Art Imitates Life – Mental Health in Movies

When we say “mental health”, the first word that pops up is depression. Now, granted, depression is a legitimate mental health issue. According to data, in 2017, 45.7 million people in India had depressive disorders, which is roughly 4.5% of the population.

Depression is so widespread and common that if you throw a stone in the street, it’ll hit someone with depression. Now, what about Dissociative Identity Disorder? This mental health condition involves having around two or more distinct personalities or “personality states”. Previously, it was known as multiple personality disorder. This is rare. Such is art.

Art reflects life. Movies talk about and address complex societal mental problems and disorders. For instance, you’ve never seen anyone with Cotard’s Delusion. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Now you know about Cotard’s Delusion, but do you know what happened to Leonardo DiCaprio on Shutter Island? Why was Teddy (Leonardo DiCaprio) constantly creating a false world to escape his past? You’ll learn more about Shutter Island later in this article.

Do you know what it feels like to have 23 different personalities? That’s what dissociative identity disorder feels like. There are a bunch of mental illnesses that you may not stumble upon, doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Mental illness is complicated. They make movie plots complicated. Directors feel that they can tell such stories.

From the time that the consignment of red sandalwood lands at the Yokohama port in Japan to when workers are shocked to find Pushpa concealed in one of the containers, this movie doesn’t slow down. Pushpa attacks them, demanding payment for the consignment, but gets shot and falls into the sea, and this triggers a flashback. Pushpa, the central figure in this story, is consumed by anger and rises to power as a respected smuggler, later intercepting a huge sandalwood consignment.

Pushpa struck a deal with the Central Minister. She met another international buyer in the Maldives to sell 2000 tons of sandalwood. Pushpa’s syndicate attracts several smugglers, but Mangalam, Srinu and Dakshayani, together with Shekhawat plot to foil the operation. More action follows, with Pushpa using his tricks to smuggle the sandalwood all the way to Chennai.

The rest of the movie unravels as a typical South Indian flick, loaded with action and lots of interesting scenes. According to a 2023 report by HappyPlus, around 35% of Indians have experienced negative emotions like anger, sadness, stress, and worry. That is a worrying statistic. Anger, as an issue, should never be left untreated, as it can snowball into something more serious.

The character Marshal Edward “Teddy” Daniels, essayed by Leonardo DiCaprio, in this 2010 caper, has delusions that align with Cotard’s Syndrome, also known as walking corpse syndrome. Teddy sometimes thought that the mental institution employees were trying to commit him as a patient. He also believes that the cigarettes that are provided to him by the institute are laced with drugs to render him powerless. People with this syndrome may neglect their personal hygiene and physical health and can withdraw from other people.

Cotard’s syndrome is also associated with a host of other conditions like mood disorders like depression, psychotic disorders like schizophrenia, medical conditions like dementia, stroke and traumatic brain injury, infection in the brain and substance misuse.

This mental illness can lead to a number of complications like self-starvation, skin and teeth problems, depression, isolation and attempts on one’s own life. Treatment for this condition includes antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilisers, Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and Hemodialysis. This syndrome is more prevalent in women and middle-aged to older patients.

My Name is Khan

If you were around in 2010, the line “My name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist” couldn’t have escaped you. In this movie, we meet Rizwan Khan, an Indian Muslim with more issues than family members. Zakir, his younger brother, sees all this and seethes in jealousy, leaving his family for a better life in San Francisco. Once the old mother dies, Zakir sponsors his older brother to come live with him.

Hasina, Zakir’s wife, diagnoses Rizwan with Asperger’s Syndrome. Rizwan starts working for his younger brother’s company. His younger brother’s misgivings notwithstanding, Rizwan marries the woman and moves to Banville. The Asperger’s syndrome surfaces when Khan has to socialise.

He gets detained at LAX post 9/11 for suspicious behaviour. He encounters a therapist who extends a helping hand, and he sets off to meet the President of the USA to clear his name. From this movie, we learn two things. One, being a Muslim man in the USA comes with its fair share of challenges. And secondly, a mentally ill Muslim man is the perfect target for discrimination.

If there was one movie that nailed Borderline Personality Disorder, it is Silver Linings Playbook. Tiffany Maxwell, played by Jennifer Lawrence in this 2012 film, exhibits classic symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder. Depression (one of the conditions that affect you when you have BPD) is depicted when Tiffany texts strangers soliciting casual sex. Then there’s irresponsible drinking - when she drinks so much that she begins to have withdrawal symptoms.

Next comes sexual engagement when Tiffany tells Pat about having sexual relationships with everyone in her office after the depression caused by Tommy’s death. A lot of people who suffer from BPD respond quite well to treatment, and most can get better quite quickly. When it comes to long-term prognosis for BPD, it is much better than those for depression and bipolar disorder.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), around 1.4 per cent of the population is suffering from BPD. Tiffany medicates with Xanax, a prescription for bipolar disorder, yet she acts as if she is fine. However, she displays the symptoms of BPD, which makes her look for psychological therapy.

Tamasha

Having Borderline Personality Disorder is no tamasha. This 2015 movie addresses BPD and how the main character, Ved, is affected by it in his journey. It shows us what a struggle life is if you happen to be affected by BPD. In this movie, we see how societal expectations push a man to do something completely different from what he could be doing if he were truly following his passions.

This is how dreams get crushed. Can you imagine how mentally exhausting it would be for them to understand their own condition? Tamasha asks you to keep a check on your mental health, and if you aren’t feeling up to it, consider getting professional help. Tamasha is a gentle reminder that mental illness exists and it could affect any one of us in many ways.

Inferno

This movie is based on a 20-year-old girl, Ellen, who is diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. She spent the majority of her teenage years shunting through different recovery programs, only to end up losing weight every time. Her family was really dysfunctional. Each member tries to make her realise that she must accept herself the way she is.

Positively weighed down from trauma and self-esteem, Ellen comes to a point where she starts developing suicidal thoughts and cultivates a negative perception of life. She presumed that there was no point in anything. She lost her appetite and started exercising excessively. She wanted to lose weight despite her physical condition.

Depression took its toll, as did environmental stress. Couple this with low self-esteem, and you will have a recipe for disaster. Ellen is told that she is coming close to the threshold beyond which lies death. Ellen, on her part, thinks she’s doing just fine. She wants to be perfect - which leads to her being all messed up. In the end, it’s her doctor that makes her realise that life is beautiful and everyone has a right to live.

Whenever Darsheel Safary cries in Taare Zameen Par, you feel like crying with or for him. This 2007 Indian Hindi-language psychological drama is the brainchild of Aamir Khan. The movie explores the life and imagination of Ishaan, an 8-year-old boy who is artistically gifted yet academically weak. His abysmal academic performance forces his parents to pack him off to a boarding school, where a new art teacher catches the dyslexia in him and helps him overcome his reading disorder.

This movie won many accolades and was lauded for its delicate portrayal of a dyslexic child who bears the brunt of society’s cruelty that rains down upon him. Today, children are expected to be good at their studies, good at sports, and perfect overachievers. We forget how many children fall down the cracks. The movie shows us the tormented life Ishaan leads at school and home.

However, one teacher recognises his artistic talents, nurtures them, and helps the child address and overcome his weaknesses in academics. The movie gives us the example of Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein, who were creatively gifted despite being affected by developmental learning disorders. Taare Zameen Pe deals with a delicate subject and excels at it.

The Bourne Identity

For all intents and purposes, AJ Brown was a regular man. Living in Norristown, Pennsylvania, in the late 1800’s, he made a living making stationery. With a modest apartment and good relations with his neighbour, he suddenly woke up on March 14th, 1887, with no idea who he was. The first person to meet him that day was his landlord. Local doctors came to examine him - their initial diagnosis was amnesia. Brown had somehow lost his memory and could not remember who he was or how he got there.

However, here’s the twist—Brown hadn’t lost his memory. In fact, Brown wasn’t Brown at all. Physicians later learned that the person they were treating was actually named “Ansel Bourne.” He had been living in Norristown for just two months. He had no recollection of the past two months or clue who AJ Brown was.

Dissociative Fugue is a rare psychiatric condition that causes a person to momentarily lose their memory of their identity and end up in an unexpected place. However, if you have seen the Bourne Identity, now you know what inspired this movie.

The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. Nobody said you can’t speak about Dissociative Identity Disorder, which is depicted throughout the film. The main character in this movie has multiple personality states and episodes of amnesia, both of which are symptoms of dissociative identity disorder.

The character has an alternate personality, which is created by anxiety and is overwhelmed by consumerism, which acts as a defensive mechanism against abuse, something that is more consistent with DID. According to others, Fight Club shows how social, cultural and interpersonal forces can result in disassociation.

In this movie, the main character struggles with his mundane life and job, finding peace in attending support groups before finally discovering an underground fight club that spirals out of control. The protagonist in Fight Club develops a dissociative identity to cope with his unfulfilling life - which leads to the creation of Tyler Durden, his alter-ego.

Perks of Being a Wallflower

In this movie, Charlie, the eponymous “wallflower”, experiences symptoms like anger outbursts, feelings of detachment and exaggerated startle responses. He also has flashbacks that take him back to his early childhood, including some memories of being molested by Aunt Helen. Charlie’s PTSD symptoms last for a long time - almost seven months, from December 1991 to June 1992. Charlie gets treated with psychotherapy and eventually regains control of his life. So what caused Charlie’s PTSD, really?

The 15-year-old Charlie is an introvert and is quiet, observant and intelligent, dealing with a lot of childhood trauma. He pens letters to an anonymous friend to narrate the story of his first year of high school. The reader’s knowledge is limited to what Charlie knows about each situation. Charlie eventually comes out of his shell thanks to the relationships he develops with his friends, particularly Sam and Patrick. He learns to come to terms with his friend’s suicide and his own repressed memories of sexual abuse. What is PTSD, which has been so delicately narrated in this story?

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a well-known mental health condition that can develop after someone either experiences or witnesses a traumatic event. Ongoing negative emotions, memory problems, frightening thoughts and memories, sleep issues, feeling numb or detached, outbursts of anger and behaving recklessly. Today, if you are suffering from PTSD, you can get help and treatment and lead a fulfilling life free of mental illness.