Mysteries of Mental Illness

Dr. Igda Martinez | Decolonizing Mental Health

3m 24s

Deconstructing stereotypes around homelessness lies at the core of Dr. Igda Martinez’s work at the Floating Hospital. For 150 years, the New York hospital has made psychiatric care available to unhoused populations who are among society’s most neglected. Shannette Champman, a mother of two, shares her experience of seeking care when she was in need of accessible mental health care.

Episodes

New Frontiers

S2021 E4 - 54m

Look at today’s most cutting-edge treatments for mental illness, and explore one of the most urgent fronts on the battle against mental illness: the fight for inclusion – a society more open to all kinds of minds and behavior, and free from stigma, based on the understanding that mental health exists on a spectrum.
The Rise and Fall of the Asylum

S2021 E3 - 54m

Until a few decades ago, the United States relied on mass confinement in mental asylums, for the mentally ill, as well as extreme treatments, from lobotomy to coma therapy. Today, at Cook County Jail in Chicago, more than one-third of inmates have a mental health diagnosis. Meet the detainees whose lives hang in the balance and discover the harsh realities of care both in and out of jail.
Who’s Normal?

S2021 E2 - 54m

Learn how science and societal factors are deeply entwined with our ever-shifting definitions and diagnoses of mental health and illness. Follow the stories of Ryan Mains, an Iraq veteran struggling with PTSD, Mia Yamamoto, California’s first openly transgender lawyer, and Michael, a Harlem based pastor and healer living with depression.
Evil or Illness

S2021 E1 - 54m

Treatment of mental illness over history has been trial and error and, today, doctors still search for answers. Follow the story of Cecilia McGough, who struggles with persistent hallucinations and delusions. Learn about Lorina Gutierrez's mysterious condition, referred to as 'Brain on Fire', and Virginia Fuchs, an Olympics-bound boxer living with OCD.

Extras + Features

Experimental Treatments and the Rise of Eugenics

5m 47s

By the early 20th century, mental asylums had become extremely overcrowded, and very little was known about how to treat these patients. Out of view from the public eye, desperate doctors experimented with new treatments. When treatments failed, patients were labeled biologically defective, fueling the Eugenics program, and the involuntary sterilization of thousands of patients.
Mysteries of Mental Illness Preview

32s

Mysteries of Mental Illness, airing on PBS in June 2021, explores the story of mental illness in science and society. The four-part series traces the evolution of this complex topic from its earliest days to present times. It explores dramatic attempts across generations to unravel the mysteries of mental illness and gives voice to contemporary Americans across a spectrum of experiences.
Michael Walrond and Depression

2m 34s

Michael Walrond began to experience bouts of depression in his twenties. He didn't seek help because mental illness wasn't something people talked readily about in his community and, as a black man, he didn't want another label. After becoming a preacher he felt that admitting his illness would show a lack of trust in God, and so for years, Michael suffered in silence.
A Debilitating Condition

2m 13s

For 8 years, Matthew Rosenberg has dealt with a debilitating form of OCD. He hyperventilates throughout the day and is in near-constant pain. having tried numerous therapies and medicines with no results, his last hope is the high-tech surgery he’s waiting for, where electrodes will be transplanted into his brain.
Decolonizing Mental Health Digital Series | Preview

36s

A preview of DECOLONIZING MENTAL HEALTH, an original digital series that dismantles the racism underscoring the mental healthcare industry. By focusing its gaze on the transformative work of therapists and individuals of color, it calls for redressal of the ways in which we define psychiatric illness and health.
Psychiatry and Homosexuality

4m 13s

In the U.S., as recently as the early 1970's, homosexuals were considered mentally ill. Watch this clip, in which a board-certified psychiatrist, 'Dr. Anonymous', at a 1972 American Psychiatric Association conference, announces "I'm a homosexual, I am a psychiatrist." See how, over the decades, and as defined by the APA, the boundaries shifted between the so-called ill and the so-called healthy.
Psychedelics and Mental Illness

3m 18s

As psychedelic drugs became synonymous with the counter-culture of the 1960s, they were labeled as more dangerous than they actually are, delaying research into them. Recently we've learned more about the chemical makeup of these substances and how they can be helpful in alleviating addiction, anxiety, and depression.
What's Your Normal?

2m 30s

This video is a call to action to invite discussion, through social media platforms, on the topic of mental health. We hear from five people appearing in the series 'Mysteries of Mental Illness', who each give a brief description of the struggles they face. In an effort to de-stigmatize mental illness, we ask the question 'What is Your Normal?', understanding that it is different for everyone.
The Wrong Body

2m 5s

In 1973, when the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, it did not help those like Mia Yamamoto, who question their gender identity. Mia spent most of her life being made to feel like she was 'mentally ill', even by therapists. The delisting of homosexuality exposed the fluid, even arbitrary nature of a diagnosis.
The Kirkbride Asylum

3m 8s

Thomas Kirkbride's 'hospitals for the insane' were built for people who had nowhere else to go. They were intended to be a retreat from the world; a place to be cured. Kirkbride believed that the restorative atmosphere of his institutions would be therapeutic. The goal was to rehabilitate patients and send them back to society as productive citizens.
Decolonizing Mental Health | Overview

2m 46s

Like other healthcare industrial complexes, the mental health field operates around a centre defined by a whiteness of theory and practice. It’s a colonization that has rarely ever been questioned and the need to dismantle it has never been more urgent. Mental health practitioners serving racialized groups come together to shed light on the racism that undercuts their progressive practices.
A PTSD Diagnosis

3m 29s

Until recently, very little was known about PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). With new technologies, such as brain imaging, scientists have begun to search for trauma's biological fingerprints, and it's become clear that experience can produce physical changes in us. Advances in the biology of the disease, and in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, are helping many patients to cope with their PTSD.

Schedule

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Mysteries of Mental Illness

Evil or Illness?

Tuesday
Jul 5

9:00 pm

1 Hour

Ancient conceptions of mental illness and the establishment of psychiatry; modern-day stories of mental illness, including an aspiring astrophysicist with schizophrenia and a boxer with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Image

Mysteries of Mental Illness

Evil or Illness?

Wednesday
Jul 6

2:00 am

1 Hour

Ancient conceptions of mental illness and the establishment of psychiatry; modern-day stories of mental illness, including an aspiring astrophysicist with schizophrenia and a boxer with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Image

Mysteries of Mental Illness

Evil or Illness?

Wednesday
Jul 6

10:00 am

1 Hour

Ancient conceptions of mental illness and the establishment of psychiatry; modern-day stories of mental illness, including an aspiring astrophysicist with schizophrenia and a boxer with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Image

Mysteries of Mental Illness

Evil or Illness?

Saturday
Jul 9

5:00 am

1 Hour

Ancient conceptions of mental illness and the establishment of psychiatry; modern-day stories of mental illness, including an aspiring astrophysicist with schizophrenia and a boxer with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Image

Mysteries of Mental Illness

Evil or Illness?

Tuesday
Jul 12

5:00 am

1 Hour

Ancient conceptions of mental illness and the establishment of psychiatry; modern-day stories of mental illness, including an aspiring astrophysicist with schizophrenia and a boxer with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Image

Mysteries of Mental Illness

Evil or Illness?

Tuesday
Jul 12

11:00 am

1 Hour

Ancient conceptions of mental illness and the establishment of psychiatry; modern-day stories of mental illness, including an aspiring astrophysicist with schizophrenia and a boxer with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Image

Mysteries of Mental Illness

Who's Normal?

Tuesday
Jul 12

9:00 pm

1 Hour

The fight to develop mental illness standards rooted in empirical science rather than dogma; how science and societal factors mix with the ever-shifting definitions and diagnoses of mental health and illness.
Image

Mysteries of Mental Illness

Who's Normal?

Wednesday
Jul 13

2:00 am

1 Hour

The fight to develop mental illness standards rooted in empirical science rather than dogma; how science and societal factors mix with the ever-shifting definitions and diagnoses of mental health and illness.
Image

Mysteries of Mental Illness

Who's Normal?

Wednesday
Jul 13

10:00 am

1 Hour

The fight to develop mental illness standards rooted in empirical science rather than dogma; how science and societal factors mix with the ever-shifting definitions and diagnoses of mental health and illness.
Image

Mysteries of Mental Illness

Who's Normal?

Saturday
Jul 16

5:00 am

1 Hour

The fight to develop mental illness standards rooted in empirical science rather than dogma; how science and societal factors mix with the ever-shifting definitions and diagnoses of mental health and illness.
Image

Mysteries of Mental Illness

Who's Normal?

Tuesday
Jul 19

5:00 am

1 Hour

The fight to develop mental illness standards rooted in empirical science rather than dogma; how science and societal factors mix with the ever-shifting definitions and diagnoses of mental health and illness.
Image

Mysteries of Mental Illness

Who's Normal?

Tuesday
Jul 19

11:00 am

1 Hour

The fight to develop mental illness standards rooted in empirical science rather than dogma; how science and societal factors mix with the ever-shifting definitions and diagnoses of mental health and illness.

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