The Task: Choose and watch a feature-length (i.e., 90 or more minutes) film that
The Task: Choose and watch a feature-length (i.e., 90 or more minutes) film that portrays a psychological disorder or disorders. Examples of such films are numerous. Possibilities include include “Silver Linings Playbook”, “Infinitely Polar Bear”, “Birdman”, “We Need to Talk About Kevin”, “American Sniper” , “The King’s Speech”, “Memento”, “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”, “Michael Clayton”, “The Hours”, “Black Swan”, and “Running with Scissors.” Really old (but good!) ones include “Sunset Boulevard”, “All About Eve”, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, “Frances”, “Psycho”, and “The Shining.” Certainly, many other films are appropriate for this assignment; please check with Dr. Scher if you have any questions about the suitability of a particular film. After viewing the movie of your choosing, compose an approximately two-page write-up containing the following information: 1) Title of film watched 2) One of the disorders you believe was portrayed in the film, and why you believe this (for example, you may be able to support your diagnosis by discussing the symptoms of the disorder portrayed or the treatments used to alleviate it). 3) The accuracy with which you believe the disorder was portrayed 4) Ways in which the portrayal could have been more accurate Formatting: The paper should be 2-2 ½ pages long. Margins should be one inch on all sides. Text should be 10-point, Verdana font. All text should be double-spaced. Use one or two spaces after each sentence, and be consistent throughout the paper. You should put your full name in a header in the upper right corner of the page, not in the body of the paper. The title of your paper should be “Abnormal Psychology’s Portrayal in the Media: (the name of your film)”; no other title is acceptable. Please use the following subheadings to organize your work: Title of film Disorder being portrayed Why I believe (disorder name here) is being portrayed The accuracy with which (disorder name here) is portrayed How the portrayal of (disorder name here) could be more accurate Please make sure to double check: 1) formatting, 2) grammar, spelling, and clarity, 3) accurate identification of the disorder you believe was portrayed, 4)information accurately supporting why you believe the disorder was portrayed, 5) citations/references and 6) the accuracy with which the disorder was portrayed and ways in which the portrayal could have been more accurate. Please note that all portrayals have some strengths and weaknesses. Thus, addressing this question by stating something to the effect of “The portrayal could not have been improved” is not acceptable!

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