Film Theory, Filmmaking: Impact on Mental Health Disorders

If you live with a mental health disorder, there is no doubt you understand the daily struggle experienced with not only your emotional state of mind but also your physical health. For many adults with mental health disorders, treatment often involves medications and traditional behavioral or cognitive therapy. For some adults, however, there is a movement to try new and innovative approaches in the mental health therapy, including that associated with film theory and filmmaking.

Therapeutic filmmaking is beginning to make its way into the mainstream aspects of psychotherapy. Because therapeutic filmmaking involves a first-person experience, many individuals find filmmaking, and the study of film theory, to offer some way in which to express emotions about personal experiences. In addition to being successful as a form of personal expression, many psychotherapists also support therapeutic filmmaking for patients who are especially against traditional therapy.

If you are considering options for mental health treatment, you may want to ask your psychiatrist, or psychologist, about the options of film theory or therapeutic filmmaking. If you are not associated with a mental health professional, you can even consider film making courses at a local community college. While film making courses can be costly, some patients find that simply taking a cinema-related arts class is also therapeutic. Because studies have shown that watching films has some degree of passive therapeutic benefits, many students enrolled in these types of courses do so for the intent of gaining some benefit from a mental health perspective.

Much like art therapy, filmmaking as a therapeutic process incorporates not only content but also interpersonal relationships among characters. To achieve optimal results in filmmaking, the person directing or producing the film usually must find some relation to the experience of the characters. By expressing personal experiences, you can find healing and recovery from some of the most difficult mental health conditions.

Filmmaking has long been considered and arts program but, recently, has become more focused in the science-based practice, especially in the treatment of mental health disorders. While this is not a traditional approach to treating a mental health disorder, it can provide some degree of benefit to you, especially if you are resistant to more structured forms of psychotherapy. Consult a college counselor about courses in cinema or filmmaking, ask your mental health professional, or simply take a few days to yourself and watch movies. Ultimately, you may feel an improved sense of well-being through therapeutic films and filmmaking.