“Maniac” and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”: A Novel Adaptation of Two TV Series for Classroom Undergraduate Psychiatry Education in an Age of COVID-19 Social Distancing

Abstract

Aim: Psychiatry has traditionally been taught bedside. Multiple ethical and logistics issues preclude use of certain patient groups, and in the current COVID-19 pandemic, there is the additional obstacle of not being able to access bedside patients. There is utility in using new media, e.g., television and movies, in psychiatry education. Methods: “Maniac” and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”, both available on Netflix, were used in an undergraduate psychiatry module to illustrate clinical lessons regarding schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder respectively. Results: “Maniac” was helpful in illustrating subtle changes in affect, occupational and social dysfunction, and showcasing disrupted family dynamics and distress from experiencing hallucinations and delusions. “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” was instructional in crystallising psychopathology of borderline personality disorder and providing more nuanced, less cross-sectional views of psychiatric illness. Conclusions: Even though television and movies will and should not replace face-to-face bedside teaching as a primary mode of education, they are an adjunct to stimulate discussion and observe psychopathologies that are ethically difficult to capture. Both of them can be used judiciously in the current COVID-19 pandemic as bedside teaching substitutes.