Movies About Addiction and Recovery

A psychologist looks at Silver Linings Playbook: an honest portrait of bipolar disorder, grief, and recovery as a way of living rather than a cure.

1 min read

A psychologist explores Requiem for a Dream: the neuroscience of addiction, dopamine and the brain's reward system, the dreams that fuel use, tolerance and withdrawal, isolation, stigma, and the human cost. For adult readers.

3 min read

A psychologist explores A Beautiful Mind: schizophrenia beyond the stereotypes, the hard-won work of insight, the relational foundations of recovery, the caregiver's experience, and what real recovery looks like.

2 min read

A psychologist explores The Bear: generalized anxiety, parentification, suicide bereavement, repetition compulsion in the workplace, and the slow work of real recovery.

1 min read

A psychologist explores Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: how memory really works, the function of painful memories, repetition compulsion, attachment, and whether we would choose to forget.

2 min read

A psychologist explores Ordinary People: survivor guilt, blocked grief, the emotionally unavailable parent, the lonely bridging parent, family systems after loss, and the therapeutic relationship that makes recovery possible.

2 min read