Frontline: Broken Minds

Schizophrenia, one of the least understood of mental illnesses, is the subject of this outstanding program in PBS's Frontline series. Incorporating interviews with doctors, educators, and patients, Broken Minds traces the history of medical science's efforts to understand schizophrenia as well as the treatments used to help reduce the symptoms. Although the nature of the illness precludes any simple definition, Webster's II offers the following broad gloss: "A psychotic reaction marked by withdrawal from reality with highly variable accompanying affective, behavioral, and intellectual disturbances." The program looks at new research from the National Institute of Mental Health which undertook a study of twins, and particularly at the case of the Murphy twins, Sharon and Marge, the latter schizophrenic, the former struggling to cope with the loss of her "best friend;" follows a Project Outreach van which travels to Central Park and the New York City environs trying to give sandwiches and invitations for counseling to homeless schizophrenics; and interviews David, a paranoid schizophrenic whose speech is remarkably lucid most of the time, but consistently punctuated with accusations of "bugging" and "surveillance." In one of the film's most chilling sequences, a middle-aged nurse walks through an old hospital room and relives her days as a young nurse's aide who assisted during lobotomies--the preferred treatment of yesteryear. A gripping and disturbing account of the one of the chief medical mysteries of our time. Highly recommended. Editor's choice. (See ARCTIC REFUGE for availability.)