One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Psychology

Psychopathological Treatment in Movies
Introduction
The treatment of psychopathologies has spanned a wide spectrum of approaches ever since its inauguration as a field of study. From humanism to psychoanalysis, mental illnesses have been viewed from a plethora of perspectives and many have attempted to capture such treatment techniques through the medium of film. However, the degree to which these films accurately depict the treatments applicable to the time period in which the movies are set varies. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and Girl, Interrupted (1999) are no exception to the aforementioned statement. Set in the early 1960’s and late 1960’s/early 1970’s respectively, these movies bear aspects of both resemblance and dissimilarity to the conditions and psychological and biological treatments commonly known to occur during their respective time periods.
Movie Summaries

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
After various complaints are made by his superiors at the work farm where his prison sentence landed him, R.P McMurphy is sent to an institution to be evaluated for mental illness.

Sharing the ward with people such as Billy Bibbit, Harding, and Chief, McMurphy soon finds himself atop the patient hierarchy due to the influence he has over the other men. McMurphy quickly finds out though that his influence does not extend over the ward’s head, Nurse Ratched, and therefore makes it his personal mission to push as many of her buttons as possible. However, Nurse Ratched maintains her authoritative demeanor and takes what were viewed as necessary measures, such as electro shock therapy, to deal with McMurphy’s behavior outbursts. McMurphy’s final outburst, which took shape as a party during which almost all the patients became intoxicated, leads Nurse Ratched to play her final and most deadly card of sending McMurphy to undergo a frontal lobotomy. Returning from the procedure bearing no resemblance of his former self, Chief puts McMurphy out of his misery by suffocating him with a

pillow.
Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Following a series of atypical actions and after attempting suicide by seeing if a bottle of vodka could beat a bottle of aspirin to her stomach, Susanna Kaysen finds herself at Claymoore mental institution labeled with a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder. There, she meets women suffering from a spectrum of mental illnesses, including Georgina, who is a pathological liar, Polly, who purposely burned herself as a child, and Lisa, who is regarded as a sociopath. Despite Lisa’s reputation as a frequent chastiser of both nurses and patients, Susanna finds herself drawn to Lisa’s rebellious spirit and at one point escapes with her, attempting to make it to Disney Land. However, after Lisa bullies Daisy, a former resident of Claymoore, into committing suicide, Susanna realizes the toxicity of Lisa’s influence on her and returns to Claymoore, determined to get better. After hours spent in the office of the institution’s psychologist, Dr. Wick, and many more spent writing in a journal, Susanna finds herself leaving Claymoore, a recovered borderline.
Reflection
Accuracies
Throughout both of these films, there lies overt similarities to the psychopathological treatment available during the film’s respective time periods. Within the first day of both main character’s stay at the mental institutions, for instance, both are supplied with a variety of medications. Despite Susanna and McMurphy’s skepticism regarding the purpose and content of the medications, the nurses refrain from indulging in their curiosity and in both movies must resort to verbal coercion in order for them to take their medications. These interactions, which occur at various points throughout both films, reflect the drug revolution that began in the 1950’s thanks to proponents of the biological tradition of psychopathology. (Jantzi, 2017) This form of treatment drastically decreased symptoms associated with a multitude of mental illnesses, as neuroleptics worked to combat hallucinations, agitation, and aggressiveness, and tranquilizers worked to combat anxiety. While patients may have found the constant calls for medication to be bothersome and, at some times, coercive and invasive, in the eyes of those in charge of the mental institutions, a treatment technique that wasn’t broken shouldn’t have to be fixed.
Furthermore, from the opening scenes of both patient’s introduction to the mental institutions, one can see that these films lie in the era of deinstitutionalization. Lasting from 1955 until 1998, deinstitutionalization resulted