Mysteries of Mental Illness

The attempts across generations to unravel the mysteries of mental illness, including its causes and treatments.

Episodes

Evil or Illness?

Ancient conceptions of mental illness and the establishment of psychiatry; modern-day stories of mental illness, including an aspiring astrophysicist with schizophrenia a d a boxer with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

Who's Normal?

The fight to develop mental illness standards rooted in empirical science rather than dogma; how science and societal factors mix with the ever-shifting definitions and diagnoses of mental health and illness.

The Rise and Fall of the Asylum

The rise and fall of mental asylums in the U.S.; the largest de-facto mental health facility in the U.S., it's detainees and the realities of care both inside and outside.

The New Frontiers

Cutting-edge treatments for mental illness; profiles of patients undergoing deep brain stimulation surgery, infusions of ketamine and modern electro-convulsive therapy.