HOW SCHIZOPHRENIA IS

PORTRAYED IN FILMS
PURPORTEDLY ABOUT
SCHIZOPHRENIA
By: Haley Day
Origin of Interest
■ Going to the movies with friends

■ Seeing many depictions of mental disorders

■ Curious in the accurate portrayal of mental

disorders

■ How this affects our perceptions of mental

health
Research
■ Many movies about psychology

■ Portrayal about mental illness and psychologists

– Dr. Dippy’s Sanitarium (1906)

– The Case of Becky (1921)

– The Man Who Saw Tomorrow (1922)

■ Researchers have written about this association for decades

Gabbard & Gabbard (1999)
■ Psychiatry and the Cinema

■ They discuss how portrayal has changed overtime

■ Psychology introduced into films over 100 years ago

– Early decades were negative

– “The Golden Age” (1950s) more positive

– Recent decades (1960s on) mostly negative

Young (2002)
■ Psychology at the Movies

■ Psychological disorders and treatments

often portrayed inaccurately

■ Inaccurate portrayals distort viewers’

perceptions of disorders and treatment

■ No requirement of accurate portrayal in

films
Wahl, Wood, Zaveri, Drapalski and
Mann (2003)
■ Mental illness in children’s films

■ Hold same negative stereotypes as adult films

■ Terms “crazy” and “psycho” to define mental illness

■ More positive physical and social appearances

■ Yet, still violent and referenced poorly

Goodwin (2014)
■ Psychosis in modern horror films
■ Stereotypes and misconceptions of
psychosis and mental healthcare
practices
■ 55 films (2002 – 2012)
■ Checklist of 40 stereotypes
■ Goodwin coded and analyzed the data
himself
■ Concluded horror films create stigmas
due to inaccuracy
– Homicidal maniac
– DID = psychosis
– Unprofessional practitioners
Owen (2012)
■ Content analysis – 41 theatrical films (1990-2010)
■ Stereotypes and misinformation of schizophrenia
■ Coded by Owen’s and her graduate assistant
– Demographics
– Symptoms
– Stereotypes
– Causation
– Treatment
■ Concluded:
– Violent, Low SES, Caucasian males
– Treatment: medication and love
– Negative symptoms not commonly portrayed
– Inconsistences leave space for misinterpretation
My Study
■ Content analysis

■ Analyzed the portrayal of schizophrenia in films supposedly about

schizophrenia

■ Different from Owen’s study:

– More recent films (2001-2017)

– Took steps to researcher bias: blind coders

– Movies not limited to theatrical releases (TV movies, Netflix movies, etc.)

– Use films identified as being about schizophrenia, whether they really

were or not
My Study
■ Purpose
– Descriptive

■ Hypotheses:
– Characters will be portrayed as aggressive and violent
– Many characters will not meet the DSM-5 criteria for schizophrenia
■ List DSM criteria here
■ Add another slide….
– Many characters will display a special gift or talent
– Schizophrenia will often be portrayed as caused by a traumatic event rather
than biology
 Method
■ Examined films described as being about schizophrenia or
psychosis or containing a schizophrenic

■ Sources: Wikipedia, IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, VideoHound

Guide

– Wikipedia & 1 other source

– If not in Wikipedia, 2 of the other sources

■ In English

■ Obtainable (library, interlibrary loan, online streaming)

■ Found 25 movies that met this criteria

 Method
■ Also, had to have a major character with a
mental disorder.

– Major character was defined as

someone who appears in at least four
scenes, averages at least five lines of
dialogue per scene, and whose actions
are integral to the plot

■ 2 movies were removed for failure to meet

these criteria
Method
■ 2 Coders watched all films
– NKU Undergrads; both had taken Abnormal Psychology
– Trained on practice films
– Blind to purpose of study
■ Each watched all 23 films over 9 – 10 weeks
■ Completed Coding Sheet
– Demographics
– Treatment
– Symptoms
– Behaviors
Method
■ I answered the following:

■ Determined if the portrayal of the

schizophrenia correlates with the DSM

criteria

■ Was shown in theaters (100%)

■ If the film was based on a true story

(17.4%)
Results
■ All responses were dichotomous, so for each variable I used a simple

agreement % to determine intercoder reliability

■ For items meeting reliability, percentages were calculated across films

■ Require reliability of .74 or higher to merit further discussion

■ In cases where reliability was less than 100%, I broke ties to determine final

percentages
Results: Character Demographics
■ In 100% of the films, coders indicated there was a major character
with a mental disorder

Gender Race/Ethnicity Age

White 20/23 87% Under 17 0/23 0%

Black 2/23 8.7%
Males 15/23 65.2%
Other 17-24 5/23 21.7%
(Indian) 1/23 4.3%
25-50 15/23 65.2%
Females 8/23 34.8% Hispanic 0/23 0%

Asian 0/23 0% Over 50 3/23 13.0%

Results: Disorder
■ Question about what mental disorder the character had did not
meet reliability

■ Films were purportedly about schizophrenia but it wasn’t clear what

was going on in some of the films

■ However, there was reliability between coders when looking at

specific symptoms
Results: Symptoms
■ There was agreement found with the presence or absence of
schizophrenic symptoms
■ DSM criteria for schizophrenia
- Hallucinations
- Delusions
- Disorganized speech
- Grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior
- Negative symptoms (diminished emotional expression or incoherence)
Results: Symptoms

■ Agreement on whether 2 out of 5 symptoms were displayed or not

■ 78% had a character display 2/5 symptoms

Results: Treatment

■ 65.2% seen by psychology professional

■ 43.5% shown in mental hospital

■ 30.4% were understood to have been in a mental hospital in past

Results: Treatment
■ 39.1% were shown being administered medication
■ 30.4% were shown taking medication
■ 56.5% engaged in other forms of treatment besides medication
• 1/12 – insulin shock
• 1/12 – ECT
• 8/12 – Talk therapy
• 1/12 – Group Therapy
• 1/12 – Behavior Modification
• 5/12 - Other (hypnosis, lobotomy, mirror therapy)
Results: Violence
■ 95.7% were violent towards others

• 100% yelled angrily

• 30.4% used profanity or profane names

• 43.5% shot or stabbed someone

• 8.7% strangled someone

• 17.4% other acts of violence (kidnapping, grabbing, murder)

■ 8.7% were in jail or prison

Results: Violence

■ % of violence towards self

– % self harm
– % suicide attempt
– % suicide
Results: Causation
■ 21.7% of the disorders were understood to have been caused by biology
■ Of the films with characters who met the DSM criteria for schizophrenia 17.4%
– Caused by biology (work on this)
Results: Ability

■ 34.8% displayed some sort of greater than average ability or skill of some type
– Musical
– Dance
– Acting
– Intelligence (Genius)
Results
■ 21.7% were manipulated – comment on some examples
■ 34.8% improved by love – examples
Summary
■ Some of these films that are purportedly about schiz really aren’t
■ Summary of causes…
■ Contrary to statitics…
■ 90% of people with psychotic disorders (especially schizophrenia) are NOT violent
■ Only about 3% of violence in the U.S. is clearly linked to psychological disorders
■ 50% of people diagnosed with schiz. have received no treatment
Things to do differently/Future research