Best Mental Illness Movies & TV Shows

Drama depicting the problems of a suburban housewife suffering from fits of depression and alcoholism, and her stay in a psychiatric center after a feeble suicide attempt.

John is agoraphobic and hasn't left his apartment in over two years. After his therapist quits on him, a new therapist challenges him to leave his apartment in the next thirty days.

A psychiatrist is sent to evaluate if a convicted multiple murderer who's awaiting execution on Death Row for eighth year now and whose behavior during that time got more and more erratic is still mentally fit to be executed.

An elderly widow must find meaning and activity in her life when her son suggests she is no longer capable of handling her own affairs.

True crime story of a Wisconsin teacher's aide who hired teenaged students to murder her estranged husband.

Six years before Saul Goodman meets Walter White. We meet him when the man who will become Saul Goodman is known as Jimmy McGill, a small-time lawyer searching for his destiny, and, more immediately, hustling to make ends meet. Working alongside, and, often, against Jimmy, is “fixer” Mike Ehrmantraut. The series tracks Jimmy’s transformation into Saul Goodman, the man who puts “criminal” in “criminal lawyer".

When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother.

A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.

A petty criminal fakes insanity to serve his sentence in a mental ward rather than prison. He soon finds himself as a leader to the other patients—and an enemy to the cruel, domineering nurse who runs the ward.

A shocking exposé of the deplorable conditions and abuses from the Willowbrook State School for children with intellectual disabilities.

A peculiar neighbor offers hope to a recent widow who is struggling to raise a teenager who is unpredictable and, sometimes, violent.

Tim Blake Nelson is a man who's safe and comfortable and bored to death with his life. In his state of despair, he looks to classic stories for inspiration. Awakened by the tales of yore, he anoints himself as Don Quixote to find adventure, fame and glory that will make his life worthwhile - all while never leaving his one-mile square neighborhood.

Sam, an 18-year-old on the autism spectrum, takes a funny, yet painful, journey of self-discovery for love and independence and upends his family.

The son of a notorious serial killer becomes an acclaimed criminal psychologist who uses his unique insight into how killers think to help the NYPD.

When the last factory in a small Rust Belt town closes its doors, an unlikely hero emerges in dutiful, quiet Allery Parkes. A career employee of the factory, the aging Allery can't reconcile how to live a life simply sitting at home doing nothing. Against the advice and pleas of his loving wife Iola, he forms an unlikely friendship with his charismatic neighbor Walter Brewer in order to revive the defunct factory.

The story of the life and times of the legendary Hollywood blonde bombshell, Marilyn Monroe, from her meteoric rise to stardom to her marriages and untimely death.

World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by troubling visions and a mysterious doctor.

During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.

Stuck in COVID-19 lockdown, US comedian and musician Bo Burnham attempts to stay sane and happy by writing, shooting and performing a one-man comedy special.

A mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feed his urge for violent action.

Chicagoan Frank Gallagher is the proud single dad of six smart, industrious, independent kids, who without him would be... perhaps better off. When Frank's not at the bar spending what little money they have, he's passed out on the floor. But the kids have found ways to grow up in spite of him. They may not be like any family you know, but they make no apologies for being exactly who they are.

It’s 1958 Manhattan and Miriam “Midge” Maisel has everything she’s ever wanted - the perfect husband, kids, and Upper West Side apartment. But when her life suddenly takes a turn and Midge must start over, she discovers a previously unknown talent - one that will take her all the way from the comedy clubs of Greenwich Village to a spot on Johnny Carson’s couch.

Rizwan Khan, a Muslim from the Borivali section of Mumbai, has Asperger's syndrome. He marries a Hindu single mother, Mandira, in San Francisco. After 9/11, Rizwan is detained by authorities at LAX who treat him as a terrorist because of his condition and his race.

The hopes and dreams of four ambitious people are shattered when their drug addictions begin spiraling out of control. A look into addiction and how it overcomes the mind and body.

A young man arrives at the last hometown of painter Vincent van Gogh to deliver the troubled artist's final letter and ends up investigating his final days there.

Fact-based story about a woman whose life is shattered by a poetry-spouting stalker who manages to evade her police protectors.

Comedian Steven Brody Stevens, known for his manic nature on stage, suffers a real public breakdown and attempts to put his life back together afterwards.

Feature-length ITV drama based on real events. Bill and Wendy Ainscow (Timothy Spall and Brenda Blethyn) are a middle class, middle-aged Birmingham couple locked in a deeply dysfunctional relationship with their 32-year-old daughter Lisa (Rebekah Staton). In a culmination of years spent unsuccessfully trying to obtain a diagnosis and get state help to deal with with Lisa's condition - which eventually turns out to be Asperger's syndrome - Bill and Wendy are ultimately driven to desperate measures with tragic consequences.

Marguerite Sydney is a celebrated Hollywood star attempting a comeback after a stay in a mental hospital, as well as trying to re-establish a relationship with her teenage son, and risking a romance with a mysterious stranger.

Emma approaches adulthood, she tries to live an ordinary life and keep up to her late mothers expectations. However her anxiety weighs over her, stopping her from enjoying the last few youthful years.

Aza confronts her potential for love, happiness, friendship, and hope while navigating an endless barrage of invasive, obsessive thoughts.

Bill struggles to put together his shattered psyche, in this feature film version of Don Hertzfeldt's animated short film trilogy.

A peculiar and disturbing case catches the attention of the police when a young mother and her children, all severely injured, show up in a hospital's emergency room.

A former child star torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.

Diagnosed with a mental illness halfway through his senior year of high school, a witty, introspective teen struggles to keep it a secret while falling in love with a brilliant classmate who inspires him to open his heart and not be defined by his condition.

When her husband has a mental breakdown and goes missing, a determined woman and her young son set out to find him on the streets, sparking a movement of compassion towards those in need and inspiring a city.

John Nash is a brilliant but asocial mathematician fighting schizophrenia. After he accepts secret work in cryptography, his life takes a turn for the nightmarish.

Some of literature's most terrifying characters, including Dr. Frankenstein, Dorian Gray, and iconic figures from the novel Dracula are lurking in the darkest corners of Victorian London. Penny Dreadful is a frightening psychological thriller that weaves together these classic horror origin stories into a new adult drama.

Blonde Betty Elms has only just arrived in Hollywood to become a movie star when she meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia. Meanwhile, as the two set off to solve the second woman's identity, filmmaker Adam Kesher runs into ominous trouble while casting his latest project.

A newlywed couple checks into an old hotel in New Orleans where the wife begins having dreams in which she encounters a sinister group of people who seem to want her for some nefarious purpose. When people around her start dying, she realizes she is not dreaming.

The film tells the story of three couples on the road between the Atlantic coast and the Northwest Territories in Canada.

When car dealer Charlie Babbitt learns that his estranged father has died, he returns home to Cincinnati, where he discovers that he has a savant older brother named Raymond and that his father's $3 million fortune is being left to the mental institution in which Raymond lives. Motivated by his father's money, Charlie checks Raymond out of the facility in order to return with him to Los Angeles. The brothers' cross-country trip ends up changing both their lives.

Aspiring comic Rupert Pupkin attempts to achieve success in show business by stalking his idol, a late night talk-show host who craves his own privacy.

Mabel Longhetti, desperate and lonely, is married to a Los Angeles municipal construction worker, Nick. Increasingly unstable, especially in the company of others, she craves happiness, but her extremely volatile behavior convinces Nick that she poses a danger to their family and decides to commit her to an institution for six months. Alone with a trio of kids to raise on his own, he awaits her return, which holds more than a few surprises.

After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1991. High school freshman Charlie is a wallflower, always watching life from the sidelines, until two senior students, Sam and her stepbrother Patrick, become his mentors, helping him discover the joys of friendship, music and love.

Grace, a compassionate young supervisor at a foster care facility, helps at-risk teens. But when a new charge dredges up memories of her own troubled past, Grace's tough exterior begins eroding.

Dr. Malcolm Sayer, a shy research physician, uses an experimental drug to "awaken" the catatonic victims of a rare disease. Leonard is the first patient to receive the controversial treatment. His awakening, filled with awe and enthusiasm, proves a rebirth for Sayer too, as the exuberant patient reveals life's simple but unutterably sweet pleasures to the introverted doctor.

A biopic of Temple Grandin, an autistic woman who has become one of top scientists in humane livestock handling.

A drama-documentary presented by Alan Yentob, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role.