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Course Materials:
GENERAL COURSE DESCRIPTION
This is a unique online course that uses popular movies to teach therapists about the DSM. Movies are particularly well suited to depict psychological phenomena. The combination of images, music, dialogue, lighting, camera angles, and sound effects in a film mimic thoughts and feelings that occur in our consciousness. The viewer experiences what a character sees and feels. Since characters in many popular films portray persons who live with mental disorders, these depictions offer a unique learning opportunity.
This innovative intermediate level course makes use of movie vignettes to teach common DSM diagnoses. The portrayal of the mathematician, John Forbes Nash, in A Beautiful Mind offers a powerful opportunity to understand Schizophrenia. As Good As it Gets demonstrates almost every possible symptom of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Analyze This introduces Panic Disorder and Annie Hall illustrates General Anxiety Disorder in a humorous fashion. Major Depression and the complexities of differential diagnoses (Major Depression vs. Borderline Personality Disorder) are discussed using Girl Interrupted. Mr. Jones offers the opportunity to learn about many aspects of Bipolar Disorder as well as about the differences between this disorder and Schizophrenia.
Through the descriptions of these and other movies, this course uses film characters as illustrative case studies to assist in the process of generalizing from film to actual diagnostic work. Subsequently, the terminology of the character's possible DSM diagnosis is described. In this way the course teaches how to think about symptoms in the context of the multifaceted nature of mental disorders. Relevant commentary in the literature follows this description for every diagnosis. (Note: While the Zur Institute has taken a critical view of the DSM (See online course on Diagnosing for Money and Power), it also recognizes that understanding and knowing the DSM can also be valuable and useful in everyday practice, insurance billing and in being able to critique the manual.)
Due to copyright laws, this course does not include movie clips, only descriptions of the movies.
Educational Objectives:
This course will teach psychotherapists to
Discuss their deepened knowledge of the DSM.
Analyze this manual in historical context.
Define diagnostic terms relevant to precise communication with colleagues and insurance companies.
Create clarity about clients' diagnoses for effective treatment planning.
Apply the complex and sometimes dry information in the DSM through movie descriptions in an enjoyable and emotionally engaged way.
Course Syllabus:
History and Future of the DSM
Substance-Related Disorders: Alcohol-Related Disorders (Affliction) and Cocaine Related Disorders (Blow)
Schizophrenia (A Beautiful Mind)
Mood Disorders: Depressive Disorders (Girl, Interrupted, The Hospital) and Bipolar Disorders (Mr. Jones, Mad Love)
Anxiety Disorders: Panic Disorder Without Agoraphobia (Analyze This), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (As Good As it Gets), Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (In Country) and General Anxiety Disorder (Annie Hall)
Eating Disorders: Anorexia (Dying to Dance) and Bulimia (Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby)
Adjustment Disorder (Brassed Off)
Personality Disorders: Borderline Personality Disorder (Play Misty for Me) and Narcissistic Personality Disorder (Wall Street)
Listing of other movies that depict any of the above disorders
This innovative intermediate level course makes use of movie vignettes to teach common DSM diagnoses. The portrayal of the mathematician, John Forbes Nash, in A Beautiful Mind offers a powerful opportunity to understand Schizophrenia. As Good As it Gets demonstrates almost every possible symptom of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Analyze This introduces Panic Disorder and Annie Hall illustrates General Anxiety Disorder in a humorous fashion. Major Depression and the complexities of differential diagnoses (Major Depression vs. Borderline Personality Disorder) are discussed using Girl Interrupted. Mr. Jones offers the opportunity to learn about many aspects of Bipolar Disorder as well as about the differences between this disorder and Schizophrenia.
