- Antisocial personality disorder includes
both sociopaths and psychopaths.
They have some things in common,
but there are very distinct things.
I'm Doctor Ali Mattu, clinical psychologist,
and today we're gonna be looking at
mental illness in movies.
- In New York does it remind you?
- That's manipulative, I don't wanna talk about it.
- Are they coming back, the aliens?
- Maybe, can you stop?
- So, that's kind of a pretty good example
of trauma right there.
- Does this subject make you edgy?
- Yeah, a little bit.
Can I just catch my breath for a second?
- Now he's starting to feel some panic,
he's been triggered.
- Do you have--
This is a really good example of how everyday situations
can trigger someone, and the other person might not
even know that they're triggering someone's trauma.
- [Child] You want me to stop,
I can stop. - I said to stop doing that,
I swear to God you're gonna freak me out.
- I really love Marvel movies,
and Iron Man 3 is one of my favorites
because it's such a good representation of anxiety.
Here we see Tony experiencing panic,
hyperventilation is a pretty core symptom of panic.
We see Tony Stark avoiding a lot of situations
that are difficult for him,
and that's a big hallmark of anxiety.
It's a good example of trauma,
because trauma happens when fundamental belief you have
has been challenged in some way.
He's always been able to engineer his way out of danger,
and this was the first time he couldn't.
In the movie, his anxiety just sort of
seems to resolve itself, and we don't really
see how it's resolved itself.
But, I like what they show us in terms of
the examples of anxiety and trauma there.
'Kay, I haven't seen Split yet,
but I really want to see it.
- With regard to Johamana's defeat,
and Muhammad of Ghur's conquest between 1192 and 1200,
I would liken it to Muhammad's brazen ultimatum that--
- So, this is, looks like another
dissociative identity disorder.
It's got an interesting idea, is like vlogging
as your different personalities to yourself.
- I hate my insulin shots.
No one else around here has to take them,
why do I have to?
- So, accurate representation, different tone of voice,
different presentation, different way of talking,
different way of sitting.
- How you explain I'm the only one
that needs these you motherfuck.
- Okay, I have no idea what's about to happen.
But, it's kinda interesting.
What's unusual about this example is,
his different personalities seem
to be talking to each other.
Some personalities can interact with each other,
but to this level of communication,
and coordination, probably not.
And, dissociative identity disorder's
also very controversial.
Some people think it's a representation of schizophrenia.
And that is a big myth.
The confusion comes from the word schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia means split mind,
and that refers to the split between
what's really happening and what someone's experiencing
in their mind with hallucinations.
He has kidnapped these other women?
It's M. Night Shyamalan film.
In this kind of stuff you suspend
your disbelief a little bit more.
But, this is where a lot of people
get ideas about mental illness.
I don't think a lot of people take it too seriously,
but it is perpetuating some myths.
Yeah, I haven't seen Beautiful Mind in many years,
but I remember really liking it.
- Oh God.
- Oh my gosh.
This is like really sad to watch now.
(baby crying)
- Charles was watching him, he was okay.
- There is no one here.
- So, he's experiencing a visual hallucination.
He's seeing something that isn't really there.
And, it's much more common to have
auditory hallucinations, to hear things.
But, some people do experience visual hallucinations.
A big part of schizophrenia is confusion, and fear,
and not quite understanding what's happening.
And, I think we're seeing a good example of that.
- [John] Charles was watching him.
- There's no one here.
So, one of the things about schizophrenia
is learning how to identify your symptoms,
and learning what is an hallucination
and what's actually real.
John Nash in this scene realizes that
one of his hallucinations never ages.
That could be a effective form of coping for him.
I've heard other people say, if my dog
is not reacting to something then I know that's my illness.
That's a pretty realistic way to cope with it.
One of my only issues with A Beautiful Mind is,
at the end, there is sort of this message
that you can sort of outthink schizophrenia.
And, that isn't, it's not the most realistic.
What's really great about A Beautiful Mind
is, it shows someone who has schizophrenia,
who is not violent, and that's a big
stereotype about schizophrenia.
Most people who have mental illness are not violent.
They're much more likely to be the victims of violence
than they are someone who might be violent themselves.
- Sally Dibbs, Dibbs Sally.
4-6-1-0-1-9-2.
- A lot of people who have autism
do see visual patterns to a much higher degree
than people who don't have autism.
- 4-6-1-0-1-9-2.
- But, they also really struggle with social interaction.
- You've memorized the whole book?
- No.
- You start from the beginning?
- Yeah.
- How far'd you get? - G.
- I think Tom Cruise's character is a good representation
of how hard it can be for people
who don't have autism to understand it.
- Maple syrup is supposed to be
on the table before the pancakes.
- We haven't ordered yet Ray.
- Of course, when they bring
the maple syrup after the pancakes--
- So, needing things to be a certain way
and then getting really emotionally overwhelmed
when they're not like that,
that happens a lot with autism.
- No toothpicks, I'm definitely, definitely not gonna--
- I like that representation.
It does a good job of showing the differences
in how someone who has autism
versus someone who doesn't have autism,
how they see the world.
And, also the challenges of working together
and understanding each other.
The only thing I don't like about this representation,
it does show more of a narrow view
of the functioning of someone who has autism.
Now we know it's a spectrum.
And, people are all over on that spectrum.
But, that's more just representative
of when this movie was made.
Other than that, I think it shows
those main features of autism, the focus on visual patterns,
on logic, a little bit of rigidity,
and difficulty with social interactions.
It shows those really well.
I haven't seen this is a long time
but I remember liking its representation.
It's the middle of the night,
so he's clearly having a hard time falling asleep,
which sleep problems are a big part of bipolar disorder.
- It's after 3:00, what are you doing?
- [Pat Jr.] I look in here,
but this is all your shit up here.
- And, he's focused on something,
trying to solve a problem, we call that
goal directed activity, which is much more common
when people might be experiencing manic symptoms.
This is also a great example of
how bipolar can impact families.
- [Pat Sr.] Are you going in my study?
- [Pat Jr.] Feels to me like you wanna hide--
- He's a bit more irritable, more frustrated,
more upset, that can also really happen
when someone is more manic.
Bipolar's all about moving fast, or moving slow.
We're definitely seeing that fast part right here.
This is a really quick escalation of stuff,
but this kind of sequence of events
can happen with bipolar disorder when someone is manic.
Wouldn't happen this quickly, but, you know, it's a movie.
- Let the whole neighborhood wake up, I don't care.
- That was pretty good.
Very quick escalation.
It wouldn't happen that quickly, but it does a good job
of showing us the experience of being manic.
We also see a lot of that emotional sensitivity,
intensity of the emotions.
One of the biggest triggers for bipolar disorder,
if you're not sleeping as much as you used to,
or if you have trouble falling asleep,
it can have a huge impact on your moods.
I love Sherlock.
- I think from now on
we'll downgrade you to casual acquaintance.
No more than three planned social encounters a year.
And, always in John's presence.
I have your contact details, I will be monitoring.
- They're right about you.
You're a bloody psychopath.
- High functioning sociopath.
With your number.
(laughing)
- That is such a good line.
I love that 'cause that speaks to
this difference between sociopaths and psychopaths.
There is a difference in how we use those terms.
Both categories, they might break rules or break the law.
The difference with a sociopath is,
they can form connections with other people.
Sherlock definitely has a relationship with Watson,
he definitely cares about him.
So, he does have relationships,
he doesn't just simply manipulate people.
The thing that's a little bit less realistic is,
people who are sociopaths, they tend to be
more reactive, more impulsive, more emotional
than psychopaths, who are more cold-blooded,
more tempered, more calculating.
This Sherlock, I think he's a bit more
on the autism spectrum, he sees patterns,
doesn't interact with people the same way
that other people do.
He's not impulsive like we would think of many sociopaths.
I remember being so blown away by this movie.
- [Amy] But, I made him smarter, sharper.
- So, we're seeing a lot of examples
of how she's manipulated other people.
There's a callousness, a lack of emotion there.
- [Amy] We were happy pretending to be other people.
We were the happiest couple we knew.
- That lack of emotion, lack of empathy,
ability to manipulate other people to get what you want.
This is very characteristic
of antisocial personality disorder.
Especially breaking the law, murdering people.
- [Amy] Younger, bouncier, cool girl.
- This is really intense.
- [Amy] You think I'd let him destroy me,
and end up happier than ever?
- So, that was really, just hearing her I felt...
I felt like goosebumps.
It just felt so cold, so calculated.
I would be very nervous around someone like that.
It's a pretty good example of
antisocial personality disorder.
That's the technical, clinical term that we use.
It's not the term most people use.
The terms that come up are sociopath and psychopath.
This is actually example of someone who is a psychopath.
Being very cold-blooded, being able to manipulate
other individuals, not forming strong attachments,
unless it's to get what you want.
That type of manipulation, that's much more
associated with what people call psychopath.
They can work on Wall Street, and be really good scientists.
Detachment from other people
actually helps them to do their job.
They don't have to be killers.
Most of the stories though, we see are about murderers,
and that's not realistic.
What's so cool about movies is they can make it easier
for us to have conversations about mental illness.
Mental illness is just one part of who we are,
it's one part of our identity.
But, it's not the whole story.
And, now I need to go get a hug
'cause I feel very scared.
That was a scary movie to end on.
(upbeat music)