for the role, Maddie Ziegler.

Maddie’s performance is downright offensive, plain and simple. Music is every harmful stereotype and caricature of a person with autism all crammed into one film. Instead of really focusing on Music, the movie tends to focus on Music’s older sister, Kazu, who can barely deal with Music. Sia doesn’t stop at autism, either. This movie also has some terrible racist and homophobic quips as well. Music is honestly shocking to watch, and it’s a wonder why Sia didn’t even get as much flak as she deserved for making this movie.

18 Sucker Punch Is Exciting But Upsetting

The Ending Ruins the Movie

Sucker Punch is like watching a live-action anime. Its CGI, fight sequences, and killer soundtrack make it a memorable movie. The plot is a little convoluted and, at times, hard to follow because it jumps between the real world and then a sensationalized version of the world. Babydoll is the main protagonist of this movie, and she lands in an asylum after accidentally killing her sister while trying to defend her from their stepfather.

Baby suffers from severe depression and PTSD from the incident with her stepfather. Throughout the movie, Baby joins up with four other girls to escape the asylum. It seems like there might be a happy ending waiting for her — until Babydoll sacrifices herself to allow another girl, Sweet Pea, to escape. Then, at the very end of the movie, Babydoll is lobotomized. The issue lies with the fact that the movie tries to paint Baby’s lobotomy as her “escape.” It’s a terrible fate. Instead of Babydoll getting the opportunity to flourish and heal, the movie undoes its entire plot by using a barbaric method that was once a leading cause of many mental health tragedies.

17 Silver Linings Playbook Struggles to Represent BPD

It Is, However, a Relatively Good Movie

Silver Linings Playbook has an outstanding cast featuring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Robert De Niro. The entire plot of the movie is centered around two characters — Patrizio Solitano Jr. and Tiffany Maxwell — who are struggling to overcome their battles with disorders that heavily impact their lives. Pat is recently released from a rehabilitation facility after a violent incident involving his ex-wife’s cheating. He has severe Bipolar Disorder and, trying to get on his feet again, he meets Tiffany.

While it’s not explicitly addressed, it’s heavily implied that Tiffany has Borderline Personality Disorder. While the movie is fun and showcases a sweet romance between Pat and Tiffany, Tiffany’s behavior is rather problematic. BPD is a very stigmatized disorder as it is, and having Tiffany play into the poor stereotypes of people suffering from BPD only casts worse light on real people with it. On top of that, the fact that the movie never directly addresses what it is that Tiffany suffers from only adds to the poor directional choices for her character.

16 Suicide Squad Is a Mess of a Movie

DC Has Been Struggling With Many Adaptations of This Group

Aside from being a general flop, Suicide Squad struggled to portray Harley Quinn in a manner that wasn’t offensive or down-right goofy. While Harley Quinn as a DC character has been shown across many DC stories to have well-portrayed Stockholm Syndrome and other disorders, Suicide Squad fell flat. The movie plays up Harley’s psychosis and general mental state to make her seem “edgy” and intimidating.

Harley makes far too many early 2000s Hot Topic-style comments that make her look more goofy than anything. A famous line is when she makes a comment about “the voices” in her head. It’s a terrible portrayal of the character and mental health in general. Instead of her mental health being taken seriously, she’s pitted to be purely unpredictable and wild. While Harley Quinn is a dynamic character in the DCU, Suicide Squad reduces her to a caricature of poor mental health.

15 Split Demonizes Dissociative Identity Disorder

An Impressive Performance Doesn’t Hide the Misrepresentation of Mental Illness

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Split follows Kevin (James McAvoy), a man with dissociative identity disorder (DID) who abducts a group of young girls. Kevin has a total of 23 alters that interact with the girls, each displaying a varying level of cruelty. Split’s plot hinges on Kevin’s most dangerous host identity, “The Beast.” Unlike his other alternate identities, The Beast has superhuman strength and agility.

This portrayal of dissociative identity disorder is harmful because, as Split suggests, those with DID are violent and dangerous. In reality, DID results in memory loss, delusions, or depression. While occasionally those suffering from DID may be violent, the violence is a result of overwhelming symptoms rather than an individual personality. Moreover, the introduction of “The Beast” asserts that DID can be a sort of superpower, a common detrimental trope used in movies about those with mental health issues.

14 Joker Uses Mental Health Conditions To Justify Violence

Turning a Sympathetic Character into a Villain

Although he’s one of the most renowned villains in pop culture, the Joker didn’t get an on-screen origin story until 2019’s Joker. The movie tracks Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a man whose neurological condition causes him to randomly laugh uncontrollably. This laughter comes out at inappropriate moments, leading society to ostracize Arthur for his irrepressible behavior. Additionally, Arthur has difficulty discerning fiction from reality, which results in him imagining an entire relationship with a neighbor that didn’t actually happen.

Joker depicts Arthur as a product of his uncaring environment. Many people bully and ridicule him throughout the film, which only worsens his mental health condition. As his mind degrades, he becomes villainous, dangerously violent, and eventually murderous. While the frequent torment Arthur undergoes is more than enough reason for his deteriorating mental health, his character arc perpetuates harmful stereotypes surrounding the supposed violent tendencies of those with mental health illnesses.

13 The Visit Gets Mental Health Conditions Wrong

Perpetuating Negative Stereotypes in Pursuit of Scares

Another M. Night Shyamalan helmed picture, The Visit, also grapples with mental health issues. The movie opens with two children who visit their grandparents during a vacation. At their grandparents’ house, Becca and Tyler notice Nana and Pop-Pop are acting strangely, and the film’s twist exposes why. The Visit eventually reveals that Nana and Pop-Pop are patients who escaped from a nearby mental hospital where Becca and Tyler’s real grandparents worked, eventually killing them and assuming their identities.

While the movie never explicitly states it, the film hints that Nana and Pop-Pop live with either dementia or schizophrenia. But the symptoms these characters display are far from the reality of dementia (especially with “sundowning”) or schizophrenia, which is why many mental health experts have criticized The Visit. Unlike the film suggests, any aggression associated with dementia or schizophrenia is sporadic, not calculated. Furthermore, in both cases, it is unlikely for patients to be violent towards others, at all.

12 A Beautiful Mind Exaggerates the Benefit of Being a Savant

Misrepresenting John Nash’s Experience for Entertainment

Based on a real story about John Nash, A Beautiful Mind depicts John’s life from his time as a graduate student through his work in cryptography and his eventual receipt of a Nobel Prize. Starring Russel Crowe, this film dives into John’s paranoia as he becomes increasingly involved in decrypting encrypted telecommunications. Eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia, John alienates his wife and baby as he struggles with determining what is real.

While showing the negative symptoms of schizophrenia is important, the mental illness is exaggerated in the film. For example, in A Beautiful Mind, visual hallucinations are one of John’s primary symptoms, whereas the real John Nash never had visual hallucinations at all. Additionally, John ignores his doctor’s advice to receive therapy and medication at the end of the film. He instead manages his symptoms purely through his own belief in himself and through the support of his wife. This significantly oversimplifies the treatment process for this serious mental illness.

11 The Accountant Assumes Action Overcomes the Struggle of Autism

The Accountant Ignores the Challenges of Autism in Favor of Flashy Sequences

In The Accountant, Ben Affleck plays Christian Wolff, an autistic man and mathematics savant who leads a double life as a freelance accountant for criminals. The film depicts the difficulties of managing Christian’s condition as a child, which ultimately resulted in his mother abandoning his family. His father then trains him and his brother in martial arts while simultaneously training Christian not to react to loud sounds and other stimuli.

The assertion that repeatedly exposing someone with autism to overwhelming stimuli in order to inure them to the noise is not only incorrect but is actively harmful to those undergoing the process. Rather than acclimating the patient to overwhelming situations, such an act is instead instilling a trained traumatic response of stillness. Furthermore, Christian’s job as a genius mathematician reinforces the stereotype that those on the autism spectrum innately excel at a specific subject when, in fact, only a small percentage of patients with autism have savant skills.​​​​​​​

10 Halloween Set a Dangerous Conception of Asylum Patients

This Concept Reinforces Harmful Stereotypes by Using Asylum Patients as Villains

While John Carpenter’s Halloween is a classic horror film, it perpetuates negative stereotypes about psychiatric patients. It also reinforces the association between mental illness and the Hollywood villain. Halloween begins with Michael Myers killing Judith Myers, his sister. The rest of the film takes place fifteen years later after Michael Myers escapes Smith’s Grove, a psychiatric facility. He makes his way back to his hometown of Haddonfield and kills several more people, eventually targeting Laurie Strode.

While not diagnosed with a specific mental illness, Michael Myers’ status as a psychiatric patient makes his association with mental illness clear. However, his actions as a killer reinforce the negative stereotype of psychiatric patients being inherently violent. Michael Myers’ psychiatrist in the film, Dr. Samuel Loomis, even says that Michael Myers “isn’t a man” and is a “bloody evil,” further stigmatizing psychiatric patients. As even the trained professional in the film is quick to speak about the intrinsic danger of those suffering from a mental illness, it is evident that Halloween furthers the negative stereotypes surrounding mental disorders.​​​​​​​

9 Fatal Attraction Falsely Represents Bipolar

Obsession and Vengeful Violence Are Not Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder

Although critics and audiences widely consider Fatal Attraction a phenomenal film, its portrayal of mental health is subpar. Glenn Close plays a bipolar woman, Alex, who seemingly becomes obsessed with a married man, Dan (Michael Douglas), after spending a night with him. Over time, this obsession makes Alex increasingly angry and dangerous. In Fatal Attraction, Alex quickly becomes the antagonist as she threatens Dan and his family’s safety.

Alex is supposedly bipolar, yet the portrayal of the woman and her symptoms are erroneous. Broadly, experts characterize bipolar disorder by significant mood swings. However, Fatal Attraction takes these mood swings to a violent extreme, which is both inaccurate and harmful. The depiction of Alex’s loss of control actively villainizes a common disorder, ostracizing afflicted populations in the process. Moreover, Fatal Attraction posits that Alex’s manipulations are a result of her illness as opposed to her personality, which further stigmatizes the condition.

8 Psycho Is Outdated When It Comes To Mental Health

DID Is Not an Indicator of Violence

While the horror classic Psycho remains entertaining and terrifying, its depiction of mental illness is quite outdated and inaccurate. The film focuses on Norman Bates, who works at the Bates Motel and lives with dissociative identity disorder. One of his alters kills any woman who gives him even a modicum of attention, furthering the incorrect idea that those with mental illness are inherently violent.

Norman’s DID in Psycho stems from his trauma and the unhealthy relationship he had with his now-deceased mother. Consequently, his mother’s alter identity becomes Norman’s host identity and leads him to murder several people. While the film was accurate in positing that trauma can be one of the causes of DID, the actions that Norman takes as a result of his DID are a disingenuous representation of the illness. Psycho paints Norman, and those with DID, as something to be feared, which furthers the villainous stereotypes of mental health conditions.​​​​​​​

Misdirection is Not an Excuse for Misrepresentation

Shutter Island, by Martin Scorsese, follows Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), who believes he is a U.S. Marshal. The Marshal Service sends Teddy to a psychiatric hospital to find a missing patient. Throughout its runtime, the film explores mental health conditions that prohibit Teddy from knowing what’s real and what’s not. Throughout his experience, Teddy is frequently startled or threatened by presumed patients. Whether real or not, these portrayals of psychiatric patients are harmful to the reputation of those seeking help.

Many viewers have assumed that Shutter Island’s Teddy has a delusional disorder or another stress-related condition, but the movie doesn’t treat the character’s delusions accurately. For example, the hospital’s staff perpetuates Teddy’s state in hopes he’ll recover his memory. Moreover, Shutter Island has mistakenly proffered the idea that Teddy — and those with delusional disorders — are able to enter their delusions at will and are prone to violence. Both of these characteristics aren’t what actual patients with delusional disorder experience.​​​​​​​

6 Turner & Hooch Belittles Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Heartwarming Moments Don’t Make Up for Inaccurate Portrayals

Turner & Hooch is a detective movie that tracks a law enforcement officer, Scott Turner (Tom Hanks), and his trusty sidekick, a dog named Hooch. The two form an unlikely strong connection as Hooch helps Turner with his current case and his obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms, which include keeping his house and car spot-free and ensuring that his supplement bottles are ordered by height.

While Turner & Hooch never explicitly states Turner has OCD, it’s quite evident through his various compulsions. So, although Turner & Hooch is lighthearted, it’s still damaging as it suggests people with OCD can simply overcome their symptoms by getting a pet. Ultimately, the film does a poor job of showing how people actually live with OCD, as those actually affected by the disorder often require therapy and medication to manage their symptoms. To suggest otherwise is doing a great disservice to those who experience OCD firsthand.​​​​​​​

5 What About Bob? Makes Light of Serious Conditions

Mental Illnesses Aren’t a Laughing Manner

In What About Bob?Bill Murray plays Bob Wiley, a man who has been diagnosed with multiple phobias and disorders, including agoraphobia, hypochondria, and OCD. As a result, he has consistently sought therapists. He eventually meets Dr. Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss). Throughout the movie, Bob overcomes his many diagnoses by following Dr. Marvin’s method of taking baby steps, inconveniencing Dr. Marvin in the process. In fact, as Bob recovers, Dr. Marvin starts developing his own conditions that even result in his admittance to a psychiatric ward at one point.

Though humorous, What About Bob? oversimplifies the process of treating mental illnesses. Bob is very quickly able to face and overcome his many phobias and disorders by simply taking things one step at a time, which is an unrealistic view of mental illness that leads to unrealistic expectations for those needing their own treatment. Additionally, Dr. Marvin’s increasing psychoses are treated as humorous rather than serious. This leads to the assumption that mental illness is something to be laughed at instead of understood.

4 Me, Myself, & Irene Inaccurately Illustrates Symptoms

Energetic and Over-the-Top Acting Result in Inaccuracies

The events of Me, Myself, and Irene follow Charlie, played by Jim Carrey, who lives with dissociative identity disorder. Charlie is mild-mannered and affable, but his alter, Hank, is aggressive and tough. Despite this dichotomy, Charlie and Hank work together to stop corrupt police officers from taking a woman he loves, Irene (Renée Zellweger), from his care. Me, Myself, and Irene posits that Charlie has both DID and schizophrenia, but these diagnoses don’t match Jim Carrey’s exaggerated performance. While Carrey employs this over-the-top acting style for comedy’s sake, it is an inaccurate portrayal of the symptoms of both DID and schizophrenia.

DID patients do not actually experience fully-formed personalities, as shown in Me, Myself, and Irene. Rather, personas will have varying traits and display varying emotions with differing degrees of severity. Moreover, as the audience is supposed to laugh at Jim Carrey’s antics, the movie suggests that illnesses like DID and schizophrenia are sources of humor rather than difficult disorders that significantly affect the lives of patients.

3 To The Bone Lacks Diversity In Its Representation

Simplifying Conditions Doesn’t Benefit Those Affected

Lily Collins’ performance as Ellen in To the Bone is superb, but the overall portrayal of eating disorders can be improved. Ellen is a college dropout who struggles with anorexia. After failing to improve in her first attempt at therapy, her stepmother and half-sister convince her to try another in-patient program. While To the Bone is realistic in its depiction of Ellen’s struggle with anorexia, particularly as the film depicts both successes and setbacks and ends with her still going to therapy, the movie only depicts one facet of the eating disorder.

To the Bone perpetuates the idea that eating disorders only affect those who are visibly thin when, in fact, atypical anorexia is far more frequent than the type pictured in the film. Atypical anorexia is an eating disorder that affects those who have a normal or above-normal Body Mass Index. This disorder affects over 25% of people aged 20 and younger, whereas the type of anorexia in the film affects less than 1% of the population. While both types are important to discuss, the film should have taken into account those with atypical anorexia, as well.

2 Midsommar Correctly Depicts Trauma But Erroneously Portrays Bipolar

Accurate Depiction of One Doesn’t Compensate for the Harmful Stereotypes Perpetuated by the Other

Many people think Midsommar director Ari Aster did an incredible job of portraying mental health conditions through the character Dani. During the superb folk horror movie, Dani appears to be dealing with what many assume is PTSD, depression, and/or anxiety. These conditions present themselves through panic attacks, which begin after her parents and sister die in a murder/suicide.

Dani’s sister, Terri, is where Midsommar misses the mark. According to the movie, Terri has bipolar disorder, which drives her to kill herself and her parents. This depiction is completely incorrect compared to how bipolar symptoms manifest in real life. Additionally, this portrayal only furthers the stigma surrounding bipolar disorder and associates it with extremely violent behavior. Even during manic episodes, those suffering from bipolar disorder are unlikely to harm others. Thus, Terri’s murder/suicide of her family is a significant misrepresentation of bipolar disorder.​​​​​​​

1 The Shining Makes Mental Illness the Monster

Iconic Imagery Doesn’t Lessen the Harmful Impact of Incorrect Portrayals

Stanley Kubrick’sThe Shining features one of the most iconic horror movie antagonists. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is a writer who takes a position as an off-season caretaker of a hotel in hopes of curing his writer’s block. Strange things begin occurring at the hotel, terrifying Jack and his family. As the family unravels the hotel’s history, they become increasingly plagued by malevolent spirits.

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The Shining depicts Jack, who falls under the hotel’s influence, as someone with various mental health conditions, most notably schizophrenia. The movie also shows Jack dealing with psychosis, delusions, and alcoholism, which lead him to terrorize his family. This portrayal explores Jack’s mental health conditions from a sinister angle, making Jack a monstrous figure. Despite its overall quality, The Shining sensationalizes these mental health issues for scares, villainizing them in the process and perpetuating harmful stigmas.