The view of mental illness in the movie industry.

1. http://brainblogger.com/2006/04/28/anti-stigmatization-movies-stigmatize-mentally-ill-as-violent-and-dangerous/


This article brings about the point, the major point that Hollywood as a database has altered our perception, not only of the word 'psychopath' but also mental illness as a whole. It lists various films that alienate mental illness to an extent saying that mental illness is a shortcut to someone who is violent, a killer, or can instantly change to kill without remorse.

"It is true that a mentally ill patient will act out in terrifying ways in certain situations. Examples of this are Jeffrey Dahmer, Dennis Nilson and other serial killers. It is the unusual cases like these which receive the most publicity. This sensationalism, combined with other factors such as the stigmatisation of the mentally ill resulting from portrayals of dangerous and violent mentally ill people in films, results in injustice and prejudice to the great majority of the non-violent mentally ill.

Stigmatisation of people with mental disorders has persisted throughout history, but the continuing portrayal of the violent mentally ill in movies is a huge contributor to stigmatisation today. Such distorted and formalistic images of the “homicidal maniac” impoverish the lives of people diagnosed with mental illness, who are overwhelmingly non-violent. The effect of such stereotypes is to create a pariah status of the mentally ill in a world made increasingly hostile to them."

This article gives both sides of the coin, providing examples for both, but shows that the stigmatisation of people with mental health, is apparent, and has been for at least a century, ever since the Maniac Cook of 1909 by D.W. Griffith.