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A new study carried out at the University of Otago‘s Wellington campus has named ten of the best movies that they recommend medical students view in order to facilitate self-directed learning in psychiatry.

Lead author Nick Wilson says that there is significant international literature on the use of movies for teaching psychiatry, but that until now, there had not been a systematic process used to select a list of movies that might be optimal from both educational and entertainment perspectives. The Otago study has been published in the journal Australasian Psychiatry.

The selected topic areas for the new study of movies were the top five mental health conditions from the Global Burden of Disease 2010 study. From a total of 503 potential movies sourced through a range of sources, including published literature and websites, 23 were selected for viewing and more detailed critique.

Silver Linings Playbook is a romantic comedy, staring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, but has detailed insight into the characters’ mental health issues. The father, who is played by Robert De Niro, displays traits of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.

Another Year is a movie detailing the heavy drinking culture of the characters and shows how deeply embedded the nature of alcohol use is in many people’s lives. Depression and chronic unhappiness are also major themes. It shows various health professional activities, including counseling, in a positive light.

The authors recommend that further research could evaluate the extent to which medical students actually watch such movies, by assessing the level of withdrawals from a medical school library and surveying student responses. Critic advises the authors to consider also getting The Pirate Bay on board. The paper also suggested the value of discussing these movies in semi-structured classroom sessions.