An Ambivalent Bow to Hollywood

The growth of psychoanalysis has brought in its wake much exploitation, not a little of which has served to discredit psychiatry and psychoanalysis. The sensational in emotional ills has found its way into literature, the theatre and the movies to a marked extent. We were therefore understandably cautious and skeptical when we attended a preview of “The Snake Pit,” a dramatization of the book by that name. It was with considerable surprise that we saw unfolded before us a powerful, honest, sincere and amazingly authentic portrayal of mental illness.

We do not presume to judge the cinematic worth of the picture, but in passing it might be said that the sense of drama, suspense and interest are consistently sustained. We should rather like to turn our attention to the psychiatric implications of the picture. It is of course too much to expect that in every one of its innumerable details this picture would be psychiatrically and psychodynamically sound. We also felt that the nurses were treated a bit too harshly. However, the overall portrayal of the reactions of a mentally sick patient to her environment, the treatment situations, the development of her illness in terms of infantile experiences, were all presented in an understandable, essentially honest and authentic manner.

We were curious as to why this picture succeeded in striking a note of sincere and authentic workmanship in contrast to the psychiatric hodge-podge that usually comes out of Hollywood. We investigated. We spoke to the director, the authors of the screen play and psychiatric consultants. We were impressed with the painstaking care that went into reproducing an authentic portrayal of the minutest details. An astonishing understanding of psychodynamic principles was revealed as well as a desire to adhere to them as much as was practically possible in making a picture for mass consumption. In our talks with the psychiatric consultants, we found that in the main they were impressed with the