Submitted by Cayce_Crown on

Movie Therapy

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Entertainment Blogs
Tags
cinema, therapy, emotions, catharsis

Sometimes I find enjoying a film to be quite cathartic and inspiring, especially if I'm feeling a little "down in the dumps" or sad.

Well, it turns out I'm not the only one who thinks watching a movie can be a very helpful thing to do, there are actually whole doctorates on this very subject, not to mention websites, organizations and meet ups. We can thank the internet for the connection of like minded people.

From WebMD (never use this site if you are actually looking for healthcare):

"Can watching a film like The Departed help you cope with your own betrayals? Does The Queen make you think about your place in class and society? And can a movie like Letters From Iwo Jima teach you anything about war and conflict?

Proponents of cinema therapy say that, in addition to getting award nods, these and other movies can and will change the way we think, feel, and ultimately deal with life's ups and downs.

Audrey Impulse

In what may be the Sundance festival of the cinema therapy world, the Chicago Institute for the Moving Image (CIMI) helps people seeking therapy for depression or other serious psychiatric illnesses, including schizophrenia or amnesia, to write, produce, and direct their own movies."

Maybe we can get some entries to the Gotham Film Festival!

"We don’t make movies to make money, we make money to make more movies."

- Walt Disney

 

Comments

Fred Klein

I was inspired by Chariots of Fire during my best marathoning year

Submitted by SoniaSaleh on Wed, 05/11/2016 - 00:00

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Sonia Saleh

Whenever I get the blues I watch Enchanted April.
RitaSue Siegel

Dheepan, currently playing, is very sad but very inspiring. It is a realistic story of the immigrant experience which I think will positively enhance anyone's attitude towards immigrants and towards what may be perceived as barriers in their own lives.
Rona Gura

After Hurricane Sandy, I told my husband he could do whatever he wanted with the den that had been destroyed on the lower level of our home. Expecting a "mancave" I was happily surprised when he turned it into a home theater. It has definitely become one of our favorite places in the house.

Submitted by Erik_Scheibe on Wed, 05/11/2016 - 04:40

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Erik Scheibe

Going to the movies has always been something my son and I have done together. We went to a movie recently and on the way there he casually and half-jokingly said, "Soon you're going to be too old to go to the movies with me and you'll only want to go with your friends."

He replied very matter-of-factly the way a 14 year-old does while looking out the window, "No, I'll never stop wanting to go to the movies with you."

Very cool and proud moment in Dad's life.

We just saw Civil War and afterwards we discussed the entire U.N. and ceding control issue. My wife always tells me to stop analyzing everything, it's just a movie...but I think my way is so much more fun.

Up next will be the new X-Men movie. Sure to find snippets of the real world in there somewhere.
ODEY RAVIV

Thanks for the info about cinema therapy at the CIMI. I have believed in the power of movies to help build relationships by depicting characters' struggling with their
issues. I think that the 1980 movie-Ordinary People, starring Mary Tyler Moore,
Donald Sutherland, and Timothy Hutton as a family in crisis. Judd Hirsch plays the
therapist, who is able to save the family and help Timothy move forward positively.
Corey Bearak

A # of movies do it for me: 55 Days in Peking. The Trojan Horse, The Avenger (The Legend of Aeneas, The Longest Day, Northwest Passage.

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