Analysis in Film

In part because the actual practice of psychotherapy is so hidden from public view, much of the popular impression of what it is and how it works comes from the movies we see.  The aims of the movie industry and of psychotherapy are, however, quite different:  movies aim to entertain while therapists aim to heal.  What movies therefore present as psychotherapy is often unrealistic, superficial, and unflattering to psychotherapists. 

But in bemoaning how we are (mis)represented in the movies, many of us therapists in turn fail to appreciate film on its own terms, which after all is how we set out to understand and appreciate our own clients.  To misunderstand film in this way misses the very interesting (and analyzable) commentary that the movies present on how we are seen and imagined in our larger culture.  

This section of the PsychReview site explores cinema's portrayals of psychotherapy and its institutions as part of a narrative tradition, collective fantasy, and cultural commentary about therapy and therapists.

A number of therapists (and others) have written on the representation of psychotherapy and mental health institutions in the movies.  For a list of these and other books on film and psychology, see film literature 

Analysis of Film

Most film criticism from a psychological point of view has had a psychoanalytic bent,  just as the film psychotherapist is typically portrayed as practicing some form of psychoanalysis.  In addition to tracing the development of this line of criticism, we examine specific movies for their psychodynamic themes and techniques.