Hollywood aims for awareness in slew of summer films on mental illness
The Associated Press
Published Wednesday, Aug. 05, 2015 3:28PM EDT
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Hollywood has come a long way since portraying someone with mental illness as a monster, instead bringing characters to the big screen whose mental struggles look more like the ones experienced by many people in everyday life.
The industry’s more realistic approach to such conditions is on abundant display this summer. At least half a dozen recent releases reflect nuanced characters, both real and fictional, facing mental illness.
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Movies have a formative effect on popular concepts of mental illness in our culture, said psychiatry professor Danny Wedding, co-author of Movies & Mental Illness: Using Films to Understand Psychopathology, making accuracy and empathy especially important.
“Films will reach millions of people who will never read a psychology textbook or who will never be in therapy,” he said. “And often times people who don’t read books do go to movies, so I think films have tremendous potential for shaping public attitudes to mental illness.”
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Link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/hollywood-aims-for-awareness-in-slew-of-summer-films-on-mental-illnes