PSYC 255 Paper: Mental Illness in Film
Length: 5-6 pages (minimum)
Directions: Choose a film and character (suffering from a psychological disorder) from the movie list
provided. The purpose of this paper is to research and describe in great detail the mental illness (i.e.
symptoms, treatment, etc.) and the diagnosis of the character you have been selected.
Resources Required (minimum of 5):
1. Textbook
2. DSM-IV-TR Diagnostic Criteria for disorder (found online)
3. (2) resources providing NEW information about disorder
4. (1) resource providing NEW information about Treatment
Format: The following areas of your paper must be written in APA format:
o Cover Page
o In-Text Citations (information not properly cited is plagiarism)
o Reference Page
o Size 12-font, Times New Roman, Double-Spaced, 1-inch margins
o Please refer to the APA Format Handout located on Blackboard (under “Course
Documents”) to assist you in understanding how to use APA format
 If you have problems or questions... send me an email!
(jarmstrong@northampton.edu)
Layout:
1. Introduction: (1-2 paragraphs)
2. Explanation of Disorder: (1-2 pages)
 Diagnostic criteria & explanation of symptoms
 Cause of Disorder
 Prevalence
2. Brief Summary: (1-2 paragraphs)
 Briefly summarize the movie and the character you have chosen.
3. Diagnosis of your Character: (1-2 pages)
 Diagnosis: Using the textbooks, diagnostic criteria from DSM-IV-TR, and other
resources, explain (in great detail) your diagnosis for your character. Please include
as many specific examples from the film as possible that contribute to your
explanation of the diagnosis.
 Give your opinion of the movie (whether or not you feel it accurately portrays the
disorder; is the disorder “hollywoodized” in the film?)
 VERY IMPORTANT: Please include your own personal insights and opinions from
your research, making your own suggestions and inferences about the issues it
addresses. Take the ideas provided from the film, textbook, and online resource and
apply them to how you see the world, how it changes the way you see things or
validates your previous beliefs.
4. Treatment: (1-2 pages)
 Describe available treatments for the disorder
 Describe what (if any) treatments were used in the film.
 Create and describe what you think would be the best/most successful treatment plan
for your character.
5. Conclusion: (1-2 paragraphs)
Film
Character
Actor
Disorder
The Aviator
Prozac Nation
Mr. Jones
A Beautiful Mind
Matchstick Men
As Good as it Gets
Boys Don’t Cry
Frankie & Alice
Reign Over Me
Adam
The Hours
Howard Hughes
Elizabeth Wurtzel
Mr. Jones
John Nash
Roy Waller
Melvin Udall
Brandon Teena
Frankie
Charlie Fineman
Adam Raki
Virginia Woolf
Laura Brown
Clarissa Vaughan
Sybil Dorsett
Sam Dawson
Joseph “Jacknife”
Ben Sanderson
Dennis “Spider”
David Spritz
Walter
Dan
Peter Winter
Will Dormer
Patrick Bateman
Max Cady
Nathaniel Ayers
Leonardo DiCaprio
Christina Ricci
Richard Gere
Russell Crowe
Nicolas Cage
Jack Nicholson
Hilary Swank
Halle Berry
Adam Sandler
Hugh Dancy
Nicole Kidman
Julianne Moore
Meryl Streep
Sally Field
Sean Penn
Robert Deniro
Nicolas Cage
Ralph Fiennes
Nicolas Cage
Kevin Bacon
Heath Ledger
Peter Greene
Al Pacino
Christian Bale
Robert Deniro
Jamie Foxx
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Major Depression
Bipolar Disorder
Schizophrenia
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Gender Identity Disorder
Dissociative Identity Disorder
PTSD
Asperger’s Syndrome
Major Depression
Sybil
I Am Sam
Jacknife
Leaving Las Vegas
Spider
The Weather Man
The Woodsman
Candy
Clean, Shaven
Insomnia
American Psycho
Cape Fear
The Soloist
Dissociative Identity Disorder
Mental Retardation
PTSD
Alcohol Dependence
Schizophrenia
Dysthymia
Pedophilia
Opioid Dependence
Schizophrenia
Primary Insomnia
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Schizophrenia