En La Cama

Daniela tells Bruno she "had bulimia once" and describes vomiting after eating. She tells him she was an "expert at vomiting." (1:05)

Bulimia Nervosa

The Hangover

Alan, Phil and Stu awaken in a hotel room with no memory of the night before.

The emergency department doctor tells Phil he found "rufalin" in his blood, the "data rape drug" (0:35).

Alan tells Stu and Phil he thought he had purchased ecstasy to put in the drinks (0:56).

"One of the side effects of ruffies is memory loss." (0:58)

Leftover flunitrazepam goes into a raw steak to anesthetize the tiger (1:01).

Another reference to ruffies and ecstasy (1:21). 

blackout | flunitrazepam

The Boss of It All

We here that Mette's husband hanged himself with a printer cable because he "couldn't take being excluded" (0:54). We often see Mette crying while she works (0:55). 

Bereavement | suicide

The Third Man

Holly arrives in Vienna only to discover that his friend Harry has been killed in a motor vehicle accident. Harry's lover Anna says, "I want to be dead too" (0:18)

Bereavement | suicide

Lilo & Stitch

Lilo has lost her parents in a motor vehicle accident.

Bereavement

Pusher II: With Blood on My Hands

(Pusher)

Tonny returns to his life of crime after release from prison, hoping for support from his abusive criminal father, and discovering that he himself now has an infant son. Will Tonny offer his son a better upbringing than his father provided him? Tonny has recovered from a head injury. Does that explain his behavior or how easily others manipulate him?

With all the use of cocaine and marijuana the minimal appearance of intoxication surprised me. Does that coincide with reality?

Tonny snorts coke with a straw (0:10; 12), seems to suffer from Substance-Induced Sexual Dysfunction. He snorts lines on his hand (0:17). Another character snorts lines with Tonny (0:37). Tonny starts to snort, but Kurt warns him it is "speed mixed with rat poison (1:11). The women snort cocaine (1:06), and after the men stop Tonny from strangling Charlotte, she and Gry try to save cocaine spilled on the floor (1:08).

Charlottes asks Tonny for a joint (0:30). Charlotte and Gry smoke a joint (1:29). Gry, after snorting from the table, bleeds from her nose (1:30).

cannabis | cocaine | joint | multigenerational transmission | Substance-Induced Sexual Dysfunction

Pusher III - I'm the Angel of Death

Critic's Choice

At a fathers vs. sons baseball game Von Hagedorn announces that he is a doctor and helps Parker with his back strain (0:15). He lives in the same Manhattan apartment building as Parker, and his son and Parker's son John are friends. Can you think of any other film in which a psychiatrist acts in a general medical capacity not specifically associated with psychiatry?

Dion says, "Don't worry. I brought a good supply of Benzedrine" (0:44).

Feeling the need to talk about his problem Parker goes to Von Hagedorn's home office, complete with psychoanalyst's couch (1:01). When he seems anxious while recounting a nightmare involving an airplane, the analyst pulls a seat belt from under the couch and fastens it around his patient (1:04). Does this impromptu "session" constitute a boundary violation? (Many psychotherapists use apartments, sometimes the ones in which they also live, as offices, especially in Manhattan.)

In a conversation between Dion and Parker psychoanalysis comes up twice, and Parker makes a reference to ink blots. "I've been through analysis" (1:09).

amphetamine | boundaries | psychiatrist | psychoanalysis | psychoanalyst

Hanging Up

Spoiler Alert!

From oldest to youngest, sisters Georgia, Eve, and Maddy face the possible loss of their father Lou, each in her own way, but Eve takes on the lion's share, and conflict ensues.

When they roll him into the hospital in a wheel chair Lou appears partially confused and disoriented with impaired memory and emotional lability. He even mistakes Eve for another woman (0:24). Does he confabulate as well?

We hear that Lou attempted suicide by overdose of Percodan after his wife left him (0:25, 0:34).

After Lou dies the daughters appear to reconcile. Does birth order explain the differences in roles and relationships to their father among the three?

amnesia | Bereavement | confabulation | Dementia | disorientation | family constellation | labile affect | oxycodone | suicide

Rebel Without a Cause

Spoiler Alert!

We discover early that Plato suffers from some kind of emotional or behavioral problem when a detective asks him why he shot the puppies (0:08) and whether he ever talked to a psychiatrist (0:09). He answers with a question, "You mean a head shrinker?" And later (1:22) he answers the original question, "I went to a head shrinker."

We never meet either of Plato's parents, but we learn that they have abandoned him. On the other hand, we see repeated glimpses of emotional process in Jim's and Judy's families. Jim seems bothered by his perception that his mother and his paternal grandmother "make mush out of" his father (0:15), and he begs his father to "stand up" for him. What else could we hypothesize about the workings of either family?

Judy tell Jim she felt "numb" after Buzz dies accidentally while playing chicken with Jim. How likely is it that this symptom heralds Acute Stress Disorder? What about Plato and Jim? Would either qualify for a diagnosis? Might we better explain these cases in family systemic terms rather than in terms of individual pathology?

In the end, despite Jim's and Judy's heroic efforts, Plato dies after a trigger-happy cop shoots him unnecessarily.

Bereavement | emotional process

Last Tango in Paris

Paul has lost his wife to suicide.

Bereavement | suicide

The Big Lebowski

#biglebowski

"Dude" Lebowski smoking marijuana joints (0:23, 1:05), with a roach clip (0:54, 1:28).

cannabis | joint

Duma

Spoiler Alert!

Young Xia not only suffers the loss of his father to illness, but must return his beloved cheetah to the wild.

Bereavement

World's Greatest Dad

Spoiler Alert!

Lance walks in on his son Kyle engaged in auto erotic asphyxiation in his room, reacting as though he believes Kyle has killed himself (0:02).

Lance smokes a joint on the porch (0:25 ), while writing (1:06)

Lance finds Kyle dead from auto erotic asphyxiation in his room (0:36). He composes a suicide note and rearranges the evidence to give the appearance that Kyle hanged himself (0:39).

The principal introduces Dr. Pentola, psychotherapist and grief counselor, to Lance (0:44).

Lance brings brownies laced with marijuana to his neighbor (0:48). When she reluctantly lets him enter, he discovers her home is filled with stacks of old newspapers (0:49).

When a newspaper publishes Kyle's ersatz suicide note, all who knew and disliked him react (0:51).

Dr. Pentola talks to Lance about suicide (1:04).

A male student confides to Lance that he almost killed himself (1:26).

Would watching this film help parents to stop blaming themselves when their children disappoint them or to know that a parent can dislike her child but still love him?

Bereavement | cannabis | cluttering | hoarding | joint | psychotherapist | suicide

Easy Virtue

Spoiler Alert!

Jim's demeanor with his apparent apathy and disinterest suggest pervasive and persistent depressed mood. We discover the loss of all his men in the war affected him profoundly, but we see no other suggestion of PTSD.

Larita stood trial for the murder of her husband and was acquitted. First describing his death as suicide (1:16), she later admits that she injected "poison into his veins" because he was too feeble to do so himself as he lay dying of cancer, and because she loved him so much.

depression | Posttraumatic Stress Disorder | suicide | survivor guilt

A Christmas Tale

Spoiler Alert!

Junon, who already lost her first born son Joseph to leukemia (0:00) must find a bone marrow donor to treat her Burkitt's lymphoma. Her 16 year old grandson Paul who suffers from Schizophrenia (0:34) and her son Henri (Junon's middle child, an alcoholic) prove "compatible" potential donors. Henri's wife Madeleine was killed in a motor vehicle accident after only 6 months of marriage (0:47).

Elizabeth (Junon's second chilld) tells her psychotherapist she hates him (0:04, 0:10). Transference? She rescues Henri from a financial debacle on the condition that she will never see him again (0:08), introducing us to the intense family dynamics. We discover that Junon too dislikes Henri, but we can only guess how this comes about.

Paul, upset after hearing about his grandmother's illness, threatens his mother Elizabeth with a knife. After an unidentified man disarms him he almost jumps to his death in the stairwell (0:14), but the man stops him and an ambulance takes him to a psychiatric hospital (0:12) where he tells his uncle Ivan (Junon's youngest) that people can read his thoughts because of antennae attached to his head. We see some other evidence of his illness. In one scene he hallucinates a black, wolf-like dog (0:36), and he describes the experience later (2:11). He tell his uncle, "I take Haldol" (0:40). We see a handwritten list of Paul's medications (mostly antipsychotic) surrounded by a syringe and blister packs ():53): Neuleptil, Tercian, Loxapac, Leponex, Sulfarlem (tartrazene). Would we consider this polypharmacy? Maybe some are left over from failed trials. Paul must appear before a committee in a "Child Psychiatry" wing to seek approval to serve as a bone marrow donor (1:04).

A physician tells Henri he may go into "DT's" during the bone marrow aspiration procedure (1:16).

Invites speculation about sibling configuration and roles: Ivan, youngest, became the replacement child. Henri, middle child, became the black sheep. He was also youngest, and the only other boy, during Joseph's illness and death. He was at home with  his mother and his older sister while father Abel stayed with dying Joseph at the hospital. Elizabeth appears to have achieved most, having written 5 plays, but asks her father why she so often feels sad.

antipsychotic | Bereavement | clozapine | combination pharmacotherapy | cyamemazine | hallucination | haloperidol | loxapine | pericyazine | polypharmacy | psychiatric hospital | psychotherapist | psychotherapy | Schizophrenia | sibling configuration | suicide | thought broadcasting

The Earrings of Madame de...

Madame de tells her lover, Count Donati that it will be suicide for him to go through with the duel with her husband, the general who is an excellent shot and will almost certainly kill him (1:34). Could this be the 19th century version of suicide by cop?

suicide

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

While filibustering Smith collapses in the Senate chamber and finally unable to live with his corruption Sen. Paine leaves the chamber, gunshots ring out, and the gun he has tried to shoot himself with is wrestled away from him before he returns to the chamber to say he does not deserve to live (2:08).

suicide

Water

Spoiler Alert!

Kalyani, having given up hope of marrying Narayan, walks into the river (1:35). With the primary breadwinner of the ashram (brothell?) gone Didi has the pimp take 8 year old Chuyia to Narayan's father. When she returns she appears to be in a state of shock.

Sexual Abuse of Child | suicide

Georgia

The question I found myself asking: What defined the conflict between these two sisters? Was it Sadie's substance abuse or personality clash? Did birth order or family emotional process contribute? Does Sadie have a personality disorder? If so, which one?

Dad appears only twice (once as Sadie's hallucination during opiate detox 1:37), and we hear nothing of Mom.

Sadie and her fellow musicians frequently appear intoxicated, but we see more drinking than drug use. With Sadie, unless she is withdrawing, we can barely draw the line.

Numerous brief references to drugs: Sadie talks about Trucker's joints (0:16). Sadie mentions "blow" to Herman (0:31). Herman mentions "smack" (1:01). Morning glory seeds (1:02).

While generally we cannot tell which drug or combination a character has used, in one scene Sadie and Jasmine, both intoxicated, lie in bed next to a table with a syringe. Jasmine mentions detox and says, "Don't touch my 'wake up'," apparently referring to the dose, presumably of heroin, he has prepared for morning (1:29).

Sadie appears to be withdrawing from heroin in an airport (1:31) where she waits for a flight to a hospital for detox. At the hospital, presumably a rehabilitation facility, a nurse explains she will give Sadie "Valium" as well as clonidine (mispronounced) patches "for the heroin" (1:35).

alcoholism | addiction | clonidine | detoxification | diazepam | hallucination | heroin | Intoxication | Opioid Intoxication | Opioid Withdrawal

Pusher

Many scenes include drug deals: (0:04, 0:35)

Cocaine use: Frank snorts lines with a straw (0:07); Frank gives Vic a snort of cocaine, then tastes some on his knife (0:57); Frank snorts lines of cocaine prepared on a toilet tank (0:58); Frank snorts powder while driving (1:25)

Heroin use: the Swede tastes brown heroin (0:27); Radovan taste tests for heroin (1:16); Vic injects, presumably heroin, into her arm using a tourniquet and syringe while sitting on a toilet (1:05); man taste tests heroin (1:41)

Suicide: A man shoots himself in the head with a shotgun to avoid the brutal consequences of failing to pay for drugs (0:53)

cocaine | heroin | suicide

Pusher II: With Blood on My Hands

The Celebration

Spoiler Alert!

Helge's 60th birthday celebration becomes the occasion for Christian, his son, to betray to the large gathering the family secret that Helge sexually abused the children, presumably contributing to the recent suicide of Christian's twin sister. Fertile ground for hypotheses about family emotional process and roles played by each of the siblings.

Bereavement | denial | emotional process | family secrets | suicide | Sexual Abuse of Child

Bright Star

John Keats' brother Tom dies after a prolonged illness (0:21).

Her sister says, "Fanny wants a knife... to kill herself," over a disappointment in her relationship with Keats. We see she has already injured her wrist although with little bleeding (1:03).

Mr. Brown tells the Brawne family that John Keats has died (1:48). We could have predicted Fanny's reaction.

Bereavement | sucide

My Sister's Keeper

Spoiler Alert!

Kate is dying of leukemia, but the judge's daughter has already died in a motor vehicle accident, and Kate's friend Taylor dies soon after they have become intimate (1:01).

Kate says that because of her illness no one noticed that her brother Jesse was "dyslexic" (0:26).

Kate's mom Sara refuses to accept that Kate will die (0:40).

In court Jesse betrays her confidence that "Kate wants to die" (1.23).

Aside from Sara's denial, does the film illustrate any other of Kübler-Ross' stages of grief?

Bereavement | denial

Bridge to Terabithia

Spoiler Alert!

Jesse suffers the tragic loss of his friend Leslie, who apparently falls from a rope swing while attempting to cross the stream to Terabithia without him.

Bereavement

Bogus

After his mother dies in a motor vehicle accident seven year old Albert flies East alone to stay with the closest he has to a relative, his mom's foster sister Harriet. On the plane he conjures up Bogus, a companion who not only supports him through the pain of adjustment to the loss of his mother, but helps Harriet rearrange her priorities.

Would this qualify as a corrective emotional experience for Harriet?

Bereavement | corrective emotional experience | hallucination

Waiting for the Messiah

Sarah (Sarita), Ariel's mother, Simon's wife, dies.

Ariel remembers her (0:28). Simon talks to her at the grave (1:02). Simon tells Laura what he misses most about Sarah (1:19).

Bereavement

Single White Female

Spoiler Alert!

David Robinson, MD in Reel Psychiatry uses Hedra as an example of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). While I agree this character displays some such characteristics I believe trauma associated with the loss of her twin sister might better explain her behaviors.

In the opening scene (0:00) we see twins at play. Hedra tells Allison her sister was stillborn (0:19), but Allison discovers a photo of the twins and a newspaper clipping about one drowning at age 9 (0:53).

We first see evidence that Hedra might suffer from mental illness when we see her pills (0:18, 1:35). When Hedra talks to her father on the phone he refers to a "doctor" (1:07).

Let's look at the criteria for BPD: Hedra does engage in "numerous physical fights" but these do not seem to arise out of "displays" of temper. Does Hedra's attempt to dress and look like Allison reflect identity disturbance, or was her need to mimic Allison (0:25, 0:44, 0:52) an attempt to replace her twin and undo her death? Hedra does react to threats of loss of Allison with anger or sullen behavior (0:31), but should we equate this with fear of abandonment? 

But some criteria for BPD seem completely absent. I see no evidence of "chronic feelings of emptiness," or paranoia or dissociation. Almost all her behavior seems calculated rather than impulsive, for example when she drops the puppy to its death (0:41). Hedra goes to great lengths in attempting to maintain her relationship with Hedra, but can we describe this as "frantic?" Neither does she seem to exhibit alternation "between extremes of idealization and devaluation" even of Allison (Hedra does criticize Allison for being "weak": 1:06). Hedra never tries to kill herself or engage in self-mutilation. When we see her composing a suicide note while taking pills we see Allison keying the text into her computer (1:35). Hedra appears intent on killing Allison, but leaving the appearance that Allison killed herself.

Robinson describes Hedra's commission of "murders and assaults" as a response to feeling abandoned, but in fact she assaults Graham (1:02) with no obvious intent to kill him and only after he approaches her, and when she kills Sam, the circumstances are similar. In fact his death (1:13) when she strikes him in the eye with the stiletto heel of a shoe seems accidental. It seems unlikely she would have the skill needed to accomplish this on purpose. Furthermore, nothing leads us to believe she wanted to kill him. She does murder Allison's client, but she has no reason to fear that he will take Allison away from her. In fact she may have assaulted him to protect Allison, then killed him to get him out of the way and to protect herself.

Is there a connection between childhood trauma and Borderline Personality Disorder? How often does BPD occur in twins? Were Hedra's expressed jealousy (1:37) of and hostility toward her twin an attempt to reduce her pain, or were they the emotions that might have motivated Hedra to drown her sister? Even if she did kill her twin she might have suffered from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and survivor guilt (Hedra's parents tell Allison Hedra never forgave herself for surviving: 1:44). Once more, however, criteria are wanting. We see no evidence of reexperiencing, avoidance or increased arousal. Hedra does seem to displace her envy of her twin onto Allison (0:33).

We should consider the possibility that our ability to understand behavior and emotion in psychological terms may not always imply the existence of a mental disorder. This film should also serve as a reminder how easy it can be to vilify by diagnosis. Too often I have heard "Borderlines" defined as problem patients or patients professionals dislike. Maybe the treatment providers, not the patients, should own that problem.

Bereavement | Borderline Personality Disorder | Posttraumatic Stress Disorder | suicide | survivor guilt

Precious

How can a child so horribly mistreated, and with no exposure to any semblance of love, reveal such strength of character, and apparently know what her own children need, even with the care provided her late in her teens by teachers and others?

Precious goes in her mind to a fantasy of her celebrity while her own father rapes her (0:07). Dissociation?

In almost every interaction with her Precious' mother verbally and/or physically abuses her, starting around 0:11.

Precious contemplates suicide: "Sometimes I wish I was dead." (019) What keeps her alive?

Looking in a mirror obese Precious sees a slender, blond haired, Caucasian woman (0:22).

Flashbacks to incidents of abuse (0:36)? Are there other signs of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?

When her mother sends her to "Welfare" to get money for her, Precious tells the social worker, "I see vampires telll me I'm one of them... leave dirty tampons in the garbage..." (0:50). We see no other evidence of psychosis. What motivates her to make up this story?

Precious' mother describes to the social worker her jealousy when Precious' father showed sexual interest in Precious instead of her, hated her for it, and allowed the abuse to continue (1:35).

dissociation | flashback | obesity | Physical Abuse of Child | Sexual Abuse of Child | suicide