Customer Reviews

ABC News 20/20 Schizophrenia

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My son has mental illness and the National Alliance of Mental Illness
recommended this 16 minute segment from a 20/20 television show as a good way to try and understand how the mind of a mentally ill person perceives things.
A group of scientists at Yale University developed a visual reality device that one puts on their head to see and hear as if you have schizophrenia. It is an intense video showing a very extreme case of delusional processing. There are schizophrenic persons explaining their form of this illness.
This CD is informative and worth viewing. It, in itself, is not enough of an education if one is seeking answers about this terrible disease. It does, however, add a greater clarity to what it does to a person.

I have used used this brief yet remarkable video in two types of university courses: (1) courses on clinical psychology, and (2) courses on perception, cognition, and cognitive neuroscience. Sure, it is a bit old (2000), but it remains an extremely good resource. It captures so much in such a short period that it is simply too good to ignore, in my opinion.

1) SCHIZOPHRENIA PRIMER. The video provides an excellent brief introduction to the basic features of schizophrenia. One strength of the video is that it shows likeable, articulate people who have the disease. It is possible to see the basic features of schizophrenia, while also seeing the people who exhibit - but are not defined by -- their diagnosis. Another strength of the video is that it describes schizophrenic breaks, i.e., the symptoms that appear during the first onset the disorder. There are many videos on schizophrenia that do not provide this type of description.

2) AUDITORY AND VISUAL HALLUCINATIONS - VIRTUAL REALITY SIMULATION. Another strength is that the video provides excellent coverage of the auditory and visual hallucinations experienced with schizophrenia. This is accomplished using a virtual reality simulation (thanks to Janssen Pharmaceutical's "Walk In Their Footsteps" simulation). In the video, we see patient Ken Steele verify that the simulations seem quite realistic to him. One value of such simulations is that they make it possible for health professionals and family members to empathize more effectively with schizophrenics. This is an area that remains of interest today (2009). A group at Hebrew university is using somewhat similar virtual reality environments to develop new ways to diagnose schizophrenia. Because schizophrenics are poor at multi-modal integration, they are less able than the rest of us to pick out images and sounds that do not make sense in the context of the simulation (e.g., seeing a person play guitar but hearing a saxophone).

3) PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATION. The video briefly presents drugs that have been effective for some people (e.g., Risperdal for Mr. Steele). At the same time, the drawbacks are discussed briefly by patients and the narrator.

4) TRANSCRANIAL MAGNETIC STIMULATION (TMS) OF THE BRAIN. The video features the potentially ground-breaking work of Ralph Hoffman and his lab (Yale). It describes how TMS, a fairly new approach to stimulating the human brain, has been used to test hypotheses and treat schizophrenia (in preliminary experiments). The neuroanatomical basis of auditory hallucinations is thought to involve increasing blood flow of the speech perception areas of the brain, such as the superior temporal cortex of the dominant (usually left) hemisphere as well as right and left superior temporal cortex. Brain imaging studies (not discussed in the video) of patients with auditory hallucinations have revealed active areas in the right and left superior temporal cortex, Broca's area, and the left temporoparietal cortex. Magnetic Stimulation of Left Temporoparietal Cortex suggest that the mechanism of auditory hallucinations involves activation of the left temporoparietal cortex. Amazingly, TMS suppresses auditory hallucinations in some individuals, as shown in the video. In 2009, research and theorizing has advanced to the point that additional brain areas in the left and right hemisphere has been found to be involved in schizophrenia, and so the effects of TMS on these areas is being investigated. Additionally, new types of TMS have been developed (e.g., at the Waisman Institute) that can stimulate deep areas of the brain. So this is an excellent intro to something that has strong promise.

I should add that this video is currently available online (legally) for free. I hope it remains available!

I teach nursing students at a college and chose this film for my mental health class. Although it's only about 15-20 minutes long, it does more to explain what it's like for a person with schizophrenia than anything I can tell them or anything they can read. You actually get inside the head of a person with schizophrenia; wow! The students are stunned and really gain an appreciation for the patients fighting this disease on a daily basis. I highly recommend this documentary.

I got this tape for the high school kids. It is very short for the price and although it is interesting, it doesn't go in depth as I expected.

I am very happy with this DVD. It is informative and an appropriate teaching tool.

I bought this DVD as a gift for my daughter-in-law, who is a school counselor. She had seen it on TV and wanted it in her DVD collection.