The Psychiatry and Mental Health service of the University Hospital of Torrevieja is running a series of “Movie afternoons” in the hospital which are aimed at medical and nursing staff as well as members of the general public who wish to have better understanding of mental illness and the issues related to it.
Last week the first film to be shown was the 2011 American comedy-drama starring Charlize Thero which tells the story of Mavis Gary, a divorced, alcoholic 37-year-old ghost writer of a series of young adult novels, who is on deadline with her editor to finish the last book of the soon-to-be-cancelled series.
Her situation deteriorates when she tries to get back with her high school boyfriend, who is already married and is the father of a child. But Mavis finds an unexpected ally in another high school classmate.
After the screening of the film, psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers joined in a debate around the different clinical problems and behaviours that were presented through the characters that star in the film.
A spokesman for the department said that, “with a good movie you can enjoy the plot, its music, its images … and most of all you can learn many things related to psychology and psychiatry. Films can often be and attractive showcase to make these types of disorder better known to the general public, and the film “Young Adult” is extremely educational as it deals with issues across a broad spectrum of mental illnesses, disorders, and clinical psychoses.”
