Mental Health on the Big Screen: Using Popular Films to Understand Mental Health

  1. Zi Bin Teoh
  2. Sue Lynn Mah
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Abstract

This paper discusses how three popular films, namely Disney Pixar's Inside Out (2015), Inside Out 2 (2025), and Marvel's Thunderbolts* (2025), portray mental health-related themes in ways that can promote self-awareness, public understanding, and empathy, destigmatize psychological struggles, and encourage help-seeking behaviors. Through a reflective review, this paper suggests that cinematic storytelling can serve as a bridge between scientific knowledge and public understanding, bringing complex psychological concepts to life in a way that is humanized, relatable, and engaging; thereby promoting greater mental health literacy.

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  1. Version published to 10.31234/osf.io/mhv3f_v1 on OSF Preprints