Psychosis & Representations in Film & TV

Psychosis is a mental health problem that causes people to perceive or interpret things differently from those around them. This might involve hallucinations or delusions.

The two main symptoms of psychosis are:

• hallucinations – where a person hears, sees and, in some cases, feels, smells or tastes things that aren't there; a common hallucination is hearing voices
• delusions – where a person believes things that, when examined rationally, are obviously untrue – for example, thinking your next door neighbour is planning to kill you

The combination of hallucinations and delusional thinking can often severely disrupt perception, thinking, emotion, and behaviour. When someone experiences the symptoms of psychosis this is known as a psychotic episode. Psychosis is triggered by other conditions for example schizophrenia, bipolar and severe depression but can be triggered by traumatic experiences, stress or drug misuse. 

One of the problems with Psychosis and other mental health disorders is that it is often stigmatised in Film and TV, mental health in horror films is generally interpreted in a negative light and mental health is personified as demonic, for example Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and The Shining.

This is relevant for my character Claudia as it gives me a better understanding of psychosis, I now understand that psychosis is caused by other mental disorders and brought on through drug and alcohol abuse, through this understanding I can make my makeup more realistic because I understand it better.

NHS. (Unknown). Psychosis. Available: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Psychosis/Pages/Introduction.aspx. Last accessed 9th April 2016.