Film analysis

Initial situation

Using film as a teaching medium, this project aims to raise students’ awareness of psychiatry, psychopathology and the social discourse of psychiatry in an interactive and participatory manner. It is a training program that addresses different aspects of the representation of psychiatry in the cinema through film excerpts. These film screenings are always followed by a diagnostic questionnaire in order to initiate a debate.

Project implementation

For each session, a film is chosen according to criteria previously established by the teacher (e.g., at least one character must have a psychiatric disorder that is portrayed in the film and another must play the role of a caregiver).

The sessions are divided into 5 steps:

the theoretical presentation of the film and the psychopathology chosen for the session;

the projection of extracts from the film ;

The “diagnostic” questionnaire: The students and the teacher answer the questionnaire with the diagnostic criteria of the disorder and conclude whether or not the protagonist presents the criteria necessary to confirm the diagnosis;

a debate in which the group analyzes the answers to the questionnaire. They also questioned the representation of psychiatric disorders, the image of the illness, the patients and the caregivers in this film;

an “evaluation” questionnaire of their ability to recognize the typical symptoms of the disorder as well as the relevance of the film to observe the key elements that characterize the disorder.

In order to involve the students in the course and to allow them to acquire transversal competences, they are in charge of organizing 4 sessions in groups of 5. They organize themselves to choose a film, to cut the most significant scenes, to prepare the theoretical presentation of the disorder and to lead the debate.

The course also encourages participation in research. Over the course of the semester, students prepare an in-depth analysis of one of the films in groups of 2 or 3. This work is corrected by the teacher and reworked as many times as necessary in order to be submitted to the “Swiss Archives of Neurology, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy” which has a section on the analysis of films related to psychiatry.

Student groups and the teacher communicate and organize themselves through a collaborative project management tool called Basecamp. This tool makes it easy to follow the progress of the different tasks of a project, to communicate with the working groups, to upload documents (session presentations, articles to be submitted, various information, etc.), to manage time and especially to centralize information and knowledge from one year to another.

Thoughts and advice

The positive results of the evaluations have encouraged the use of film in other courses, such as in the higher education curriculum in psychiatry and in continuing education courses with city physicians.

Research awareness allows for the integration of the academic aspect into the courses and for students to have a real publication experience early in their academic career. This aspect could be encouraged and transferred to other teaching projects regardless of the subject.

Student feedback

“Original and entertaining structure, very educational.” “Very good way to approach psychiatric issues, more practical, better for remembering.” “Provides a fun and critical study of psychiatry. Educational and attractive.” “Approachable for novices, the films and group analysis provide an interesting introduction to psychopathologies.”