View Into . Chapter ç33 FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES Lawrence E. Frisch Psychiatric Disorders: A Cinematic View Many of the films in this chapter vividly capture the human experience of emotional distress. As you view each film, consider the following questions: N Do the characters in the movies you are watching exhibit any traits of a specific psychiatric disorder? N What societal or cultural attitudes are reflected in the depiction of mental illness, its treatment, and the role of the nurse? N What ethical questions have arisen in the movies you are watching? N How do you react to the characters in each film? Does your knowledge of the field of psychiatric nursing change your response to the film or to its characters? N How would you use the film to help clients, families, populations, or health care staff to better understand mental illness or its treatment? 780 Unit 5 Caring for the Nurse ç. CHAPTER OUTLINE I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977) Clean, Shaven (1993) UNIT 1: FOUNDATIONS FOR PRACTICE Don Juan de Marco (1995) Angel Baby (1995) Chapters 1, 2, and 7: Psychiatric Institutions, Psychiatric Care, Cultural Considerations Chapter 13: The Client Experiencing Depression Down to Earth (1917) The Snake Pit (1948) Day at the Races (1937) Raintree County (1955) Titticut Follies (1964) The Fire Within (1963) King of Hearts (1966) Face to Face (1976) Marat Sade (1966) Despair (1978) One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) The Bell Jar (1979) Network (1976) Ordinary People (1980) The Ninth Configuration (1979) Vincent and Theo (1990) A Man Facing Southeast (1986) Chapter 14: The Client Experiencing Mania The Madness of King George (1994) A Fine Madness (1966) Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy (1996) Animal House (1978) Twelve Monkeys (1995) Mosquito Coast (1986) Being John Malkovich (1999) How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989) Mr. Jones (1993) Chapter 15: The Client Who Is Suicidal UNIT 2: CLIENTS WITH PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) Chapter 10: The Client Undergoing Crisis The Slender Thread (1965) Seventh Veil (1945) Harold and Maude (1971) On the Beach (1959) Ordinary People (1980) Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962) Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981) Chapter 11: The Client Experiencing Anxiety The Big Chill (1983) Caine Mutiny (1954) Vincent and Theo (1990) The Burmese Harp (1956) Chapter 16: The Client Who Abuses Chemical Substances High Anxiety (1977) The Lost Weekend (1945) The Onion Field (1979) I’ll Cry Tomorrow (1955) Johnny Stecchino (1991) The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) The Fear Inside (1992) Days of Wine and Roses (1962) Copycat (1995) Long Days’ Journey into Night (1962) Vertigo (1958/1997) Panic in Needle Park (1971) Chapter 12: The Client Experiencing Schizophrenia The Seven Percent Solution (1976) Mine Own Executioner (1947) I’m Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982) Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) The Verdict (1982) El: This Strange Passion (1952) Educating Rita (1983) Through a Glass Darkly (1961) Clean and Sober (1988) David and Lisa (1962) Postcards from the Edge (1990) The President’s Analyst (1967) Trainspotting (1996) They Might be Giants (1971) Chapter 17: The Client with a Personality Disorder The Story of Adele H (1975) Gone with the Wind (1939) The Tenant (1976) Rebecca (1940) Chapter 33 Friday Night at the Movies 781 A Canterbury Tale (1944) Chapter 22: The Child The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) The 400 Blows (1959) Gypsy (1962) The Effect of Cosmic Rays. (1988) Clockwork Orange (1971) Small Change (1976) Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985) Rain Man (1988) The House of Games (1987) Lorenzo’s Oil (1992) Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1990) Chapter 23: The Adolescent Heavy (1995) Mouchette (1967) Stuart Saves His Family (1995) Gaby: A True Story (1987) Dissociative Disorders (Multiple Personalities) My Left Foot (1989) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) Wildflower (1991) The Three Faces of Eve (1957) Good Will Hunting (1997) Sybil (1976) The Virgin Suicides (2000) Chapter 18: The Client with a Psychosomatic Illness Chapter 24: The Elderly The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934) The Last Laugh (1922) Send Me No Flowers (1964) Kotch (1971) Safe (1995) Harry and Tonto (1974) Chapter 19: The Client with Disorders of Self-Regulation: Gin Game (1984) Sleep Disorders, Eating Disorders, Sexual Disorders Driving Miss Daisy (1989) The Mark (1961) Age Old Friends (1989) The Offence (1973) Children of Nature (1991) The Best Little Girl in the World (1981) A Woman’s Tale (1991) Dreamchild (1985) Chapter 25: Survivors of Violence or Abuse Superstar (1987) Murmur of the Heart (1971) Life is Sweet (1990) Judgment (1990) The Hairdresser’s Husband (1990) Sleeping with the Enemy (1991) Le Cri de la Soie (1996) Witman Fiuk (1997) UNIT 4: NURSING INTERVENTIONS AND TREATMENT MODALITIES UNIT 3: SPECIAL POPULATIONS Secrets of the Soul (1926) Spellbound (1945) Chapter 20: The Physically Ill Client Experiencing Emotional Distress Freud (1962) The Pride of the Yankees (1942) Pressure Point (1962) The Elephant Man (1980) Lilith (1964) The Shadow Box (1980) Frances (1982) Parting Glances (1986) The Dream Team (1989) Beaches (1988) Prince of Tides (1991) Awakenings (1990) Shall We Dance? (1996) Passion Fish (1992) Chapter 21: Forgotten Populations: The Homeless and the Incarcerated ç. COMPETENCIES Short Eyes (1977) This chapter is provided for the student to experience Dead Man Out (1989) learning while enjoying a movie! Remember, learning is possible in many situations: The Fisher King (1991) Invite your friends to watch with you, keep up your skills The Saint of Fort Washington (1993) in observation, and don’t forget the popcorn. 782 Unit 5 Caring for the Nurse something of the experience of human transitions and Acknowledgment human distress. e are grateful to Mary Sherman of Wichita State University for sharing the filmography devel- Woped for her class “Critical Studies in Film: Psy- UNIT 1: FOUNDATIONS FOR PRACTICE chology, Psychiatry, and the Cinema.” Some of these films Chapters 1, 2, and 7: Psychiatric Institutions, have been selected for review in this chapter. Psychiatric Care, Cultural Considerations The films in this section provide an introduction to psychiatric care and its special challenges both in the con- temporary United States and at other times and places. Down to Earth (1917) Douglas Fairbanks Pictures hile only some nurses will practice exclu- A remarkable silent-era film starring the great Dou- sively in psychiatric settings, all will work glas Fairbanks as the “liberator” of a mental institution in closely with clients to help each achieve his which his girlfriend has been placed. The film offers a W marvelous view of a now-distant institutional world or her optimum physical, emotional, and spiritual well- being. The subject of mental health nursing is human through the camera skills of a (then) young Victor Flem- psychological makeup and variation—the normal vari- ing, who went on to direct two immortal films: Gone with eties and the abnormal extremes of the human response the Wind and The Wizard of Oz. to life events. Grief, loss, depression, anxiety, disordered thought, substance use and abuse, these are among the Day at the Races essential human experiences, experiences not just of the (1937) MGM psychiatrically disturbed but also of many individuals at In this Marx Brothers farce Groucho plays a veterin- some time in their lives. The nurse who learns to listen arian who, through a series of not entirely accidental to, understand, empathize with, and provide help for the misunderstandings, becomes chief psychiatrist at an insti- emotional aspects of a client’s life and illness will have at tution for the mentally ill. While neither a lifelike portrayal his or her disposal some of the most powerful tools of a of an earlier era’s mental institutions nor one of the Marx skilled healer. The core of psychiatric mental health Brothers’ greatest, this film is still an amusing spoof on nursing involves the understanding of human experi- psychiatry and the definition of sanity in a bureaucratic ence, an understanding also sought by writers and, in re- society. cent decades, by film makers. The editors and authors of this book feel strongly that there is no better way to un- derstand nursing clients and their varied psychiatric con- Titticut Follies ditions and diagnoses than by entering into their lives (1964) Bridgewater Film Productions through reading literature or by turning down the lights This film is now almost impossible to obtain, though and experiencing the magic world of film. The purpose some libraries may have copies. Titticut Follies is a true- of this chapter is to offer summary descriptions of more life documentary about the squalor and degradation ex- than 100 films, each available on VHS video, that com- perienced by patients at a large public mental institution plement the various sections of the text. Some of these near Boston. The public outcry that director Frederick films were made for television and may be difficult to Wiseman’s film generated on its release gave great impe- find in video rental stores, while others are among the tus to deinstitutionalization. The film is highly disturbing most famous classic films. Some were made decades in its shocking depiction of dehumanization but is a “must ago, and others are as recent as this textbook itself. No see” if it can be located. attempt has been made to censor this list, and many viewers may find the violence or sexuality in a few of King of Hearts the films to be disturbing. The authors have tried to indi- (1966) Compania Cinamatografica Montoro cate which films should be viewed selectively, and it should be possible to choose films from the given list A notable film about a war-torn French town repopu- that are consistently appropriate for adult viewers.