Best Mental Health movies of 1980s

Actors : Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, Timothy Hutton, Donald Sutherland,
Directors : Robert Redford,

The accidental death of the older son of an affluent family deeply strains the relationships among the bitter mother, the good-natured father, and the guilt-ridden younger son.

Actors : Tom Cruise, Gerald R. Molen, Dustin Hoffman, Valeria Golino,
Directors : Barry Levinson,

Selfish yuppie Charlie Babbitt's father left a fortune to his savant brother Raymond and a pittance to Charlie; they travel cross-country.

Actors : Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez,
Directors : John Hughes,

Five high school students meet in Saturday detention and discover how they have a lot more in common than they thought.

Actors : Gene Hackman, Shirley MacLaine, Meryl Streep, Dennis Quaid,
Directors : Mike Nichols,

A substance-addicted actress tries to look on the bright side even as she is forced to move back in with her mother to avoid unemployment.

Actors : Ruth Nelson, Robin Williams, Robert De Niro, Julie Kavner,
Directors : Penny Marshall,

The victims of an encephalitis epidemic many years ago have been catatonic ever since, but now a new drug offers the prospect of reviving them.

Actors : John Harkins, Matthew Modine, Sandy Baron, Nicolas Cage,
Directors : Alan Parker,

After two friends return home from the Vietnam War one becomes mentally unstable and obsesses with becoming a bird.

Actors : Jenny Lewis, Fred Savage, Vince Trankina, Luke Edwards,
Directors : Todd Holland,

A boy and his brother run away from home and hitch cross country with the help of a girl they meet to compete in the ultimate video game championship.

Actors : Michael Keaton, Peter Boyle, Stephen Furst, Christopher Lloyd,
Directors : Howard Zieff,

Four mental patients on a field trip in New York must save their caring chaperon, who ends up being taken to a hospital in a coma after accidentally witnessing a murder, before the killers can find him and finish the job.

Actors : Bonnie Bedelia, Fred Savage, Jay Underwood, Lucy Deakins,
Directors : Nick Castle,

An autistic boy who dreams of flying touches everyone he meets, including a new family who has moved in after their father dies.

Actors : Maureen Stapleton, Barbra Streisand, Karl Malden, Richard Dreyfuss,
Directors : Martin Ritt,

A high-class call girl accused of murder fights for the right to stand trial rather than be declared mentally incompetent.

Actors : Kevin Anderson, Bruce Willis, Emily Lloyd, Joan Allen,
Directors : Norman Jewison,

Samantha Hughes, a teenaged Kentucky girl, never knew her father, who died in Vietnam before her birth. Samantha lives with her Uncle Emmett, who also served in Vietnam. Emmett hangs around...

Actors : Paul Reiser, Daryl Hannah, J.T. Walsh, Dudley Moore,

A bitter ad executive who has reached his breaking point, finds himself in a mental institution where his career actually begins to thrive with the help of the hospital's patients.

Actors : Donna Dixon, Charles Grodin, Dan Aykroyd, Walter Matthau,
Directors : Michael Ritchie,

The escaped delinquent John W. Burns, Jr. replaces Dr. Maitlin on a radio show, saying he's the psychiatrist Lawrence Baird. His tactless radio show is a hit, and he becomes very popular. ...

Actors : Anjelica Huston, Lena Olin, Ron Silver, Malgorzata Zajaczkowska,
Directors : Paul Mazursky,

A ghostwriter finds himself romantically involved with his current wife, a married woman and his long-vanished wife.

Actors : Bruce Dern, Rachel Ward, Jason Patric, Rocky Giordani,
Directors : James Foley,

An ex-boxer is drifting around after escaping from the mental hospital. He meets a widow who convinces him to help fix up the neglected estate her ex-husband left. Her Uncle talks them both...

Actors : Cristina Scaramuzza, Lorenzo Quinteros, Hugo Soto, Inés Vernengo,
Directors : Eliseo Subiela,

A patient in a mental hospital claims to be an extraterrestial. Could he be right?

Actors : Hoi Mang, Emily Chu, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Jackie Chan,

Story of a cop who forsakes his dreams of sailing around the world so that he can care for his mentally disabled brother. Innocently caught up in a gangland fight, the brother is kidnapped ...

Actors : Gary Oldman, Pamela Reed, Dennis Hopper, Frances McDormand,
Directors : Mick Jackson,

In 1955 Florida, a Korean vet has a breakdown and is incarcerated in a "maximum security" mental health prison, where patients are abused.

Actors : Jim Mapp, James Belushi, Robert Glaudini, John Waters,
Directors : Andrey Konchalovskiy,

A mentally disabled man gets help from a sociopath when he tries to reunite with his dying father, who years earlier disowned him.

Actors : Kiefer Sutherland, Liv Ullmann, Alan Scarfe, Peter Donat,
Directors : Daniel Petrie,

A teenage boy living in a Cape Breton coal mining community during the 1930's finds himself contemplating life and is haunted by a murder he witnessed in town.