[Fire_Star]

Went away for a week or so, I'm feeling a bit better now. Motivated and keen to do stuff.

I'm hunting for some inspiration. I use to be quite into writing until I started uni so for the past 4 years I haven't written much. I now have the motivation to do so again and would like to write a feature length film with a mental health/pro-psychiatry theme and whatever flows from that - friendship, family, careers, love etc. But I'm not sure on what characters I want and what the plot could be. My friend suggested having a focus on bipolar as I have a personal experience there. Ideas? Help me brainstorm, please!

And in case you were wondering, I am a film school graduate that mainly works as an editor or producer. Last film I produced and wrote was about 4-5 years ago so if you're a writer, any tips would help as I'm a bit out of practice!

I want to go for a more pro medical science/ pro psychiatry position because I've seen enough horror style films using the anti position to scare their audience when really I want this to be educational. I don't want to promote any woo woo health ideas and I rather piss off group like the Citizens Committee on Human Rights the same way they piss me off. :P

So what do YOU hate about films that cover mental health issues? What do you LOVE about them? Give me examples of films/TV series that I should see, both the good and the bad. What do you want to see in films dealing with mental health more? Please give me any ideas you have.

Hello, Fire_Star. I am glad you are feeling better. Unfortunately, I have little to offer in the way of inspiration. Even so, too many have too little understanding of the illnesses that plague us. If you were able to further the understanding, you would be doing a great service.

Good luck.

[venusss]

I am afraid, I cannot advice you with pro-psychiatry position, sorry

Maybe you have a story of your own and your friends?

[RunningEagleRuns]

Maybe a film with information about the illness and help for people with the illness, even if it isn't geared for helping people with bipolar illness.

[yellowted]

how about one following a person with dissociative motor disorder, the trials and tribulations they have to endure, the onset is often sudden after a trauma, but could be gradual if they were abused as a child, they are left to fight for every little snippit of help, it can leave the person totally disabled unable to walk, incontinent, with poor co ordination unable to sit unsupported, yet the condition is not classed as a physical/neurological one because MRI tests come back normal so in the UK where the government have a scheme to adapt the home of severely disabled people those with dissociative motor disorder are left unable to reach their only toilet/bathroom for over two years! it is such a rare condition i have found no one else in the world who has the same lable as me! if this is something you are interested in i am very willing to supply you with all the details you need to make a film that no one will believe, which shows just what happens when you have to fight for everything yourself with very little support and no family to help you. if you are interested please pm me. good luck xx

[so_punk_rock]

i love movies about mental health. one of my favorites is a movie called "manic". it was good the only thing i would bad i would say is that i wish it gave people a little bit more of an understanding of what it might be like to have a mental illness. i would suggest you focuse on multiple illnesses instead of just bipolar. that would be alot more interesting.

[sunrise]

Hi Firestar, that sounds like a cool idea. Would your film be a documentary or fiction? I saw a documentary recently called Unlisted: A Story of Schizophrenia. It was really good. What I liked was the connection between the filmmaker and the topic. She made the movie but yet was a character in it too. It was about her and her father, who had schizophrenia. It was very touching, and I learned a lot about the mental health system. Here is more info on that film if you are interested:
http://www.unlistedfilm.com

Can you explain more about what you mean by a pro-psychiatry theme? Like, would you want a psychiatrist to be a main character and show him/her as a dedicated healer, etc.?

[sanityseeker]

Maybe this will be helpful in your research.

A great 3 part series aired last year on pbs.
http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/series

[Fire_Star]

Originally Posted by sunrise

Hi Firestar, that sounds like a cool idea. Would your film be a documentary or fiction? I saw a documentary recently called Unlisted: A Story of Schizophrenia. It was really good. What I liked was the connection between the filmmaker and the topic. She made the movie but yet was a character in it too. It was about her and her father, who had schizophrenia. It was very touching, and I learned a lot about the mental health system. Here is more info on that film if you are interested:
http://www.unlistedfilm.com

Can you explain more about what you mean by a pro-psychiatry theme? Like, would you want a psychiatrist to be a main character and show him/her as a dedicated healer, etc.?

Depending on the story or stories I uncover I may go with a documentary or a fiction. If I manage to get this film off the ground, I may consider more films on this theme as I really would like to assist with decreasing the stigma surrounding mental illness.

By pro-psychiatry I guess I mean I'd rather show it in a positive light to be different as so many people seem to only remember films with the scary psychiatrist who is just messing up your mind or the twisted looking hospital. I really, in a broad sense, want to promote reason and science. Let people know they can trust medical science and not hide from it by using alternative medicine. I know some people are for alternative medicines, that's fine. But I am very much against it as I feel they're just ripping off consumers when they're most vulnerable and that sicks me. So I'd have a hard time to write a script that promoted that, personally is all. So some people might think I'm just a big pharma shill. If so, I still haven't got my cheque.

Does that help? Again, not exactly sure on the feel and the topics the film will touch so I can't really explain anything in too much depth yet!

[venusss]

I know some people are for alternative medicines, that's fine. But I am very much against it as I feel they're just ripping off consumers when they're most vulnerable and that sicks me.

See, I think the same of psychiatry. I think it's social science pretending to be hard science... at cost. And yes, you are at danger that the movie will reek of "does Pharma pay you well for that"?

eventhough you are convinced of your point... you need to make sure you are not making propaganda. You sound very black and white here (alternative treatment works in some cases better than psychiatry... which even if it's sometimes overrated does help some people). You should have more balance. "Psychiatry = good, alternative approaches = bad" script will turn off many people and drown any good point you'll make. You don't need to show it as ultimate evil... but you can show psychiatry is good without unnecesarily ripping other approaches.