Documentary
2008
65 minutes
Language: English
Director: Daniel Mackler
Watch film on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPfKc-TknWU
More info: https://wildtruth.net/films-english/brokenwings/
Summary:
This 2008 documentary takes an in-depth look at how we can understand schizophrenia, and we meet two adult women who have achieved full rehabilitation without medication. The film documents how research and practice show that drug treatment is not what ensures recovery but can be a serious obstacle, and the film’s protagonists explain why. The film also features in-depth interviews with their therapists and how they achieved therapeutic contact and healing for their very ill patients. The film includes clips of interviews with people on the street about their perceptions of what schizophrenia is, what people think about treatment, and the possibilities for recovery. The audience’s perceptions correspond to old myths created by the pharmaceutical industry and a professional community that does not tell the truth about what research can reveal. The WHO has repeatedly found that living in an industrial society does not bode well for recovery from mental illness, but the truth is not communicated to the general public.
Featuring Joanne Greenberg (bestselling author of “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden”), recovered for over fifty years. Interviews with Peter Breggin, Robert Whitaker, Bertram Karon, and Catherine Penney. Directed by Daniel Mackler.