The Nexus: Pop Culture & Psychiatry
From the Mind of Anthony Tobia, MD
Wicked Knights is a website dedicated to innovations in medical education and clinical practice. Within these web pages, you will discover various programs housed in the Department of Psychiatry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School that aim to improve outcomes of students, residents, allied health professionals, and people afflicted with mental illness.Why Horror?
Horror serves as a rich medium for education because its themes are embedded deep within our collective id. When our most base instincts and primal desires are projected onto the big screen, identification with the characters (archetypes) allows for experiencing forbidden impulses in an environment that is safe and protected. While character analyses may serve as fictional cases studies of mental disorders, it’s this added experience of the id’s fulfillment (pleasure principle) that results in a truly unique way to learn…and experience…psychopathology.
