Use of Movies for Group Therapy of Psychiatric Inpatients: Theory and Practice

This paper reports on the use of cinema therapy at a psychiatry clinic for inpatients. The program, "Watching Cinema Group Therapy," was used with over 500 inpatients over the course of one year. We found that using movies for group psychotherapy sessions encouraged the patients to talk about their beliefs, thoughts, and feelings while discussing the characters and stories. We also used the movies as a reward for patients who had developed a therapeutic alliance. It motivated the patients to be active instead of simply remaining in their rooms. As a follow-up to full-length films, it was more useful to show short scenes to patients who had been administered high doses of drugs. Movies can be an important, positive, and productive means of treatment and teaching.