NERVE

Four former psychiatric patients in New York and Vienna give moving personal accounts of their personal crises and the nature of their psychiatric treatment, including their experiences with therapy, institutionalization, and medication. Their stories make it clear that psychiatric intervention is often designed to enale society to distance itself from this problem, instead of offering real help and understanding. By confronting their experiences, these former patients have opened their own path to recovery, overcoming a previous sense of isolation and despair. They point towards the kinds of changes the medical profession and society at large must adopt in order to achieve more humane treatment and acceptance of those who experience psychiatric symptoms and crises. The video also shows how psychiatric patients worldwide have today organized self-help groups and independent agencies to confront the professional medical abuse and social ostracism they continue to suffer.

Directed by Peter Stastny, M.D. and Stephan Krumbiegel
1995, 44 minutes
Purchase: $310 Classroom Rental: $125

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