The late, great American film director Wes Craven was a graduate of Psychology from Wheaton College, and it shows in his movies. Having created some of the scariest horror m0vies ever, they probably wouldn’t have inflicted so much terror in audiences if it wasn’t for his knowledge of psychology.

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However, other than Craven, very few filmmakers come from a Psychology background, which makes it so hard for them to create psychologist characters who are by the book and would do exactly what a real life psychologist would. Though some movies come close, they fall at the last hurdle.

What About Bob?

Bob visits Dr. Marvin for the first time in What About Bob?

What About Bob? is one of the funniest 90s comedies that everyone forgot about. It follows Bill Murray in the titular role as he stalks his therapist, Dr. Leo Marvin, played hilariously by Richard Dreyfuss.

However, though it probably isn’t fair to analyze therapists in comedies the same way as therapists in dramas, the portrayal of Dr. Marvin is absolutely misleading. For starters, he has photos of his family in the office, which is a big no-no for therapists. Then, the professional stays quiet for the entire meeting, playing on the age-old cliché that just isn’t true.

Joker

Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker

There are still a lot of questions we are asking about the movie, and though Joker took the world by storm, it didn’t quite hit the nail on the head when it comes to Arthur Fleck’s relationship with his therapist, which has been one of the many things of the movie that has been criticized by people who work in mental health.

Arthur gave his therapist his journal to read, which is one of the weirder instances between him and his therapist, and in real life, therapists would refuse to read a patient’s journal.

The Departed

Billy and Madolyn In The Departed

One of the most memorable quotes from The Departed, a movie in which there are many, is when Matt Damon’s character Colin claims that Freud famously said that the Irish are impervious to psychoanalysis. Freud did in fact say that and it might be the only part of the movie that hasn’t been criticized by psychologists.

Experts in the field have said that literally almost everything that therapist Madolyn says/does, goes against everything a real-life therapist would do. But the movie still remains one of the best thrillers of the 2000s.

The silence of the Lambs

A screenshot of the police taking custody of Dr. Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs

Though he is one of the most despicable, frightening, and smartest horror villains, Dr. Hannibal Lecter was still of sound mind when it came to the world of Psychology, as he was even able to reduce fellow psychologist Dr. Doemling to tears.

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Despite the character being a malicious serial killer, Silence of the Lambs has been endlessly praised for Hannibal’s use of psychoanalysis and for the reason why the character is the way that he is. However, psychologists have raised the issue that it was established much better in the novel and that the movie is missing some key elements.

Split

Split

As Split marks somewhat of a return to form for M. Night Shyamalan, as it features his signature suspenseful drama and it comes off the heels of several box office bombs, it was extremely polarising in the world of psychology.

Though Split has one of Shyamalan’s best plot twists, many people who work in the field have criticized Shyamalan for taking advantage of a real-life psychological disorder in order to make a schlocky thriller movie. Not only that, but the psychologist in the movie doesn’t follow the procedures that a real professional would.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Being considered one of the greatest movies of all time, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is as close as it gets to a fly on the wall look at mental hospitals in the 60s. The movie has been praised by psychologists for its realistic take on the procedures inside mental hospitals at the time and the way it highlighted the terrible conditions of the mental hospitals.

But it wasn’t all correct, as the movie shows patients bribing employees with money and alcohol, and there’s no way that ever happened in real life.

X-Men

Professor X in X-Men

Though it’s really hard to pin down Professor Xavier’s performance as a psychologist in the movie as his work is based on a supernatural power that doesn’t exist, there are still some issues when it comes to the grounds on which the therapy is based.

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Most notably, real psychologists have noted that when Senator Kelly is about to be psychoanalyzed and even have his mind read by Xavier, the psychologist doesn’t ask for permission and it is never given. In psychiatric emergencies, consent doesn’t have to be given, but it never seemed like an emergency.

A Dangerous Method

A dangerous method

A Dangerous Method is the most appealing movie to psychologists than any other, as it follows Sigmund Freud’s relationship with Carl Jung, Freud’s collaborator. David Cronenberg has been praised for the authenticity of the movie as it gets a lot of things right, including the way that Freud developed “the talking cure,” which is therapy as we know it today; talking about your problems in order to battle through them.

What the movie took a lot of liberties with is Jung’s relationship with his patient, Sabina Spielrein, as nobody knows what actually happened, and in real life, getting physically intimate with a patient is obviously a no-no.

Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko with mother Rose Darko Cropped (2)

In Donnie Darko, when Donnie’s therapist realizes that he is having visions of Frank, it is heavily hinted that she diagnoses him with schizophrenia close to the end of the movie.

This is one of the most unethical things that she could have possibly done, as schizophrenia is a major diagnosis and once somebody is diagnosed with it, it’s almost impossible to ever be undiagnosed. So the therapist’s decision, which was seemingly a snap decision, has been criticized by psychologists.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy as Charles Xavier in X-Men Days of Future Past

People can argue over who plays the character better, but Days of Future Past, the movie in which the older Xavier, played by Patrick Stewart, and the Younger Xavier, played by James McAvoy, come in to contact and is one of the more validating practices of psychology in an X-Men movie.

Experts have praised the movie for the way the burnt-out younger Xavier is put back on the right path and is helped to regain faith in what he does by his older self, acting as his own psychologist. However, it's pretty impossible to achieve in real-life, at least literally speaking.

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