Neuropsychological and Medical Disorders

Awakenings Favorite

Genre: Drama Year: 1990 Rating: PG-13

Actors: Robin Williams, Robert DeNiro, Julie Kavner

Topics: 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?

I Am Sam

Genre: Drama Year: 2001 Rating: PG-13

Actors: Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dakota Fanning

Topics: Mental Retardation, Forensic, Family Dysfunction

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.  

[Suggested by Kathleen Krach]

Life as a House

Genre: Drama Year: 2001 Rating: R

Actors: Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, Hayden Christensen

Topics: Family Dysfunction, Terminal Illness, Drugs/Alcohol

Kevin Klein portrays a man diagnosed with terminal cancer and given 4 months to live. He

attempts to rebuild his relationship with his drug-using, life-hating teenage son, while they rebuild

a ramshackle house that was his lifelong goal. [Suggested by Carey Corbett, University of South

Florida]

Long Kiss Goodnight, The

Genre: Drama Year: 1996 Rating: R

Actors: Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, Yvonne Zima

Topics: Amnesia

A typical mom living a normal life, teaches school, and gets a bump on the head, causing her to

begin recalling her past, in which she was a top secret agent! Of course, she has old enemies who

now are out to get her and her old skills come back to her. Her memory recovery is much like

"Gilligan's Island Syndrome," which usually involves 2 coconuts (the first one causes the amnesia,

the second one returns memory) - we must have missed the first coconut.  Not quite a realistic

portrayal of amnesia…

Memento Favorite

Genre: Drama Year: 2000 Rating: R

Actors: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano

Topics: Amnesia

This definitely is a film for those interested in neuropsychology. Leonard has anterograde amnesia

 (he can't form new memories). To compensate, he tattoos notes to himself all over his body. He

is on a quest to find the person who raped and murdered his wife. You'll have to watch this one

closely to follow the plot - it is told in reverse. The attempt to accurately portray anterograde

amnesia should be commended, but there are several points where Leonard acts as if he has

"held" a memory longer than could be working memory alone (e.g., he sleeps between the event

and writing it down). What else can you find that is inaccurate?  What about the failed avoidance

learning by the insurance claimant?

My Left Foot

Genre: Drama Year: 1989 Rating: R

Actors: Daniel Day-Lewis, Brenda Fricker, Alison Whelan

Topics: Family Dysfunction, Disability, Drugs/Alcohol

Academy Award winner for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress.  Great film about childhood

misdiagnosis of cerebral palsy as mental retardation and the difficulties adjusting to an adult life

with disabilities.

My Own Private Idaho

Genre: Drama Year: 1991 Rating: R

Actors: Keanu Reeves, River Phoenix, James Russo

Topics: Narcolepsy, Drugs/Alcohol

Rare is the film that includes narcolepsy, a sleep disorder involving the sudden onset of sleep

(REM stage), lasting seconds to minutes typically. Other symptoms may include cataplexy (where

a person may fall to the floor due to sudden loss of muscle tone, typically during times of strong

emotions, such as intense laughing), hypnogogic or hypnopompic hallucinations (upon falling

asleep or awakening), and sleep paralysis (inability to move for a brief period of time upon

awakening). The film tells the tale of two young men (Keanu Reaves and River Phoenix), who are

street hustlers, selling sex and taking drugs. The Reaves character is from a rich family and

claims this life is only temporary while he attempts to find his biological mother. River Phoenix's

character has narcolepsy, is gay and in love with his friend, and heavily uses drugs, a portrayal

made all the more tragic with the death of River Phoenix himself from multiple drug use in 1993.

Niagara, Niagara

Genre: Drama Year: 1997 Rating: R

Actors: Robin Tunney, Henry Thomas, Michael Parks

Topics: Tourette's, Family Dysfunction

Basically a misfit-lovers-on-the-road film, but with a twist - or should I say twitch? The young

woman has Tourette's syndrome. Both she and the young man (they met while both shoplifting)

have dysfunctional families and the standard "no one who understands them." Robin Tunney does

a great job with her tics and coprolalia (compulsive swearing). Here's a trivia question - in what

very famous film was her partner, Henry Thomas, as child? [Submitted by Rebecca Vauter

Stredny, Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology]

On Golden Pond Favorite

Genre: Drama/Comedy Year: 1981 Rating: PG

Actors: Katherine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda

Topics: Dementia, Family Dysfunction

Academy Award winner for Best Actor and Best Actress. Beautiful story of enduring love in an

elderly couple, the husband's suffering from the early stages of dementia, and its effect on family

members. Acting doesn't get much better than this.

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?

Pi Favorite

Genre: Drama Year: 1998 Rating: R

Actors: Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis, Ben Shenkman

Topics: Psychosis, Neuropsychology

This film is ripe for interpretation - intentionally left that way by the writer/director. The parallels

with "Clean, Shaven" and "A Beautiful Mind" are readily apparent, but is this a  portrayal of

schizophrenia?  How consistent are his symptoms/behaviors with temporal lobe epilepsy, hmmm?

Regarding Henry

Genre: Drama Year: 1991 Rating: PG-13

Actors: Harrison Ford, Annette Benning, Michael Haley

Topics: Neuropsychology, Family Dysfunction, Amnesia

Harrison Ford portrays a survivor of a brain injury. Accurate? I wonder how real survivors feel

about this portrayal. Consider his personality pre and post the brain injury.

Safe House Favorite

Genre: Drama Year: 1998 Rating: R-NR

Actors: Patrick Stewart, Kimberly Williams, Hector Elizondo

Topics: Dementia, Treatment

Patrick Stewart (of Star Trek Next Generation fame) believes that he is an ex-government

intelligence agent who is the only living witness to a cover-up that might allow a corrupt senator to

 become president. He needs to stay alive long enough to bring out the truth, while both the killers

 and his Alzheimer's disease are out to get him.  Although it is a bit uneven (sometimes campy

humor, sometimes quite serious), it is entertaining and has significant content related to

Alzheimer's disease and its impact. [Suggested by Jennifer Jones, Marywood University, PA]

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!

The Madness of King George Favorite

Genre: Drama/Comedy Year: 1994 Rating: R

Actors: Nigel Hawthorne, Helen Mirren, Ian Holm

Topics: Psychosis, Poyphyria

A great movie. Psychosis caused by a metabolic disorder (porphyria).  Look out if you start peeing

 blue!

Tic Code, The

Genre: Drama Year: 1999 Rating: R

Actors: Chris Marquette, Polly Draper, Carol Kane

Topics: Tourette's

Story of a boy with Tourette's Syndrome who becomes an underage jazz pianist. He pairs up with

an accomplished sax player who, ironically, also has Tourette's and has developed strategies for

covering up the symptoms. Interesting contradictions in how each of them views the disorder and

the associated stigma. Think about parallels between Tourette's and Obsessive-Compulsive

Disorder. [Suggested by Rebecca Vauter Stredny, Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical

Psychology]