Movies Depicting Mental Illness
Mental illness is the main thematic element of many movies. Yet, IMDB does not include a genre for mental illness. Thus, here is a growing list of movies that specifically deal with mental illness. Because there are so many movies of this type, I cannot hope to list them all. Nonetheless, consider Mental Illness a heretofore repressed genre.
List activity
8.8K views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
26 titles
- DirectorRon HowardStarsRussell CroweEd HarrisJennifer ConnellyA mathematical genius, John Nash made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. But the handsome and arrogant Nash soon found himself on a harrowing journey of self-discovery.Schizophrenia.
- DirectorBetty ThomasStarsSandra BullockViggo MortensenDominic WestA big-city newspaper columnist is forced to enter a drug and alcohol rehab center after ruining her sister's wedding and crashing a stolen limousine.Drug Addiction
- DirectorJoseph GrecoStarsGriffin MinerMarcia Gay HardenDevon GearhartA woman's schizophrenia affects her relationships with her husband and son.Schizophrenia
- DirectorJames MangoldStarsWinona RyderAngelina JolieClea DuVallA directionless teenager, Susanna, is rushed to Claymoore, a mental institution, after a supposed suicide attempt. There, she befriends a group of troubled women who deeply influence her life.Borderline Personality Disorder
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsJack NicholsonLouise FletcherMichael BerrymanIn the Fall of 1963, a Korean War veteran and criminal pleads insanity and is admitted to a mental institution, where he rallies up the scared patients against the tyrannical nurse.
- DirectorNunnally JohnsonStarsJoanne WoodwardDavid WayneLee J. CobbA doctor treats a woman suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder.Multiple Personality Disorder or Dissociative Personality Disorder
- DirectorHarold RamisStarsRobert De NiroBilly CrystalLisa KudrowA comedy about a psychiatrist whose number-one patient is an insecure mob boss.Depression and Anxiety
- DirectorHarold RamisStarsRobert De NiroBilly CrystalLisa KudrowMobster Paul Vitti is released into Dr. Ben Sobol's care, where only more chaos ensues.Depression and Anxiety
- DirectorJodie FosterStarsMel GibsonJodie FosterAnton YelchinA troubled husband and executive adopts a beaver hand-puppet as his sole means of communication.
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsAshley JuddMichael ShannonHarry Connick Jr.An unhinged war veteran holes up with a lonely woman in a spooky Oklahoma motel room. The line between reality and delusion is blurred as they discover a bug infestation.
- DirectorCraig GillespieStarsRyan GoslingEmily MortimerPaul SchneiderA delusional young man strikes up an unconventional relationship with a doll he finds on the Internet.
- DirectorBrad AndersonStarsChristian BaleJennifer Jason LeighAitana Sánchez-GijónAn industrial worker who hasn't slept in a year begins to doubt his own sanity.
- DirectorRand RavichStarsCharlize TheronJohnny DeppJoe MortonAfter an explosion in space and subsequent two-minute radio-out period, two astronauts return home to their wives. Slightly it's revealed that they're not the same as they were.
- DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsVictoria AbrilAntonio BanderasLoles LeónAn unbalanced but alluring former mental patient takes a porn star prisoner in the hopes of convincing her to marry him.
- DirectorJeremiah S. ChechikStarsJohnny DeppMary Stuart MastersonAidan QuinnA mentally ill young woman finds her love in an eccentric man who models himself after Buster Keaton.
- DirectorPhilip KaufmanStarsGeoffrey RushKate WinsletJoaquin PhoenixIn a Napoleonic era insane asylum, an inmate, the irrepressible Marquis De Sade, fights a battle of wills against a tyrannically prudish doctor.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsAnthony PerkinsJanet LeighVera MilesA Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.
- DirectorGus Van SantStarsVince VaughnAnne HecheJulianne MooreA young female embezzler arrives at the Bates Motel, which has terrible secrets of its own.
- StarsJoanne WoodwardSally FieldBrad DavisA young woman whose childhood was so harrowing to her that she developed sixteen different personalities is treated by a doctor.Multiple Personality or Dissociative Personality Disorder
- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsJessica LangeTammy BlanchardRon WhiteA true story of a young woman whose abusive childhood results in her developing a multiple personality disorder.Multiple Personality or Dissociative Personality Disorder
- DirectorJames MangoldStarsJohn CusackRay LiottaAmanda PeetStranded at a desolate Nevada motel during a nasty rain storm, ten strangers become acquainted with each other when they realize that they're being killed off one by one.Multiple Personality or Dissociative Personality Disorder
- DirectorMartin McDonaghStarsColin FarrellWoody HarrelsonSam RockwellA struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster's beloved Shih Tzu.
- DirectorHenry KosterStarsJames StewartWallace FordWilliam H. LynnDue to his insistence that he has an invisible six foot-tall rabbit for a best friend, a whimsical middle-aged man is thought by his family to be insane - but he may be wiser than anyone knows.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsLeonardo DiCaprioEmily MortimerMark RuffaloTeddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, two US marshals, are sent to an asylum on a remote island in order to investigate the disappearance of a patient, where Teddy uncovers a shocking truth about the place.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsF. Murray AbrahamTom HulceElizabeth BerridgeThe life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.
- DirectorHarris GoldbergStarsMatthew PerryLynn CollinsKevin PollakA chronically-depressed screenwriter desperately tries to cure his condition when he meets the girl of his dreams.Depersonalization disorder