List of films about mental disorders

This is a non-exhaustive list of films which have portrayed mental disorders.

Inclusion in this list is based upon the disorder as it is portrayed in the canon of the film, and does not necessarily reflect the diagnosis or symptoms in the real world.

Agoraphobia

• What About Bob? – 1991 – character of Bob Wiley played by Bill Murray
• Copycat – 1995 – character of Helen Hudson played by Sigourney Weaver
• The Aviator – 2004 – character of Howard Hughes played by Leonardo DiCaprio

Antisocial personality disorder

(Antisocial Personality Disorder should also include psychopathy and sociopathy.)

• Badlands – 1973 – character of Kit Carruthers played by Martin Sheen
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest – 1975 – character of Randle McMurphy played by Jack Nicholson
• Wall Street – 1987 – character of Gordon Gekko played by Michael Douglas
• The Talented Mr. Ripley – 1999 – character of Tom Ripley played by Matt Damon
• Training Day – 2001 – character of Alonzo Harris played by Denzel Washington
• Monster – 2003 – character of Aileen "Lee" Wuornos played by Charlize Theron
• Nightcrawler – 2014 – character of Louis Bloom played by Jake Gyllenhaal
• The Invisible Man – 2020 – character of Adrian Griffin played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

• Juno – 2007 – character of Juno MacGuff, played by Elliot Page

Avoidant personality disorder

• Finding Forrester – 2000 – character of William Forrester played by Sean Connery

Bipolar disorder

• Misery – 1990 – character of Annie Wilkes played by Kathy Bates
• Michael Clayton – 2007 – character of Arthur Edens played by Tom Wilkinson
• 3 – 2012 – character of Ram played by Dhanush

Borderline personality disorder

• Play Misty For Me – 1971 – character of Evelyn Draper played by Jessica Walter
• Mommie Dearest – 1981 – character of Joan Crawford played by Faye Dunaway
• Fatal Attraction – 1987 – character of Alex Forrest played by Glenn Close
• Basic Instinct – 1992 – character of Catherine Tramell played by Sharon Stone
• Single White Female – 1992 – character of Hedra Carlson/Ellen Besch played by Jennifer Jason Leigh
• The Crush – 1993 – character of Adrian Forrester played by Alicia Silverstone
• Mad Love – 1995 – character of Casey Roberts played by Drew Barrymore
• Fear – 1996 – character of David McCall played by Mark Wahlberg
• Girl, Interrupted – 1999 – character of Susanna Kaysen played by Winona Ryder
• Thirteen – 2003 – characters of Evie and Tracy played by Nikki Reed and Evan Rachel Wood respectively.
• Notes on a Scandal – 2006 – character of Barbara Covett play by Judi Dench
• Obsessed – 2009 – character of Lisa Sheridan played by Ali Larter
• Silver Linings Playbook – 2012 – character of Tiffany Maxwell played by Jennifer Lawrence
• Welcome to Me – 2014 – character of Alice Klieg played by Kristen Wiig

Conversion disorder

• Tommy – 1975 – character of Tommy played by Roger Daltrey

Dependent personality disorder

• What About Bob? – 1991 – character of Bob Wiley played by Bill Murray

Dissociative identity disorder

• Manichitrathazhu – 1993 – character of Ganga played by Shobana
• Primal Fear – 1996 – character of Aaron Stampler (or Roy) played by Edward Norton
• Split – 2016 – character of Kevin Wendell Crumb played James McAvoy

Folie à deux (shared psychotic disorder)

• Dead Ringers – 1988 – characters of Beverly and Elliot Mantle played by Jeremy Irons
• Bug (2006) – characters of Agnes White played by Ashley Judd and Peter Evans played by Michael Shannon

Kleptomania

• Häxan (1922)
• Klepto (2003)
• De Dhakka (2008) – character of Dhana played by Siddhartha Jadhav.

Narcissistic personality disorder

• Terms of Endearment – 1983 – character of Aurora Greenway played by Shirley MacLaine
• The Boys – 2019 – character of Homelander played by Antony Starr

Obsessive–compulsive disorder

• Aham – 1992 – character of Sidharthan played by Mohanlal
• As Good as It Gets – 1997 – character of Melvin Udall played by Jack Nicholson
• The Aviator – 2004 – character of Howard Hughes played by Leonardo DiCaprio
• North 24 Kaatham – 2013 – character of Harikrishnan played by Fahadh Faasil
• Nitham Oru Vaanam – 2022 – character played by Ashok Selvan

Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder

• The Odd Couple – 1968 – character of Felix Ungar played by Jack Lemmon

Paranoid personality disorder

• The Caine Mutiny – 1954 – character of Philip Francis Queeg played by Humphrey Bogart

Post-traumatic stress disorder

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower – 2012 – character of Charlie Kelmeckis played by Logan Lerman
• Iron Man 3 – 2013 – character of Tony Stark played by Robert Downey Jr.

Schizoaffective disorder

• Terminator 2: Judgment Day – 1991 – character of Sarah Connor played by Linda Hamilton

Schizoid personality disorder

• The Remains of the Day – 1993 – character of Mr James Stevens played by Anthony Hopkins
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – 2002 – character of Gollum
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – 2003 – character of Gollum
• Lars and the Real Girl – 2007 – Lars Lindstrom
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – 2012 – character of Gollum

Schizotypal personality disorder

• Taxi Driver – 1976 – character of Travis Bickle played by Robert De Niro
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – 2005 – character of Willy Wonka played by Johnny Depp
• Harry Potter – 2001 – character of Luna Lovegood played by Evanna Lynch

Schizophrenia

• Alias John Preston – 1955 – although described in the film as Schizophrenia, it actually demonstrates a fugue state
• A Beautiful Mind – 2001 – character of John F. Nash played by Russell Crowe
• Donnie Darko – 2001 – character of Donnie Darko played by Jake Gyllenhaal
• The Voices – 2014 – character of Jerry Hickfang played by Ryan Reynolds
• Words on Bathroom Walls – 2020 – character of Adam Petrazelli played by Charlie Plummer

Stuttering

• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest – 1975 – character of Billy Bibbit played by Brad Dourif
• The King's Speech – 2010 – character of King George VI played by Colin Firth
• Golmaal 3 – 2010 – character of Laxman played by Shreyas Talpade
• It – 2017 – character of Bill Denbrough played by Jaeden Martell

Substance use disorder

• Colossal – 2016 – character of Gloria played by Anne Hathaway

See also

• Mental disorders in fiction

Notes

References

• Danny Wedding, Mary Ann Boyd and Ryan M. Niemiec, Movies and Mental Illness: Using Films to Understand Psychopathology, 2nd ed., Cambridge, MA, Hogrefe & Hufer Publishing, 2005, ISBN 0-88937-292-6. Movies and Mental Illness – Hogrefe Publishing
• David J. Robinson, Reel Psychiatry: Movie Portrayals of Psychiatric Conditions, Rapid Psychler Press, 2003, ISBN 1-894328-07-8.
• Glen O. Gabbard and Krin Gabbard, Psychiatry and the Cinema, American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., 2nd ed., 1999, ISBN 0-88048-964-2.
• Otto F. Wahl, Media Madness: Public Images of Mental Illness, Piscataway, NJ, Rutgers University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-8135-2213-7.