The first thing I do when I wake up every morning is check the news. I’m always ready to dive in to the details of what is going on in the world. I love everything from the fluffy, happy stories, to the hard-hitting reports. Recently, however, I have noticed a vast increase in the coverage and mention of mental illness in the news. With so many reports, it seems to be that mental illness can play a role in any of the scary things going on in the world. From shootings, to murders, to sexual assault – mental illness almost always seems to come up in the conversation.

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But those with mental illness are not always criminals, however. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), approximately 1 in 5 adults suffers from a mental illness in a given year. That is the equivalent of 43.8 million Americans (NAMI, p. 1). If so many people have mental illnesses, why does the idea of mental illness seem so alien? Why are people with mental illnesses seen as less desirable than those without these illnesses? Why is there a fear about the possibility of mental illness?

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Although these questions are far too broad to answer, one aspect that I have found to be a contributing factor to this innate fear of mental illness is through the depiction of mentally ill people in movies. Often times, this can be ones only exposure to the mentally ill: when they are shown as a burden, as crazy, and as criminals through film.

 

One mental illness that tends to be misunderstood because of its representation in movies is Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). According to Psychology Today, DID is defined as “a rare condition in which two or more distinct identities, or personality states, are present in—and alternately take control of—an individual,” (Psychology Today, p. 1). With the right resources and help, people with Dissociative Identity Disorder are often able to go about their lives normally - they can have families, friends, and even jobs. But their depiction in film does not always match this reality, creating mystery and fear about the disorder.

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In turn, I have put four of these movies depicting DID to the test. I decided to take two movies that were based on true stories, The Three Faces of Eve, and Sybil, and compare them with two movies that are fictional, Identity and Split. 

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Through this comparison and content analysis as well as a look into Framing Theory, I answer the questions below.