According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 21% of U.S. adults—1 out of 5—experienced mental illness in 2020, and an alarming 7.7 million young people, aged 6 to 17, experienced a mental health disorder in later years. Conversations about mental health are becoming increasingly more important to help inform, raise awareness, and destigmatize these issues.
This is where the media can help. Movies, TV shows, and documentaries are covering mental health disorders more than ever before. The following list comprises 5 documentaries you can catch on Prime right now, covering topics such as bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression, and more.
Shadow Voices: Finding Hope in Mental Illness (2005)
This movie centers around what it is like to live with a mental illness. It has a hopeful tone, and it focuses on stories where individuals use their personal experiences and that of their families, to change our perspectives on mental health and recovery.
Of Two Minds (2018)
This documentary focuses on three Americans with bipolar disorder and how they experience their struggles and successes during their everyday lives. It also talks about the lives of their families and friends, showing how a mental disorder can impact the person’s environment and how to deal with it in a healthy way.
Letters from Generation RX (2017)
What are the side effects of taking psychiatric medication? This film dives into mental health patients and their experiences taking psychiatric medication. The documentary also explores the science behind antidepressants and their effects on the brain.
Bipolarized (2013)
This documentary provides another look into the medical industry and what it’s like to live with bipolar disorder. After being diagnosed with BPD, a man decides to try the alternative medicine route to attempt to cure himself. This is the story of his personal journey.
OC87: The Obsessive Compulsive, Major Depression, Bipolar, Asperger’s Movie (2010)
Bud Clayman saw his dreams of becoming a filmmaker crushed by his obsessive-compulsive disorder and Asperger’s syndrome. Three decades later, he works hard to reclaim this dream by filming his own chronicles of the difficult path toward recovery.
Being in the first person, the documentary also delves into his thought processes as he deals with the challenges of making shooting this documentary.
