Name:_______________________________ Block:____ Date:___________________ PSYCHOLOGY: ANALYTICAL RESEARCH PAPER Objective – Compare & contrast the real effects of the psychological disorder(s) shown in the film. DIRECTIONS: In this assignment you will choose one film related to Psychology and complete a well- developed analytical research paper, based on both the film of your choice, and a profile of the psychological disorder(s) depicted in the film. Pay close attention while taking notes during the film to help you with both assignments. You will also do in depth research on your films topic online to see how the actual events compare to the film. Your paragraphs should correspond to the format below. Format: 1. Introduction with a thesis statement. 2. After viewing the film describe what the movie is about. What is the key plot in the film? Who are the characters in the film? 3. Explain how the psychological disorder(s) in the film are accurately and/or inaccurately portrayed in the film through your in depth online research. 4. Describe (in depth) the causes/effects and other related information associated with the disorder. 5. Conclusion. Explain your own opinion of the film. Would you recommend it? Why or why not? Additional Requirements: 1. Notes taken during movie 2. 3 full pages, MLA format 3. Typed, double spaced, 12 font, Times New Roman, 1 inch margins 4. Well written with proper grammar, spelling etc. 5. Well researched with accurate information 6. Works cited page (minimum of 3 online sources) 7. Presentation of Paper Parental Advisory – Some films on this list are Rated R and need parental permission. Film Choices - http://www.psychmovies.com/ How to find a film? Netflix, home movie collection, local library, borrow from a friend, YouTube. FILM CHOICES *Parental Advisory – Some films on this list are Rated R and need parental permission. You may also choose a film from the list at the following website - http://www.psychmovies.com/ Adam Genre: Drama Year: 2009 Rating: PG-13 Actors: Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne Topics: Psychopathology, Neuropsychology This is one of the few films dealing with Asperger's Syndrome in an adult. The portrayal is well-done and the plot is not contrived. Moral of the story - what is abnormal and dysfunctional in one setting may be highly adaptive and prized in another. Analyze This Genre: Comedy Year: 1999 Rating: R Actors: Robert DeNiro, Billy Crystal, Lisa Kudrow Topics: Psychopathology, Treatment, Anxiety Disorder I really liked this movie. The portrayal of mixed anxiety and depression (delayed onset PTSD?) is terrific. Unfortunately, the movie also demonstrates how not to be an ethical psychiatrist (can you count the number of ways that he violates confidentiality?), but he still is effective (if you believe in the therapeutic miracle of sudden insight). As Good As It Gets Genre: Drama/Comedy Year: 1997 Rating: PG-13 Actors: Jack Nicholson, Greg Kinnear, Helen Hunt Topics: Psychopathology, OCD, Personality Disorder, Social Academy Award winner for Best Actor and Best Actress. Jack Nicholson with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, as well as plenty of Axis II. Also addresses bias (homophobia) and attitude change. Really great movie. Awakenings Genre: Drama Year: 1990 Rating: PG-13 Actors: Robin Williams, Robert DeNiro, Julie Kavner Topics: Psychopathology, Neuropsychology, Treatment Wonderful movie. Based on Oliver Sacks' clinical cases. L-dopa's effects on encephalitis lethargica. Interesting glimpse inside a mental hospital in the 1960s. Why do you think paranoia/psychosis developed after prolonged L-dopa treatment? Neuronal supersensitivity? And what about Dr. Sacks' interpersonal anxieties - social phobia? Asperger's? A Beautiful Mind Genre: Drama Year: 2001 Rating: PG-13 Actors: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly Topics: Psychopathology, Treatment, Schizophrenia, Marital/Family Dynamics, Stress and Coping Academy Award winner for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress. Russell Crowe portrays Nash, a brilliant mathematician. There is a major plot twist. What do you think this movie did for public perception of schizophrenia? Conspiracy Theory Genre: Drama Year: 1997 Rating: R Actors: Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, Patrick Stewart Topics: Psychopathology, Personality Disorders Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts - good combo, but realistic movie? Mel is paranoid, conspiracies everywhere, but once in awhile, "just like a stopped clock," (wonderful analogy from Roger Ebert) he's right. There also is a government psychiatrist (are his treatments therapeutic?!). Diagnosis for Mel? Don Juan DeMarco Genre: Drama/Comedy Year: 1995 Rating: PG-13 Actors: Johnny Depp, Marlon Brando, Faye Dunaway Topics: Psychopathology, Psychotic Disorders, Treatment, Marital/Family Dynamics Johnny Depp (one of my favorites) believes that he is the great lover, Don Juan. He is treated by therapist, Marlon Brando, who, as often happens in the movies, is really treated by his patient. Fight Club Genre: Drama Year: 1999 Rating: R Actors: Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter Topics: Psychopathology, Dissociative Disorders, Personality Theory The film can be considered to be the personification of Edward Norton's psyche. After you've seen it once, watch it again once you know what to look for. Not your classic psychosis/dissociative personality disorder movie. Girl, Interrupted Genre: Drama Year: 1999 Rating: R Actors: Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Clea DuVall Topics: Psychopathology, Mood Disorders, Personality Disorders, Treatment Academy Award winner for Best Supporting Actress. I really enjoyed this movie! I suspect that the "Borderline" diagnosis given to Susanna more appropriately refers to her psychotic depression, with the former use of the term referring to the zone between neurosis and psychosis, i.e., on the "borderline" of psychosis. "Lisa" demonstrates a good manic, and seems more of today's "Borderline Personality Disorder" than the movie's Antisocial Personality Disorder diagnosis. What do you think? Good Will Hunting Genre: Drama Year: 1999 Rating: R Actors: Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck Topics: Psychopathology, Personality Disorders, Treatment Academy Award winner for Best Supporting Actor and Writing. Robin Williams provides psychological treatment for the main character. Some ethical violations, and at first seems like too much self-disclosure, but it served a therapeutic purpose. I'm not quite sure that the catharsis depicted truly would have cured both the Axis I and II disorders depicted in the untreated - "bad (?) " Will Hunting. Academy award winner. Harold and Maude Genre: Drama/Comedy Year: 1971 Rating: PG Actors: Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Vivian Pickles Topics: Psychopathology, Mood Disorders, Marital/Family Dynamics A rich, 20-year-old man obsessed with death meets an elderly woman at a funeral and develops his first meaningful relationship. Involves faked suicides, and a real one, but are the characters actually depressed? Instinct Genre: Drama Year: 1999 Rating: R Actors: Cuba Gooding, Jr., Anthony Hopkins, Donald Sutherland Topics: Psychopathology, Treatment, Forensic Cuba Gooding, Jr. as a young psychiatrist tasked to perform an evaluation on Anthony Hopkins, an anthropologist who had been living as a primitive man among the gorillas he had been studying. Hopkins is indicted for murder, after he killed the men who were trying to "save" him from the gorillas. I Am Sam Genre: Drama Year: 2001 Rating: PG-13 Actors: Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dakota Fanning Topics: Psychopathology, Neuropsychology, Forensic, Marital/Family Dynamics, Social Sean Penn portrays a man with mental retardation fighting for custody of his 7-year-old child. Sam's group of friends are entertaining - two are truly developmentally disabled - his close neighbor is agoraphobic. His lawyer is the stereotypical overworked yuppie professional woman, estranged from her family. The film is a classic tearjerker. Despite significant research for the film (watch the supplemental documentary), how realistic were the events? Did he take her to a pediatrician? Did the pediatrician have any concerns about his care? Was that a realistic portrayal of cross-examination of an expert witness? Could Sam really have afforded the apartment at the end in Los Angeles, making somewhere around $8/hour? What really was in the best interest of the child? Was the opposing attorney all that wrong? Many things to consider. Little Miss Sunshine Genre: Comedy/Drama Year: 2006 Rating: R Actors: Steve Carrell, Abigail Breslin, Greg Kinnear Topics: Psychopathology, Mood Disorders, Developmental, Marital/Family Dynamics, Stress and Coping This is a fantastic, quirky movie full of material and comedic moments. There is the brother, Steve Carrell, who is recently released from a psychiatric facility after making a suicide attempt, the teen son who has selective mutism, the narcissistic father, the disinhibited grandfather, the mother who tries to keep it all together, and the girl who miraculously floats through this chaos, demonstrating remarkable optimism and coping. Despite seeming dysfunction, this family works; they come through for each other at just the right moments. Of Mice and Men Genre: Drama Year: 1992 Rating: R Actors: John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, Ray Walston Topics: Neuropsychology, Personality Disorders, Moral Development The classic Steinbeck story directed by and starring Gary Sinise. Story of two cousins during the depression, working to get by - George with his brains, Lenny with his brawn. Consider the diagnosis