Mental illness movies and TV shows
The list contains the best, new and most relevant mental illness movies ordered by relevance. The recommendation service has sorted out psychological, weird, intense, realistic, clever and thought provoking films and TV shows about / with mental illness, psychology, mental health, mental disorder, illness, storytelling, adaptation, psychopath, insanity and hospital plots mostly in Drama, Thriller and Mystery genres shot in USA, Canada, Germany and other countries.
3669
TOP 10 movies tagged as mental illness: Prozac Nation (2001), Girl, Interrupted (1999), Black Swan (2010), Shutter Island (2010), Donnie Darko (2001), It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010), Stonehearst Asylum (2014), Primal Fear (1996), A Beautiful Mind (2001), Silver Linings Playbook (2012).
Best films
New films
| DNA (2025) | 7.2 | |
| Kannagi Nagar (2025) | 9.0 | |
| Thunderbolts* (2025) | 7.1 | |
| The Last Viking (2025) | 7.2 | |
| Honey (2026) | 7.9 |
Genre: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: Germany, Canada, USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
Elizabeth is on the verge of losing her grip on life after she leaves her emotionally fraught home to start college. Quickly, her life takes a turn for the worse: She clashes with her roommate and decides her boyfriend, Rafe, is her sole salvation. ...
Style:
depressing, psychological, sexy, teen, sad ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
mental illness, depression, coming of age, college, teenage girl, suicide attempt, university, therapy, female nudity, borderline personality disorder, drug, adolescence ...
Time:
80s, 2010s, year 2001, 90s, 2000s
Place:
harvard university, austin texas
Is relevant?
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 127 min.
Story:
Set in the changing world of the late 1960s, Susanna Kaysen's prescribed "short rest" from a psychiatrist she had met only once becomes a strange, unknown journey into Alice's Wonderland, where she struggles with the thin line ...
Style:
psychological, crying, gothic, serious, heartbreaking ...
Audience:
girls' night, chick flick, teens, teen drama, adult
Plot:
mental illness, suicide, coming of age, psychiatric ward, suicide attempt, mental institution, teenage girl, psychiatrist, borderline personality disorder, insanity, female protagonist, mentally unstable ...
Time:
20th century, year 1999, 90s, year 1967, 60s
Place:
usa
Is relevant?
882K
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
A ballet dancer wins the lead in "Swan Lake" and is perfect for the role of the delicate White Swan - Princess Odette - but slowly loses her mind as she becomes more and more like Odile, the Black Swan.
Style:
psychological, cerebral, atmospheric, suspense, twist ending ...
Audience:
chick flick, adult
Plot:
ballet, mental illness, obsession, psychology, character study, dancing, insanity, hallucination, mother daughter relationship, ballerina, surrealism, schizophrenia ...
Time:
year 2010, 2000s, 2010s, 21st century
Place:
bolivia, usa, new york, manhattan new york city
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 138 min.
Story:
World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by his troubling visions and also by a mysterious doctor.
Style:
psychological, surprise ending, twist ending, suspense, confusing ...
Audience:
chick flick, date night, adult
Plot:
twists and turns, plot twist, investigation, mental illness, insanity, psychology, memory, paranoia, mental institution, schizophrenia, psychiatrist, mental patient ...
Time:
1950s, year 2010, year 1954, 1940s, year 1945 ...
Place:
iran, persia, america, boston
Is relevant?
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905K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min.
Story:
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
Style:
psychological, surreal, mind bending, atmospheric, philosophical ...
Audience:
teens, date night, adult, teen drama
Plot:
mental illness, imaginary friend, schizophrenia, psychology, time travel, insanity, parallel universe, suburbs, surrealism, time loop, trippy, schizophrenic ...
Time:
80s, year 2001, 2000s, future, 20th century ...
Place:
los angeles, america, usa, virginia, harvard university
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
A clinically depressed teenager gets a new start after he checks himself into an adult psychiatric ward.
Style:
touching, funny, sentimental, teen, independent film ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, girls' night, date night, teen drama
Plot:
mental illness, depression, psychiatric ward, coming of age, mental institution, adolescence, teenage love, teenage life, friendship, suicidal, psychiatry, anxiety ...
Time:
year 2010, 2010s, year 1999, 21st century
Place:
nebraska, usa, brooklyn new york city, new york
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min.
Story:
A Harvard Medical School graduate takes a position at a mental institution and soon becomes obsessed with a female mental patient, but he has no idea of a recent and horrifying staffing change.
Style:
twist ending, suspense, gothic, psychological thriller, atmospheric ...
Plot:
mental illness, mental institution, twists and turns, mental patient, insanity, plot twist, psychiatrist, edgar allan poe, madhouse, doctors and patients, doctor, macabre ...
Time:
19th century, victorian era, 1890s, 1800s, year 1900
Place:
england, britain, usa, oxford university, tuscany ...
Is relevant?
279K
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min.
Story:
An arrogant, high-powered attorney takes on the case of a poor altar boy found running away from the scene of the grisly murder of the bishop who has taken him in. The case gets a lot more complex when the accused reveals that there may or may not ...
Style:
surprise ending, twist ending, psychological, suspense, neo noir ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
twists and turns, mental illness, murder, courtroom drama, plot twist, trial, psychology, courtroom, court case, corruption, lawyer, manipulation ...
Time:
90s, future, year 1996, 20th century
Place:
chicago, usa
Is relevant?
Genre: Biography, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min.
Story:
At Princeton University, John Nash struggles to make a worthwhile contribution to serve as his legacy to the world of mathematics. He finally makes a revolutionary breakthrough that will eventually earn him the Nobel Prize. After graduate school he ...
Style:
psychological, touching, cerebral, dramatic, intellectual ...
Audience:
teens, date night, chick flick, family friendly
Plot:
mathematics, mental illness, schizophrenia, genius, paranoia, insanity, imagination, scientist, prodigy, nobel prize, imaginary friend, mathematician ...
Time:
year 2001, 60s, 1940s, 20th century, 2000s ...
Place:
harvard university, boston, new jersey, detroit, persia ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min.
Story:
After spending eight months in a mental institution, a former teacher moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife.
Style:
romantic, touching, romantic comedy, inspirational, sentimental ...
Audience:
chick flick, date night, girls' night, teens, adult
Plot:
mental illness, love, family drama, bipolar disorder, depression, adaptation, character study, social misfits, supportive parent, father son relationship, male female friendship, mental patient ...
Time:
2010s, year 2012, 21st century
Place:
philadelphia, peru, usa, pennsylvania, america ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
A woman suffering from multiple personality disorder tries to piece back together her life.
Style:
psychological, suspenseful, mind bending, serious, realistic ...
Plot:
mental illness, confined, mentally unstable, twists and turns, doctors and patients, power relations, dissociative identity disorder, dominatrix, mental disorder, psychiatrist, family relations, friendship ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
usa, new orleans
Is relevant?
615K
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 117 min.
Story:
Though Kevin has evidenced 23 personalities to his trusted psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher, there remains one still submerged who is set to materialize and dominate all the others. Compelled to abduct three teenage girls led by the willful, observant ...
Style:
psychological, suspense, twist ending, suspenseful, psychological thriller ...
Audience:
teens, teen fantasy, teen drama
Plot:
mental illness, kidnapping, dissociative identity disorder, murder, split personality, psycho, insanity, serial killer, paranoia, captive, schizophrenia, psychopath ...
Time:
2010s, year 2016, year 2017
Place:
philadelphia, pennsylvania, america
Is relevant?
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Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
A teenage girl living with schizophrenia begins to suspect her neighbor has kidnapped a child. Her parents try desperately to help her live a normal life, without exposing their own tragic secrets, and the only person who believes her is Caleb – a ...
Style:
suspense, psychological, intense, dark, thought provoking ...
Plot:
fear, mental illness, schizophrenia, teen angst, schizophrenic, fictional reality, missing child, delusion, hospitalization, hearing voices, abduction, paranoid schizophrenia ...
Time:
2020s, 21st century
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
The hopes and dreams of four ambitious people are shattered when their drug addictions begin spiraling out of control. A look into addiction and how it overcomes the mind and body.
Style:
psychological, disturbing, bleak, depressing, atmospheric ...
Audience:
kids, adult
Plot:
addiction, drug abuse, heroin, drug addiction, insanity, drug, junkie, loneliness, mental illness, depression, dream, subculture ...
Time:
year 2000, future, y2k, 20th century, 90s ...
Place:
britain, america, new york, usa, coney island brooklyn new york city ...
Is relevant?
1.7M
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada, Australia
Duration: 122 min.
Story:
During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.
Style:
thought provoking, atmospheric, suspense, bleak, psychological thriller ...
Audience:
teens, adult
Plot:
mental illness, villain, loneliness, mental patient, psycho, comedian, psychological trauma, mental disorder, psychopath, social problems, insanity, social decay ...
Time:
2010s, 80s, year 2019, 20th century, year 1981
Place:
new york, new jersey, los angeles, persia, bronx new york city
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min.
Story:
While serving time for insanity at a state mental hospital, implacable rabble-rouser, Randle Patrick McMurphy inspires his fellow patients to rebel against the authoritarian rule of head nurse, Mildred Ratched.
Style:
psychological, serious, thought provoking, dramatic, emotional ...
Audience:
family friendly, date night, teen drama, adult
Plot:
mental institution, mental illness, fighting the system, freedom, human spirit, insanity, society, mental patient, mental disorder, nurse, psychiatrist, schizophrenia ...
Time:
60s, 20th century, year 1975, year 1963
Place:
oregon, eastern europe, america, persia
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
Carla and Marco are manic-depressive poets whose art is fueled by their emotional extremes. When they go off their meds, they end up in the same psychiatric hospital. As the chemistry between them stirs up their emotions, it intensifies their mania. ...
Style:
realistic, sincere, emotional, captivating, touching ...
Plot:
mental illness, bipolar disorder, love, mental health, mental disorder, couples, illness, friendship, hospital, hopes, real world, addiction ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
usa, new york
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 114 min.
Story:
A recently released patient from a mental institution returns home with her sister, only to face disturbing events between her stepmother and the ghosts haunting their house- all of which are connected to a dark past in the family's history.
Style:
psychological, atmospheric, mind bending, surprise ending, twist ending ...
Plot:
mental illness, tragedy, suicide, death, ghost, children, hallucination, stepmother, twists and turns, evil stepmother, guilt, haunted house ...
Time:
2000s, year 2002, year 2003, year 2000, 21st century
Place:
south korea, east asia, korea, asia, japan
Is relevant?
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29K
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
The "black sheep" son of a wealthy family meets a young psychiatric patient who's been raised in isolation her entire life. He takes the naive young woman home for his brother's wedding an improbable romance blooms, as she ...
Style:
romantic, sweet, cute, feel good, teen ...
Audience:
date night, teens, girls' night, chick flick
Plot:
love story, love and romance, fall in love, mental illness, twists and turns, relationships, happy ending, love affair, naive young woman, runaway, prejudice, hospital ...
Time:
year 2014, 21st century
Place:
louisiana, southern usa, usa, california, new orleans
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
A coming-of-age story based on the best-selling novel by Stephen Chbosky, which follows 15-year-old freshman Charlie, an endearing and naive outsider who is taken under the wings of two seniors. A moving tale of love, loss, fear and hope - and the ...
Style:
touching, teen, sincere, melancholic, sad ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, girls' night, teen drama
Plot:
coming of age, high school, teenager, adolescence, first love, friendship, teenage love, youth, high school life, depression, suicide, teenage life ...
Time:
90s, 2010s, year 1991, year 2013, 20th century ...
Place:
pittsburgh, pennsylvania, usa
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
Extremely shy Lars finds it impossible to make friends or socialize. His brother and sister-in-law worry about him, so when he announces that he has a girlfriend he met on the Internet, they are overjoyed. But Lars' new lady is a life-size ...
Style:
touching, humorous, depressing, sweet, melancholic ...
Audience:
date night, chick flick, adult
Plot:
loneliness, mental illness, sex doll, shyness, doll, delusion, bittersweet, young man, introvert, small town, forbidden love, character study ...
Time:
year 2007, 2000s, future, 21st century
Place:
usa, wisconsin, new jersey
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
Matt falls for Casey, the new girl in school. She's fun-loving and eccentric, but there's a darkness to her whimsy that Matt can't begin to comprehend. When Casey attempts to commit suicide, her parents place her in a mental ...
Style:
romantic, touching, melancholic, sentimental, erotic ...
Audience:
teens, date night, girls' night
Plot:
high school, mental illness, love, on the road, obsessive love, manic depression, mental institution, coming of age, hitchhiking, impulsiveness, teenage love, psychology ...
Time:
y2k, 90s
Place:
seattle, latin america, usa, mexico
Is relevant?
8K
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 66 min.
TV show
Story:
The true story of a young woman named Sybil, whose childhood was so harrowing to her that she developed at least 13 different personalities.
Style:
psychological, satanic, touching, emotional, disturbing ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
dissociative identity disorder, mental illness, split personality, psychiatrist, psychology, children, mental disorder, child abuse, psychiatry, mental health, female psychiatrist, child rape ...
Time:
20th century, 70s, 1950s, 50s
Is relevant?
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204K
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
A woman turns to prescription medication as a way of handling her anxiety concerning her husband's upcoming release from prison.
Style:
psychological, surprise ending, suspense, captivating, serious ...
Audience:
chick flick, date night
Plot:
mental illness, depression, psychiatrist, manipulation, murder, patient, sleepwalking, twists and turns, doctor, mental patient, mental institution, deception ...
Time:
2010s, year 2013, future, year 2004, 21st century
Place:
usa, new york, manhattan new york city
Is relevant?
290K
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min.
TV show
Story:
A group of high school students navigate love and friendships in a world of drugs, sex, trauma, and social media.
Style:
thought provoking, captivating, realistic, depressing, sexy ...
Audience:
teens, teen drama
Plot:
addiction, teenager, coming of age, drug addict, high school, mental illness, lgbt, youth, sex, sexuality, school, teenage life ...
Time:
september 11 2001, 2020s, 2010s, 21st century
Place:
london, brooklyn new york city, italy, california, singapore ...
Is relevant?
43K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Canada, UK
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
A mentally disturbed man takes residence in a halfway house. His mind gradually slips back into the realm created by his illness, where he replays a key part of his childhood.
Style:
disturbing, psychological, surreal, cerebral, bleak ...
Plot:
schizophrenia, mental illness, childhood trauma, murder, haunted by the past, paranoia, mental patient, misfit, macabre, psychopath, twists and turns, mental health ...
Time:
2000s, 1950s, year 2002, 50s, 21st century
Place:
london, europe, england, east end london, united kingdom ...
Is relevant?
48K
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
Catherine is a woman in her late twenties who is strongly devoted to her father, Robert, a brilliant and well-known mathematician whose grip on reality is beginning to slip away. As Robert descends into madness, Catherine begins to wonder if she may ...
Style:
psychological, emotional, inspirational, sexy, serious ...
Plot:
mathematics, mental illness, prodigy, insanity, paranoia, university, notebook, campus, illness, schizophrenia, manic, mental disorder ...
Time:
year 2005, 21st century
Place:
chicago, usa, new york, wisconsin, london
Is relevant?
175K
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min.
Story:
Dr. Malcolm Sayer, a shy research physician, uses an experimental drug to "awaken" the catatonic victims of a rare disease. Leonard is the first patient to receive the controversial treatment. His awakening, filled with awe and enthusiasm, ...
Style:
inspirational, sentimental, cerebral, psychological, touching ...
Audience:
teens, girls' night, teen drama
Plot:
hospital, mental illness, mental institution, illness, doctors and patients, medical, fighting illness, doctor, medicine, catatonia, disability, patient ...
Time:
20th century, 90s, 1930s, 60s, year 1969
Place:
bronx new york city, new york, america, usa
Is relevant?
40K
Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
A lonely waitress with a tragic past, Agnes rooms in a run-down motel, living in fear of her abusive, recently paroled ex-husband. But when Agnes begins a tentative romance with Peter, an eccentric, nervous drifter, she starts to feel hopeful again ...
Style:
psychological, cult classic, suspenseful, mind bending, psychological thriller ...
Plot:
insanity, paranoia, obsession, losing-it hero, mental illness, psychosis, couples, nudity, conspiracy theory, addiction, schizophrenia, violent ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
oklahoma, usa, louisiana
Is relevant?
43K
Genre: Crime, Horror
Country: France
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
As he helps a young artist with her upcoming exhibition, the owner of a mannequin shop's deadly, suppressed desires come to the surface.
Style:
disturbing, slasher, scary, sadistic, bloody ...
Audience:
date night, teens, adult
Plot:
serial killer, maniac, obsession, murder, mental illness, violence, insanity, sadism, brutality, childhood trauma, torture, violence spree ...
Time:
80s, year 2012, 2010s, 70s, 21st century
Place:
los angeles, usa
Is relevant?
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