PSYC 221 Abnormal Psychology (Whyte): Videos

Gwen Cummings (Sandra Bullock), a successful N.Y. journalist and ultimate party girl, loves to have a good time! Trouble is, she never can tell when she's had enough. When she borrows her sister's (Elizabeth Perkins) wedding limo and plows it into someone's front porch, the wild life she shares with her boyfriend, Jasper (Dominic West), comes to a screeching halt. She earns herself a DUI and a 28-day stretch in rehab. There, she faces an unthinkable set of rules (no cell phones!) and some strange rituals, like chanting and (gulp!) sharing her feelings. Joining up with an eccentric group of fellow rehabbers led by the inimitable Counselor Cornell (Steve Buscemi), Gwen embarks on a touching and often hilarious road to recovery where she learns that life is not always a party and that real happiness comes from within.

From Academy Award winning director Roger Ross Williams comes the story of Owen Suskind, a young man who couldn't speak as a child until he discovered a unique way to communicate by immersing himself in the world of Disney animated films.

Charlie Babbitt (Cruise) has just discovered he has an autistic brother named Raymond (Hoffman) and is now taking him on the ride of his life. Or is it the other way around? From his refusal to drive on major highways to a four minutes to Wapner meltdown at an Oklahoma farmhouse, Raymond first pushes hot-headed Charlie to the limits of his patience and then pulls him completely out of his self-centered world! But what began as an unsentimental journey for the Babbitt brothers becomes much more than the distance between two placesi--t's a connection between two vastly different people and a poignant, profound and powerful film (Joel Siegel, ABC-TV)! *1988

Golden Globe(R)-winning actress Claire Danes shines in this fact-based story of an autistic woman who became an unlikely hero to America's cattle industry--and to autistic people everywhere.

Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) is a small-town young man with a lot of responsibility. Chief among his concerns are his mother (Darlene Cates), who is so overweight that she can't leave the house, and his mentally impaired younger brother, Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio), who has a knack for finding trouble. Settled into a job at a grocery store and an ongoing affair with local woman Betty Carver (Mary Steenburgen), Gilbert finally has his life shaken up by the free-spirited Becky (Juliette Lewis).

In the movie, actor Bradley Cooper plays a man with bipolar disorder who is being released from a psychiatric hospital. He soon connects emotionally with a quirky young woman, played by Jennifer Lawrence, who has struggled with her own mental health issues, largely brought on by her husband's death.

After Allie Jones throws out Sam, her sexy but two-timing live-in lover, she desperately needs someone to split the rent on her Upper West Side, New York apartment. And if anybody seems a safe bet, it's shy and unimposing Hedra Carlson, the least likely candidate for leaving dirty socks on the floor. Yet there is something odd about the way Hedra openly envies Allie's appearance and lifestyle. Then Allie begins receiving obscene phone calls from strangers who know her name; her credit cards mysteriously disappear; and she is shocked to discover that Hedra's wardrobe is eerily similar to her own. Unknown to Allie, her plain and modest roommate is sharing much more than the rent, and an unspeakable, bloody nightmare is just beginning. Companion book.

The Breakfast Club captured the teen angst of a generation, delving into themes such as stereotyping, the stigma of mental illness and bullying.

Focuses on a young woman suffering from delusions and paranoia after returning to her family from an abusive cult in the Catskill Mountains. When in the cult, she was raped and participated in burglaries where she witnesed a murder. Companion book.

Will Hunting (Matt Damon) has a genius-level IQ but chooses to work as a janitor at MIT. When he solves a difficult graduate-level math problem, his talents are discovered by Professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard), who decides to help the misguided youth reach his potential. When Will is arrested for attacking a police officer, Professor Lambeau makes a deal to get leniency for him if he will get treatment from therapist Sean Maguire (Robin Williams).

Tormented by guilt following the death of his older brother, Buck, in a sailing accident, alienated teenager Conrad Jarrett (Timothy Hutton) attempts suicide. Returning home following an extended stay in a psychiatric hospital, Conrad tries to deal with his mental anguish and also reconnect with his mother, Beth (Mary Tyler Moore), who has grown cold and angry, and his emotionally wounded father, Calvin (Donald Sutherland), with the help of his psychiatrist, Dr. Berger (Judd Hirsch).

Tom Hanks gives an astonishing performance as Forrest, an everyman whose simple innocence comes to embody a generation.

"I Am Sam" is the compelling story of Sam Dawson (Sean Penn), a mentally-challenged father raising his daughter Lucy (Dakota Fanning) with the help of a unique group of friends. As Lucy turns seven and begins to intellectually surpass her father, their close bond is threatened when their unconventional living arrangement comes to the attention of a social worker who wants Lucy placed in foster care.

Frances Farmer was an actress who suffered from alcoholic binges and mental illness (paranoid schizophrenic). She was institutionalized for years.Companion book.

Two time Oscar(r)-nominee Winona Ryder stars in the fascinating true story of a young woman's life-altering stay at a famous psychiatric hospital in the turbulent late 1960's. Questionably diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, Susanna (Winona Ryder) rebels against the head nurse (Whoopi Goldberg) and top psychiatrist (Vanessa Redgrave), choosing instead to befriend the resident "loonies",a group of troubled women including the seductively charismatic sociopath Lisa (Angelina Jolie). But Susanna quickly learns if she wants her freedom, she'll have to face the person who terrifies her the most of all: herself. Companion book.

Story of Nobel Prize-winning economist John Nash and his battle with schizophrenia. Companion book.

Paranoid Schizophrenia. A delusional high school student is visited by a demonic rabbit with eerie visions of the past - and deadly predictions for the future.

A depressed man (Edward Norton) suffering from insomnia meets a strange soap salesman named Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and soon finds himself living in his squalid house after his perfect apartment is destroyed. The two bored men form an underground club with strict rules and fight other men who are fed up with their mundane lives. Their perfect partnership frays when Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), a fellow support group crasher, attracts Tyler's attention.