Bedlam

Bedlam is an excellent documentary that shines a light on everything wrong with how the United States addresses matters of serious mental illness (SMI). People desperately in need of treatment and care for their illness(es) often end up incarcerated, and the criminal justice system is not an appropriate response to mental illness. If you wonder why it is easier to get someone of the mental illness population into a jail cell than into treatment, and if you wonder what can be done to better meet individual and societal needs associated with mental illness, Bedlam is for you.

Even if you don't wonder about these things, Bedlam is a "must watch" film, because it appeals to the humanity in all of us by showing the inhumanity of how mental illness is often treated.

Watch this film, share with your elected representatives, share with administrative leadership in hospital/clinic settings, and share with everyone else in your network. Bedlam is among the most important/powerful films ever made on the topic of mental illness.

Kenneth Rosenberg's documentary, Bedlam, is our Mental Healthcare version of Fast Food Nation. Bedlam holds nothing back about the shameful, unethical way our society treats those suffering from severe mental illness. We ended the horrors that existed in the state asylums of the 1950s and 1960s, but we didn't improve the plight of those afflicted with severe mental illness and in desperate need of care. We simply emptied out the hospitals and dumped these untreated suffering souls on the streets, until they landed in prisons and jails for petty crimes. Today our prisons have become our 21st-century mental health hospitals. This raw, candid story is difficult to watch, but it's a must-see. Bedlam is a call to action that should be required viewing for every legislator in America, and every American who cares about humanity.

This documentary is the best one I've ever seen. Never realized the history of mental illness and the result of two presidents virtually destroying the institution. It was shocking to find out that California's prisons are the forerunner for this crisis because of the lack of hospital beds. Jails are the mental illness caretakers. The largest mental health treatment centers are the jails. About 3/4 II had to stop watching the documentary because I started to cry. I will finish it when it is shown again on PBS.

Bedlam goes straight to where the rubber meets the road in the mental health crisis that the country faces - the psych ward of an ED of a major urban hospital (LA), telling the story of day-to-day life from the perspective of both patients and providers. It's real, raw, and compellingly honest, including the filmmaker recounting his family's own struggles with mental health. The lack of a safety net in this country (inadequate funding, no transitions to care or ensuring Rx compliance) is fully exposed and it's hard not to walk away from Bedlam without wanting someone, somewhere to fix the problem.

A must-see film. Extraordinary stories and really eye-opening, bring a tissue box and have someone to hold nearby.