Best movies like The Not So Secret Life of the Manic Depressive: 10 Years On

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like The Not So Secret Life of the Manic Depressive: 10 Years On Starring Stephen Fry, David Morrissey, and more. If you liked The Not So Secret Life of the Manic Depressive: 10 Years On then you may also like: Vincent & Theo, Welcome to Me, A Woman Under the Influence, No Letting Go, On the Inside and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

Ten years ago, in an award-winning series, Stephen Fry first spoke about living with manic depression and began a national conversation about mental health. A decade later, we return to the subject to understand where he and thousands of others diagnosed with bipolar (as it is now called) are now.

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Vincent & Theo

The tragic story of Vincent van Gogh broadened by focusing as well on his brother Theodore, who helped support Vincent. Based on the letters written between the two.

Welcome to Me

A year in the life of Alice Klieg, a woman with Borderline personality disorder who wins the Mega Millions lottery, quits her meds and buys her own talk show.

A Woman Under the Influence

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.

No Letting Go

A young teenager struggles with a debilitating mental illness as his mom risks everything to save him without losing the rest of her family.

On the Inside

A decent but troubled young man is sent to a psychiatric institution for the criminally insane and soon finds himself in a fight for his life battling ghosts inside his head and very real enemies all around him.

The Other Half

A grief-stricken man and a bipolar woman fall in love and attempt to forge a simple life together.

Blue Sky

Hank Marshall is a tough, square-jawed, straitlaced Army engineer and nuclear science expert, assigned to help conduct weapons testing in 1950s America. Hank has become a thorn in the side of the Army, though, for a couple of very different reasons. He is an outspoken opponent of atmospheric testing, though his superiors hold contrary views and want to squelch his concerns...and his reports. The other problem is his wife, Carly. She is voluptuous and volatile, wreaking havoc in his personal life and stirring up intrigue at each new Army base.

The Boys Next Door

Jack Palmer is a social worker whose job has taken precedence over his personal life. Mainly, his job is to help four mentally challenged men live regular lives in a home. They consist of: Norman, who works at a donut shop and has a thing for keys; Barry, who thinks he is a golf pro and doesn't communicate well with his father; Arnold, who is into all things Russian and has a habit of spending money; and Lucien, who is into Spider Man and must testify before the state senate. Jack wants to help them, but he also thinks it is time to move on with his life. The hard part is trying to say goodbye to the guys he cares about.

Bringing Ashley Home

When her wild younger sister Ashley, who suffers from bipolar disorder and drug addiction, goes missing, Libba Phillips pours all her time and energy into finding Ashley and bringing her home. As the years go by, Libba refuses to give up hope, and, at the expense of her marriage and career, Libba finds her calling in life: creating a much-needed resource center for other families whose missing loved ones have fallen through the cracks.

Call Me Crazy: A Five Film

A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.

Sling Blade

Karl Childers, a mentally disabled man, has been in the custody of the state mental hospital since the age of 12 for killing his mother and her lover. Although thoroughly institutionalized, he is deemed fit to be released into the outside world.

The Hours

"The Hours" is the story of three women searching for more potent, meaningful lives. Each is alive at a different time and place, all are linked by their yearnings and their fears. Their stories intertwine, and finally come together in a surprising, transcendent moment of shared recognition.

Mad Love

Matt falls for Casey, the new girl in school. She's fun-loving and eccentric, but there's a darkness to her whimsy that Matt can't begin to comprehend. When Casey attempts to commit suicide, her parents place her in a mental institution. Matt springs her out, and together the young lovers head on a road trip. They believe their love can "cure" Casey's problems. Matt starts to wonder, though, if are they inspired or misguided.

What About ME?

Inside the dramatic search for a cure to ME/CFS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). 17 million people around the world suffer from what ME/CFS has been known as a mystery illness, delegated to the psychological realm, until now. A scientist in the only neuro immune institute in the world may have come up with the answer. An important human drama, plays out on the quest for the truth.

The Group

It's 1933, and eight young women are friends and members of the upper- class group at a private girl's school, about to graduate and start their own lives. The film documents the years between their graduation and the beginning of the World War in Europe, and shows, in a serialized style, their romances and marriages, their searches for careers or meaning in their lives, their highs and their lows.

Helen

On the outside, Helen has it all – a loving family and a successful career – but when her suppressed mental illness resurfaces, the world crumbles around her. Crippled by depression, Helen finds solace through her friendship with Mathilda, a kindred spirit struggling with bipolar disorder.

Manic

Follows the fate of Lyle, a violent adolescent who, in lieu of prison, is placed in a juvenile mental institution where he encounters a group of equally troubled teens. This motley crew - abused, sexually confused, violent, and yet hanging on by their grit and anger - becomes Lyle's last lifeline as he fights to find meaning in a world that seems to defy understanding.

Pelican Blood

Nikko is a twenty-something man with good friends, a passion for birdwatching, and self-destructive tendencies. When he falls back into a relationship with Stevie—his seductive, aggressive environmental activist ex-girlfriend he first encountered on a suicide website—his stable existence takes a turn towards chaos once again.

Silver Linings Playbook

After spending eight months in a mental institution, a former teacher moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife.

Spin the Bottle

When five childhood friends reunite for a weekend in the country, old jealousies resurface, sexual debauchery ensues, and it quickly becomes clear that time may not heal all wounds...

A Summer in the Cage

"A Summer in the Cage" is filmmaker Ben Selkow's feature-length documentary chronicling his friend Sam's battle with manic-depressive illness, also known as bipolar disorder. The film follows Sam for seven years as he suffers delusional manic episodes, battles paralyzing depressions, and tries to escape the legacy of his bipolar father who committed suicide when Sam was eight years old. By showing the difficult emotional impact of being bipolar on Sam, his family, all those who care about him and the filmmaker, "A Summer in the Cage" hopes to put a human face on an illness that affects millions of American families. But as this dramatic story unfolds and heads to an explosive standoff, it also becomes a unique tale about friendship and the ethical responsibilities of a documentary filmmaker.

Sylvia

Story of the relationship between the poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath.

Infinitely Polar Bear

A manic-depressive mess of a father tries to win back his wife by attempting to take full responsibility of their two young, spirited daughters, who don't make the overwhelming task any easier.

Fear Strikes Out

True story of the life of Jimmy Piersall, who battled mental illness to achieve stardom in major league baseball.

Angel at Sea

Louis is a twelve year old boy who lives with his parents and older brother in southern Morocco. Louis is very happy until the day his father shares a secret with him.

Surviving Family

Terry hasn't seen or spoken with her family in 2 years. When she shows up unannounced on her father's doorstep - with her fiancé and a plan to get married in 5 days - she learns that she's not the only one with secrets.

All She Ever Wanted

The Stockmans are the perfect couple...young, successful, and deeply in love...but they have one problem: They want children. Since Rachel suffers from severe bi-polar disorder that has to be controlled by lithium, she can't risk getting pregnant. But because of her mental health history, they are bad candidates for adoption. Finally Rachel gives up on the system, and does things her own way...she goes off her drugs and gets pregnant. The ensuing nine months get worse and worse for the young woman, as there are legal battles to end her pregnancy in order to force her back on the drug.

The Ultimate Playlist of Noise

After learning he must undergo brain surgery that will render him deaf, Marcus, an audio-obsessed high school senior, decides to seize control of his fate by recording the Ultimate Playlist of Noise — a bucket list of all his favorite sounds.

The Year Between

Inspired by true events, college sophomore Clemence Miller is coming home to the suburbs and a bedroom in her family's basement. After dropping out of school with a newly diagnosed mental illness, she now faces the challenges of bipolar disorder, the responsibilities of adulthood, and her damaged relationships with family and friends. Clemence struggles to figure out what it means to heal without driving everyone around her… well, crazy .As if reckoning with everything and everyone she has taken for granted wasn’t enough, Clemence has to wrestle with the thought that on top of it all, she might also just have a really bad personality.

House of Dust

College students exploring an abandoned insane asylum accidentally shatter canisters holding the cremains of former mental patients. Inhaling the dusty ash filling the air, they're soon possessed by the souls once held within them. One is a convicted serial killer from 1950.

Crazywise

Western culture treats mental disorders primarily through biomedical psychiatry, but filmmakers Phil Borges and Kevin Tomlinson reveal a growing movement of professionals and survivors who are forging alternative treatments that focus on recovery and turning mental “illness” into a positive transformative experience.

Vivien Leigh: Scarlett and Beyond

The life and career of two-time Oscar winner Vivien Leigh, who battled tuberculosis and manic-depression but always remained a star.

All About Sex

Three friends in their mid-20s struggle to navigate their professional and personal lives, colliding head on with the messy, hilarious and dreadful growing pangs of adulthood.

Behind Locked Doors

Behind the locked doors of a mental institution resides crooked politico Judge Drake, free from prosecution so long as he pretends to be crazy. To get the goods on Drake, private detective Ross Stewart has himself committed to the asylum as a patient. Meanwhile, reporter Kathy Lawrence, posing as Stewart's wife, acts as his liaison to the outside world.

Olly Alexander: Growing Up Gay

Documentary in which Years and Years frontman Olly Alexander explores the mental health issues faced by members of the LGBT+ community.

Louis Theroux: America's Medicated Kids

Faced with the challenging behaviour of their kids, more and more parents in America are turning to psychoactive medication to help them cope, even though the drugs, and sometimes the diagnoses, remain controversial. Louis travels to one of America's leading children's psychiatric treatment centres, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to get to know the diagnosed children and hoping to understand what drives parents to put their kids on drugs.

Bipolar Rock 'N Roller

The film explores Mauro Ranallo’s career, including his work on the two biggest pay-per-view events in television history, and his relentless pursuit of a childhood dream despite seemingly insurmountable odds. Through this deeply personal portrait, Ranallo hopes that the film might inspire others to persevere in pursuing their dreams despite the challenges of a mental health condition.

Depression: Out of the Shadows

This PBS documentary explores depression, a debilitating disease that affects millions of Americans. Touching the lives of people from diverse backgrounds, depression still carries a stigma that causes some sufferers to go without treatment. Real people with depression talk about their experiences, and scientists offer commentary to shed light on the disease, including its diagnosis, treatment and current research.

A Life On Screen: Stephen Fry

In this documentary, Stephen Fry tells the story behind his success, after presenting the BAFTAs for more than ten years. With an outstanding career in film and television which began with a chance meeting with comedy partner Hugh Laurie at Cambridge, he went on to create the outrageous Melchett in Blackadder and has become a firm favourite on BBC2 with the quite interesting quiz QI. Featuring a supporting cast of friends, including interviews with Michael Sheen, Hugh Laurie and Alan Davies.

Digging in the Dirt

A documentary about the psychological costs of working in Alberta's oil sands and the mental health crisis that's been ignored for a decade.

Mr. Jones

The story about the relationship between a manic depressive man, Mr Jones, and the female doctor who takes more than a professional interest in his treatment.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

In a profile pic-obsessed, filter-fixated world where online and reality blur, influencer Dorian Gray makes a deal. For his social star never to fade. For the perfect self he broadcasts to the world to always remain. But as his mental health starts to decline, as corruption and murderous depravity start to creep into his world, the true and horrific cost of his deal will soon need to be met.

Eyes Upon Waking

A troubled woman must come to terms with her suicide attempts while spending several days in a holding facility.

Touched with Fire

Two young poets with bipolar disorder begin a highly passionate, volatile relationship that threatens both their futures.

Jellyfish

In Margate, England, life is not easy for teenager Sarah Taylor, between being bullied at school, being exploited by a dominant boss and having to take care of her depressive mother and her two siblings. But Sarah finds a way to channel her growing despair and fight adversity when her drama teacher gives her a new purpose.

Transference: A Bipolar Love Story

Katarina, a Norwegian nurse in London, embarks on a passionate affair with a fellow immigrant nurse that suffers the consequences of unresolved mental health issues from the lovers' secret pasts.

The Football Monologues

The Football Monologues tells the stories of seven different people living in and around the beautiful game. Each of our subjects talks intimately, unveiling their innermost hopes and fears. One by one they touch on themes central to us all: the fragility of our mental selves, the failings of our bodies, the complexities of our relationships and ambitions and our need to connect.

Scary Story Slumber Party

3 friends gather together to throw an old fashion Slumber Party like they did in the old days. They begin to tell each other scary stories to liven up the fun. But the fun is leading to something a bit more sinister.

Jellysmoke

After being released from a psychiatric ward, a young man attempts to lead a normal life.

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