Shows how films reflect and influence psychological theories and treatments, and investigates the more general question as to why film and psychology have always been so deeply intertwined.
Sharon Packer, M.D., is a practicing physician and psychiatrist, and Adjunct Professor of Media Studies at New School University in New York City. She has published dozens of academic articles and book reviews, as well as chapters on psychology and media, and psychiatry and religion. Praeger published her award-winning book Dreams in Myth, Medicine and Movies in 2002.
Packer explores the relationship between psychology and film,
phenomena that originated at approximately the same point in
history and affected each other's development. The book requires no
specialized knowledge because the author provides background
information and defines all technical terms. She discusses how
trends in psychological treatment, such as talk therapy and
medicines like Thorazine and antidepressants, are represented in
film and how these representations influenced psychological
practice, as was the case with reduced use of shock therapy after
its depiction in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). She also
discusses how Freud's teachings affected films long after his
importance had waned in psychological circles….This book is a
worthy follow-up to Packer's outstanding Dreams in Myths, Medicine,
and Movies (CH, Apr'03, 40-4923) and a solid companion to Jesse Fox
Mayshark's Post-Pop Cinema (CH, Dec'07, 45-1930). Highly
recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; general
readers.
*Choice*
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