According to Torre's approach, dynamic images from movies may help to reflect on empathy-related issues, to develop a compassionate approach to patients and their sufferance, and to enhance awareness about stigmatizing attitudes. Since its development this method has been used by the Psychiatric Institute of the Università del Piemonte Orientale Amedeo Avogadro, Novara, for the education and training of medical students and, broadly speaking, of people involved in helping professions.

To describe the preliminary results about the impact of this intervention in a sample of medical students.

cinemeducation seminars lasted 6 months, and included 12 meetings. Movies were discussed from a psychological perspective in a group setting and experiences were integrated with the help of the group-leader. Data were collected anonymously via self-report questionnaires from 40 randomly selected participants. Assessment scales (Attitudes Towards Psychiatry, ATP-30; Social Distance Scale, SDS; Interpersonal Reactivity Index, IRI; Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, RSES; Toronto Alexithymia Scale, TAS) were administered both before and after the workshops.

a significant increase was found in the ATP-30 score (p = .034), and a reduction of the SDS (p = .022) and IRI-PD (p = .010) scores.

although these results are preliminary, an improvement in students’ attitudes towards psychiatry was found, together with an increased ability of students to tolerate their own anxiety when experiencing others’ distress. This approach to movies allows developing both cognitive and emotional knowledge, which should be considered particularly important in medical education.