Netflix doesn’t just make original television shows, it also produces original movies, and it has many psychological films to watch.
In this article, 10 mental health professionals reveal their favourite movies on mental health and why they have chosen them.
1. Tell Me Who I Am
Synopsis: After losing his memory in an accident, Alex Lewis trusts his twin brother, Marcus, to tell him about his past, only to discover that Marcus is hiding a dark secret about their childhood.
This is a recent psychological film about finding the truths of the past. It shows how harm happens to children in a normal-looking family. “I found it really moving,” said Olivia Djouadi, who runs an online psychotherapy and counselling service.
2. Military Wives
Synopsis: With their partners serving in Afghanistan, a group of women on the home front form a choir and quickly find themselves a media sensation and at the centre of a global movement.
Liesbeth Tip, a clinical psychologist who started a research project (Harmony Choir) on connectedness, recommends this film. She said, “The film explores the value of choir singing for a sense of connectedness and community.”
3. Mindhunter
Synopsis: Set in the late 1970s, two FBI agents are tasked with interviewing serial killers to solve open cases.
Dr John Barry, the founder of Male Psychology Network, said, “I am not a fan of serial killers, but Mindhunter is definitely worth a watch.”
4. Freud
Synopsis: A young psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud, investigates a murder conspiracy in 1880s Vienna.
‘Freud’ is a crime series with Freud as a detective using his theories to solve a crime – a series suggested by Dr Laura Cariola, a lecturer in applied psychology at the University of Edinburgh.
5. Girl, Interrupted
Synopsis: The movie is based on writer Susanna Kaysen’s account of her 18-month stay in a mental hospital in the late 1960s.
Dr Laura Jenkins, at the University of Loughborough, the UK, recommends this film. She said, “It is very good in terms of how mental health was viewed in the past.”
6. Hitler’s Circle of Evil
Synopsis: This is the story of the rise and fall of the Third Reich told like the drama it really was: through the personal relationships of the movers and shakers of the Nazi Party.
Dr Simon Kramer, a lecturer at Bern University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland recommends this. The film depicts the power struggles, betrayals and plots as Hitler’s Nazi Party seizes control of Germany and designs its disastrous future.
7. Fractured
Synopsis: During a stop at a petrol station, a couple’s six-year-old daughter’s arm is fractured. They hurry to a hospital but something strange is going on there. The wife and daughter go missing.
If you are into mystery thrillers with a touch of psychological elements, Mike Findlay, a senior communications professional and freelance writer based in Scotland recommends this. “It feels like the story is like a real-life family and the suspense is unbearable, but a brilliant watch.”
8. Predestination
Synopsis: For his final assignment, a top temporal agent must pursue the one criminal who has eluded him throughout time. The chase turns into a unique, surprising and mind-bending exploration of love, fate, identity and time travel taboos.
Marilyn Devonish, Director of Trance Formations, said: “This film made me think about how things unfold and the interconnectedness of it all, and how not everything in life makes sense against life being stranger than fiction.”
9. The Breakfast Club
Synopsis: Five high school students meet in Saturday morning detention and discover how they have a lot more in common than they thought.
“It’s not a typical ‘psychological’ film but it is a great commentary on the impact of adversity, trauma, societal pressures and parenting styles on young people and their mental health. Also, the different ways the characters try to deal with this,” said Dr Laura Jean W, a clinical psychologist.
10. The Machinist
Synopsis: An industrial worker who has not slept in a year begins to doubt his own sanity.
“A great insight into how guilt following a car accident plays out psychologically and physiologically. It’s a great film,’ says Siobhain Crosbie, co-founder of Ayanay.
Dennis Relojo-Howell is the founder of Psychreg and host of The DRH Show. You can connect with him on Twitter @drelojo_howell