Movies About Mental Illness and What They Taught Me

The Other Half

Plot: A bipolar woman and a grief-stricken man struggle to forge a simple life.

I Smile Back

Laney Brooks does bad things. Married with kids, she takes the drugs she wants, sleeps with the men she wants, disappears when she wants.

Girl, Interrupted

Based on writer Susanna Kaysen’s account of her 18-month stay at a mental hospital in the 1960s.

The Virgin Suicides

A group of male friends become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents in suburban Detroit in the mid-1970s.

Silver Linings Playbook

After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife.

The Babadook

A single mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son’s fear of a monster lurking in the house.

Touched With Fire

Two bipolar patients meet in a psychiatric hospital and begin a romance that brings out all of the beauty and horror of their condition.

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

An introvert freshman is taken under the wings of two seniors who welcome him to the real world.

Melancholia

Two sisters find their already-strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.