title: [Deficiency, disability, neurology and cinema].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cinema has been defined in many different ways, but most of them agree that it should be considered both a technique and an art. Although films often depict fantasy stories, in many cases they also reflect day-to-day realities. In its earliest days cinema was already attracted to the world of health and sickness, and frequently addressed topics like medical practice, how patients lived with their illnesses, bioethical issues, the relationship between physician and patient or research.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To review the presence of neurological pathologies in the cinema with a view to identifying the main neurological disorders that have been portrayed in films. Likewise it also intends to describe the medical praxis that is employed, the relationship between physician and patient, how the experiences of the patient and the family are represented, the adaptation to social and occupational situations, and the intervention of other health care professionals related with neurological patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Some of the most significant films that have addressed these topics were reviewed and it was seen that in some of them the illness is dealt with in a very true-to-life manner, whereas others tend to include a greater number of inaccuracies and a larger degree of fiction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cinema has helped to shape certain ways of thinking about the health care professionals who work with neurological patients, the importance of support from the family and the social role, among other things. This confirms that resorting to cinematographic productions is a fruitful tool for stimulating a critical interest in the past and present of medical practice.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisioterapia, Terapia Ocupacional, Medicina Física y Rehabilitación, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 28922 Madrid, España. susana.collado@urjc.es
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Collado-Vázquez
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cano de la Cuerda
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Antona
mesh_terms: D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005190:Family; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D009040:Motion Pictures; D009422:Nervous System Diseases; D012917:Social Adjustment