Netflix doesn’t just make original TV shows; the company is also producing original films, and they have many psychological films that you can watch.
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I asked some mental health professionals for their recommendations. Here’s are some of their favourites:
1. Tell Me Who I Am
This is a recent psych film of truths of the past being found. It has the depiction of how harm happens to kids in a normal looking family. ‘I found it really moving,’ shares Olivia Djoaudi, who runs an online psychotherapy and counselling.
After losing his memory in an accident, Alex Lewis trusts his twin brother, Marcus, to tell him about his past only to discover that he’s hiding a dark secret about their childhood.
2. Military Wives
Liesbeth Tip, a clinical psychologist who started a research project (Harmony Choir) on connectednes, recommends this film. She says: ‘The film explores about the value of choir singing for sense of connectedness and community.’
With their partners away serving in Afghanistan, a group of women on the home front form a choir and quickly find themselves at the centre of a media sensation and global movement.
3. Mindhunter
Dr John Barry, founder of Male Psychology Network, shares: ‘I’m not a fan of serial killers, but Mindhunter is definitely worth a watch.’
Set in the late 1970s, two FBI agents are tasked with interviewing serial killers to solve open cases.
4. Freud
It is a crime series with Freud as detective using his theories to solve a crime – a series suggested by Dr Laura Cariola, a lecturer in applied psychology from the University of Edinburgh.
Young psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud, investigates a murder conspiracy in 1880s Vienna.
5. Girl Interrupted
Dr Laura Jenkins, from the University of Loughborough recommends this film. She says that: ‘It’s very good in terms of how mental health was viewed in the past.’
Based on writer Susanna Kaysen’s account of her 18-month stay at a mental hospital in the late 1960s.
6. Hitler’s Circle of Evil
Dr Simon Kramer, a lecturer from at Bern University of Applied Sciences recommends this. The film depicts the power struggles, betrayals and plots, as Hitler’s inner circle of Nazi leaders seizes control of Germany and designs its disastrous future.
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.
7. Fractured
If you’re into mystery thriller, 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,’ Mike says.
A couple stops at a gas station, where their 6 y.o. daughter’s arm is fractured. They hurry to a hospital. Something strange is going on there. The wife and daughter go missing.
8. Predestination
Marilyn Devonish, Director of Trance Formations, shares: ‘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.
For his final assignment, a top temporal agent must pursue the one criminal that has eluded him throughout time. The chase turns into a unique, surprising and mind-bending exploration of love, fate, identity and time travel taboos.
9. The Breakfast Club
‘It’s not a typical “psychological” film but it’s 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,’ describes Dr Laura Jean W, a clinical psychologist.
10. The Machinist
‘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.
Happy watching
Cosy up, have a cup of tea with your loved ones to watch a few of these. Now, if you don’t have Netflix, here are some other films that you can enjoy. You can also try services such as 123 movies.
