Dissociative Disorders

Don't Say a Word

Genre:     Drama                      Year:     2001      Rating:  R

Actors:  Michael Douglas, Sean Bean, Brittany Murphy

Topics:  Treatment, PTSD, Dissociative

The daughter of a psychiatrist is kidnapped and the abductors demand that he break through to a

catatonic girl, who holds the secret to the location of a hidden gem, in order to get his daughter

back. [Suggested by Marcia J. McKinley, Mt. St. Mary's College]

Fight Club

Genre:     Drama                      Year:     1999      Rating:  R

Actors:  Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter

Topics:  Dissociative, Freudian

I thought this was on the list, but Chad Loewen (Trinity Western University) pointed out that it was

missing! 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.

Identity                                                                                                                                   Favorite

Genre:     Drama                      Year:     2003      Rating:  R

Actors:  John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet

Topics:  Dissociative Disorder

A fast moving thriller with a major psychological twist. Another one to watch twice, much like

"Fight Club." Once you know what's going on, how accurate do you think the portrayal is? Does it

perpetuate mental health stigma?

Marnie                                                                                                                                     Favorite

Genre:     Drama                      Year:     1964      Rating:  NR-PG

Actors:  Tippi Hedron, Sean Connery, Diane Baker

Topics:  Impulse Control Disorder, Sexual Disorder, PTSD

There is much to this movie.  It exemplifies classic Hitchcock in its photography, use of color,

psychological storyline.  The psychiatrist role was deleted, with Sean Connery taking over the

lines.  Was this realistic?  Was the ending realistic?  Can you explain the theivery?  What about a

classical conditioning paradigm for the fear of the color red and thunderstorms?  How, today,

would Marnie be treated?

Nurse Betty                                                                                                                           Favorite

Genre:     Drama/Comedy     Year:     2000      Rating:  R

Actors:  Renee Zellweger, Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock

Topics:  Dissociative, Personality Disorder, Trauma

I had a different expectation for this movie, thinking more of a light romantic comedy. Not so.

Perhaps I'm spoiling the director's design in wanting to warn you up front, but there are some

especially violent scenes, often coming unexpectedly. Interpret these in light of the start of Betty's

 fugue state. Plenty to do in comparing Betty and the Morgan Freeman character, as well as Chris

Rock's character.  There is a bit of the Gilligan's Island syndrome again - coconut hit one results in

 bizarre behavior, coconut hit number two fixes it and all is well. If it only were so easy…

Paris, Texas

Genre:     Drama                      Year:     1984      Rating:  R

Actors:  Harry Dean Stanton, Sam Berry, Berhard Wicki

Topics:  Dissociative, Amnesia, Family Dysfunction

Unusual movie about a man who wanders out of the desert with amnesia for his past. He is

reunited with his brother, slowly his memory returns, he develops a relationship with his son, and

eventually he finds his wife. How do you interpret the ending?

Primal Fear

Genre:     Drama                      Year:     1996      Rating:  R

Actors:  Richard Gere, Edward Norton, Laura Linney

Topics:  Forensic, Dissociative, Personality Disorder

Richard Gere as the lawyer defending the altar boy accused of murder. Note the testimony by the

neuropsychologist - within her sphere of expertise? Does Edward Norton accurately portray

Dissociative Identity Disorder?  Pairing this movie with the Frontline documentary, "Mind of a

Murderer" (watch part 2) would allow for significant diagnostic considerations.

Psycho

Genre:     Drama                      Year:     1960      Rating:  R -NR

Actors:  Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, Janet Leigh

Topics:  Psychosis, Dissociative

Classic Hitchcock. Think about Norman's relationship with his mother. Contains one of the most

famous, and SCARY!, shower scenes.

Repulsion

Genre:     Drama                      Year:     1965      Rating:  R

Actors:  Catherine Deneuve, Ian Hendry, John Fraser

Topics:  Sexual Disorder, Dissociative, Psychosis

A Roman Polanski film about a sexually repressed young girl, who becomes psychotic and

homicidal while left alone for a few days in her sister's apartment. [Suggested by Jim Bostwick

and M.A. Goldberg]

Snake Pit, The                                                                                                                      Favorite

Genre:     Drama                      Year:     1948      Rating:  NR-PG-13

Actors:  Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn

Topics:  Treatment, Dissociative

Classic film nominated for many Academy Awards. A young woman is in a state insane asylum

and can't recall how she got there. The climate, patients, and treatments are likely accurate for

their times, as well as the hospital politics and clashing between the treating psychiatrist and his

administrative superiors, even before managed care. Well done portrayal of her inner dialogue.

Not a particularly flattering portrayal of psychiatric nurses, though. What do you think of the

conclusion regarding the causes of her problems? A great movie.

Spellbound                                                                                                                             Favorite

Genre:     Drama                      Year:     1945      Rating:  NR-PG-13

Actors:  Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov

Topics:  Treatment, Amnesia, Dissociative

One of Hitchcock's best. A man shows up at a mental institution, impersonating the new

psychiatrist. He develops a relationship with another psychiatrist, who then realizes that he is

actually not the person he said he is. Great suspense film!

Sybil

Genre:     Drama                      Year:     1976      Rating:  NR-PG

Actors:  Sally Field, Joann Woodward, Brad Davis

Topics:  Dissociative Identity Disorder, PTSD, Treatment

The movie that started it all - virtually no patients diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder

(aka Dissociative Identity Disorder) before this book/film came out. Consider a PTSD diagnosis in

a patient with a general dissociative disorder (I'd argue for a dissociative personality category).

Dr. Henry Spiegel, who also treated Sybil, has spoken out regarding the iatrogenic (doctor-

induced) components of this case.  See http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/speigel.html for

interview with Speigel about Sybil.

The Manchurian Candidate                                                                                             Favorite

Genre:     Drama                      Year:     1962      Rating:  NR-PG

Actors:  Angela Lansbury, Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh

Topics:  Dissociative, Hypnosis

Great film. Assassination plots, hypnosis, and intrigue! See the original.

Three Faces of Eve, The

Genre:     Drama                      Year:     1957      Rating:  NR-PG-13

Actors:  Joanne Woodward, David Wayne, Lee J. Cobb

Topics:  Dissociative, Treatment, Marital Conflict

Academy Award winner for Best Actress. Early story of psychiatric treatment to fuse multiple

personalities. One of the "training films" used by the Hillside Strangler in his attempt to fake

multiple personality disorder (see Frontline's "Mind of a Murderer-Part 2").  Compare with Sybil. 

Consider the etiologies and why The Three Faces of Eve did not spark the boom of MPD diagnoses

 that followed Sybil.  Note the role of passivity (aka Eve White) as an adaptive strategy for coping

with her husband.  Note also the timing of the onset of problems, associated with miscarriage. 

Was the revelation at the end really the cure, in a Freudian sense, or was there progress all


Vertigo                                                                                                                                    Favorite

Genre:     Drama                      Year:     1958      Rating:  PG-13

Actors:  Jimmy Stewart

Topics:  Anxiety, Depression, Personality

This movie tops many "all time favorites" lists.  The story of a police detective, Scottie (also called

 Johnny), who suffers a trauma, developing acrophobia and vertigo, causing him to retire from the

 force.  He is hired by an old college acquaintance to tail his wife, Madeleine, who seems to have

dissociative identity disorder.  Scotty falls in love with her, but can't prevent her from committing

suicide.  Stop reading here if you don't want the plot spoiled…Scotty is traumatized, becomes

catatonic.  Later encounters young woman on the street who looks like Madeleine.  Turns out that

she truly was the Madeleine that Scottie had followed, but she was part of the murder plot of the

real Madeleine, however she really did fall in love with Scottie.  Over time, they date, he remakes

her into Madeleine (hair color, clothing, etc.).  I'll save the rest for you to see.  Did you see Scottie

 as a sympathetic character?  How did you feel about him at the end?  Interesting that Madeleine

was portrayed as being dissociative and Scottie seems to show many signs of dissociative

features, as well, including his two first names…hmmm!  A film to be watched more than once. 

Enjoy!

Whirlpool

Genre:     Drama                      Year:     1949      Rating:  NR-PG-13

Actors:  Jose Ferrer, Gene Tierney, Richard Conte

Topics:  Dissociative, Treatment, Impulse Control Disorder

Classic with Jose Ferrer as the hypnotist getting Gene Tierney, portraying the kleptomaniacal wife

of a psychoanalyst, to do his bidding.