Getting lost in a fantastic movie can be a healing diversion when you're struggling with the blues. Movies can help teach friends and family members about the symptoms of depression and other severe mental diseases.
It's possible that the prevalence of stories featuring depressed, anxious, or manic characters stems from the fact that mental illness may create an engaging dramatic atmosphere. Psychiatry provides a wealth of fascinating material for producers, actors, and writers to work with. Here are 7 movies that could be a therapeutic distraction.
INSIDE OUT (2015)
Inside Out is an animated children's movie about an 11-year-old girl who moves to San Francisco from her Midwest home. According to Michael Damioli, LCSW, CSAT, clinical director of Colorado Medication Assisted Recovery (CMAR), the movie "does a fantastic job exploring how emotions can impact a person." According to him, "it gives us the understanding of how our feelings can impact our thoughts and behaviors by externalizing someone's internal emotional process, but more importantly, it reminds us that we can, and often do, have the conscious ability to choose our emotional state at different times." "It also does a great job of bringing humor and levity to our emotional process, particularly when we are depressed or sad."
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (2012)
This film is well respected for its realistic depiction of the difficulties associated with severe mental illness.
When you're in a dark place, seeing Silver Linings Playbook helps because it demonstrates that a mental illness does not define a person; rather, it merely makes it easier to discover love and, more significantly, the ability to start realizing that it's okay to not be 'perfect.' Finding your core in the process becomes simpler when you accept who you are and face your issues head-on rather than avoiding them.
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
The tale of George Bailey (1946), a man with grandiose aspirations who is overly dedicated to assisting his community in realizing those ideals, is timeless. George discovers how his life has impacted so many others after being prevented from taking his own life by a guardian angel, and he feels a renewed sense of thankfulness for his small-town existence, friends, and family.
"When we are depressed, we are more inclined to overlook our own attributes and the positive impacts we make on other people.
This movie serves as a wonderful reminder that our lives can be wonderful and valuable in and of themselves, and that our flaws can be fixed via teamwork, which frequently results in opportunities to foster interpersonal relationships.
500 DAYS OF SUMMER (2009)
In this romantic comedy, a greeting card writer gets taken aback when his lover abruptly ends their relationship. He rediscovers himself in the process of thinking back on the 500 days of their relationship and the mistakes that were made.
Even though it may seem hopeless and that things will never get better, it demonstrates that opportunities and happiness can be found just around the corner—but only if we are prepared to seize them.
AS GOOD AS IT GETS (1997)
Melvin Udall, a sad and lonely writer from New York City who also happens to be a best-selling romance novelist, is the main character of the romantic comedy. He generally drives everyone around him crazy and has obsessive-compulsive disorder. Simon, Melvin's neighbor, suffers a terrible attack and consequent despair.
Melvin's quest towards a more fulfilled existence commences when he is persuaded to look after Simon's dog. Like in all of these movies, there's a shift from seclusion to inclusion. A common experience of depression is that we are just scraping by with no true joy in our lives. Melvin experiences the same thing. He is able to write about love, but it isn't until the movie that he manages to escape his compulsions and take the initial step toward discovering true love, according to Pratt.
Pursuit Of Happyness (2006)
Millions of people love this Will Smith film from 2006. It portrays the real-world tribulations of Chris Gardner, who had to care for his child while homeless after his wife left him and his life savings ran out.
The film brilliantly captures the extent to which a man and a father can overcome financial setbacks and arrive at a position where his legacy will go on. Unquestionably the greatest motivational films ever made for a depressed mood!
The primary character of the movie is travel writer Macon Leary, whose son's death has left him emotionally broken. Having had his marriage ruined, he now leads a semi-retired life guiding business travelers who hate traveling and teaching them how to prevent any problems that may arise.
Like Macon, sometimes when we're depressed we see our lives as a series of roadblocks to get past on the way to somewhere else, and we miss the pleasures of the trip along the way.
“The road out of depression is often accompanied by happy accidents, new perspectives, and new ways of seeing those around us. And sometimes that even results in welcoming new and unexpected people into our lives.
