History Main / MentalStory

* JamesThurber's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"

* ''{{A Beautiful Mind}}''

** "The Real World" combines this trope with CuckoosNest for Dr. Weir.

* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' - In "The Real World", the main characters apparently manage to return to Earth, but it's actually an illusion of Earth fabricated from the memories in their heads.

* AkiraKurosawa's ''Dreams'', technically.

* ''{{Brazil}}'', partly.

* ''{{Farscape}}'' has a few episodes like this.

* ''[[{{Hitman}} Contracts]], until the final mission.

* ''[[{{Hitman}}: Contracts]], until the final mission.

* ''ThePilgrimsProgress'' takes place entirely in two dreams (one for each part) by the narrator.

* ''FightClub'' is this in large part, but [[{{Understatement}} some interesting stuff happens in reality, too]].

* ''{{Psychonauts}}''

* ''VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' combines this with [[spoiler:ShowWithinAShowReveal]] in Episode 8 -- most of the plot is [[spoiler:Toya Hachijo attempting to recreate the events of Rokkenjima 1986 as mystery novels in order to speculate on what happened on the island]].
* ''NeonGenesisEvangelion''

* ''{{Braid}}''

* ''StargateUniverse'' - "Seizure"
* ''StargateAtlantis'' - In "The Real World", the main characters apparently manage to return to Earth, but it's actually an illusion of Earth fabricated from the memories in their heads.

* ''FightClub'' is this in large part, but a lot of interesting stuff happens in reality, too.

A story where what's going on in someone's head - be it their {{Dream World}}, {{Mental World}}, [[ImagineSpot imagination]], [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind inner struggles]], conversations with their ImaginaryFriend, or [[PowerFantasy power fantasies]] is the focus of the plot, with not all that much happening in "reality."

* ''{{Farscape}}'' - "John Quixote"

* ''CalvinAndHobbes''

* ''StargateAtlantis'' - "The Real World"

* ''StargateSG1'' - "Avatar"

* ''UnfaithfullyYours'': An orchestra conductor who thinks his wife is unfaithful to him. We see him take revenge on her and her lover - which turns out to be a very long ImagineSpot type sequence he thinks of while conducting. He then tries to execute his plan, which doesn't work nearly so well. (Whatever the opposite of UnspokenPlanGuarantee is.)

* ''[[spoiler:{{Identity}}]]'' is also a spoiler-example, as it's presented as being weird events happening in the real world until the reveal.

* ''[[spoiler:EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind]]'' is kind of a subversion, since although we see them from the main character's perspective via Flashbacks and {{Imagine Spot}}s, most of the events in the story really happened.

* ''{{Inception}}''
* ''[[spoiler:FightClub]]'' is this in large part, but [[{{Understatement}} a lot of interesting stuff happens in reality, too]].

NeedsABetterTitle.

* {{Paprika}}
* YumekuiMerry
* WelcomeToTheNHK is mostly about the protagonist's inner strife, and no decisions are reached even in the end.
* OnaniMasterKurosawa is a little more plotty, but it's still mostly Kurosawa's head.

* {{Inception}}
* [[spoiler: FightClub]] is this in large part, but [[{{Understatement}} a lot of interesting stuff happens in reality, too]].
* ShutterIsland
* {{Brazil}}, partially.
* SuckerPunch
* Possibly also SourceCode.
* AkiraKurosawa's Dreams, technically.
* [[spoiler: {{Identity}}]] is also a spoiler-example, as it's presented as being weird events happening in the real world until the reveal.
* {{A Beautiful Mind}}
* ''UnfaithfullyYours'': a orchestra conductor who thinks his wife is unfaithful to him. We see him take revenge on her and her lover - which turns out to be a very long ImagineSpot type sequence he thinks of while conducting. He then tries to execute his plan, which doesn't work nearly so well. (Whatever the opposite of UnspokenPlanGuarantee is.)
* A significant chunk of BeingJohnMalkovich takes place in Malkovich's head.
* [[spoiler:EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind.]] Kind of a subversion, since although we see them from the main character's perspective via Flashbacks and {{Imagine Spot}}s, most of the events in the story really happened.

* CalvinAndHobbes
* "TheTick vs Proto-clown."

* HermansHead

* StargateSG1 - "Avatar"
* StargateUniverse - "Seizure"
* StargateAtlantis - "The Real World"
* {{Fringe}} - "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide"
* {{Farscape}} - "John Quixote"

* JamesThurber's "The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty."
* Arguably the philosophical book [[SophiesWorld Sophie's World]], with the mains realizing that they are only fictional characters within a book (within ''another'' book) and undergoing an existential crisis because of it.
* The PhilipKDick novel "Eye in the Sky" takes place in a sort of shared mental world, with the current most-dominant personality warping it to their prejudices and worldview.

* ThePilgrimsProgress: Takes place entirely in two dreams (one for each part) by the narrator.
** On a similar note (due to it being essentially fan-fiction of the previous example), the short story The Celestial Railroad was a dream, but I can't remember if it was only revealed at the end or not.

* {{Psychonauts}}

* ''YumeNikki'', about a hikikomori lucid dreamer, whose primary interaction with the products of her subconscious is to stab them with knives.

* ''VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' combines this with [[spoiler:NestedStoryReveal]] in Episode 8 -- most of the plot is [[spoiler:Toya Hachijo attempting to recreate the events of Rokkenjima 1986 as mystery novels in order to speculate on what happened on the island]].