Head First

Mar 22, 2019

★ 7.0

Survival Guide for Bipolar Disorder

Overview

Director Mathieu Arsenault and two other sufferers of bipolar disorder tell the story of their journey into mental illness and back, while the partners and family members who helped them through it tell the story as they experienced it.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

InformAction Films

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Cast

No Cast found.

After facing several years of hardships, Gabriela, the director and protagonist of this short documentary, is involuntarily relocated by her family to a rehabilitation center for three months. During this time, she encounters a series of prohibitions that result in complete isolation from society, surrounded by individuals grappling with severe mental health issues. Four years after her release, she embarks on an introspective journey to definitively close that chapter of her life. This poignant documentary immerses us in Gabriela's courageous odyssey, offering an intimate look at her struggle for self-reconciliation and familial understanding. Through powerful imagery and sincere testimonials, the short film invites the audience to contemplate human resilience and the pursuit of forgiveness.

0.0

ZAAD

Invalid Date

ZAAD tells the autobiographical story of Dries Meddens. After the death of his mother, the care for Dries' bipolar father falls on his plate. He discovers how crudely and ruthlessly society and psychiatry treat patients. His father eventually dies in solitary confinement. While emptying his parent’s home, Dries discovers an old letter from his grandfather. The man appears to have led a busy, productive life. He is the founder of an internationally renowned seed breeding company and still has time to paint, write diaries and conduct intensive correspondence. Dries finds similarities between his grandfather, his father and himself. Slowly the fear grows that his father's psychiatric illness might be hereditary. Strolling through the family’s film and photo archives, with dramatic and sometimes hilarious finds, Dries tries to find answers. He also consults a psychiatrist. Together the consultations and reviewing of his archival material help Dries look at bipolarity with new eyes.

7.3

Be Here to Love Me

Sep 13, 2004

Chronicles the fascinating and often turbulent life of Townes Van Zandt.

6.9

Louis Theroux: America's Medicated Kids

Apr 18, 2010

Faced with the challenging behaviour of their kids, more and more parents in America are turning to psychoactive medication to help them cope, even though the drugs, and sometimes the diagnoses, remain controversial. Louis travels to one of America's leading children's psychiatric treatment centres, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to get to know the diagnosed children and hoping to understand what drives parents to put their kids on drugs.

0.0

Chameleons

Nov 30, 2022

No overview available.

0.0

Beyond Silence

Feb 22, 2017

The lives of Jeff, Lauren and Lloyd—three very different people who share one common experience—have been transformed by speaking up for mental health. These inspiring stories depict what mental health in America really looks like and highlights just how important it is to speak up and seek help.

10.0

Trust Me

May 1, 2024

Animated short documentary following a young woman's diagnosis of bipolar: a journey of self-acceptance to challenge everyday stigma. In "Trust Me", a genre-bending short documentary, a young woman uses humour and compassion to share her moving and deeply personal story of coming to terms with her mental health condition. When she starts exhibiting atypical and extreme behaviour, her loved ones trick her into hospitalisation against her will. She is diagnosed with bipolar disorder which starts her challenging journey of self-acceptance, confronting internalised and societal stigma, and learning to trust herself and others again.

6.3

The Not So Secret Life of the Manic Depressive: 10 Years On

Feb 15, 2016

Ten years ago, in an award-winning series, Stephen Fry first spoke about living with manic depression and began a national conversation about mental health. A decade later, we return to the subject to understand where he and thousands of others diagnosed with bipolar (as it is now called) are now.

0.0

Spyral

Jun 29, 2024

Using a variety of sources, SPYRAL follows one bipolar woman and the impact it has on her family.

6.0

Running from Crazy

Jan 20, 2013

'Running from Crazy' is a documentary examining the personal journey of model and actress Mariel Hemingway, the granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway, as she strives for a greater understanding of her family history of suicide and mental illness.

7.0

The Hero's Journey to the Third Pole

Sep 24, 2020

Part road movie, part musical, part serious inquiry into the caverns of the mind. Þriðji pólinn follows Anna Tara Edwards, an Icelander raised in Nepal, and legendary musician Högni Egilsson, as they journey to Anna’s childhood home in the mountain jungles to explore the afflictions and superpowers that come with bipolar disorder.

8.3

Willowbrook: The Last Great Disgrace

Feb 2, 1972

A shocking exposé of the deplorable conditions and abuses from the Willowbrook State School for children with intellectual disabilities.

0.0

Ignore Your True Feelings at Your Own Peril

Jun 6, 2024

A young woman experiencing a psychiatric crisis must find a way to overcome her body’s deeply ingrained stress response.

5.0

Dora Maar in Spite of Picasso

Nov 6, 2014

Dora Maar, a world-class photographer who began her artistic career in the French Surrealist scene of the 30s, lived in the shadow of Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, her lover between 1935 and 1943, with whom she maintained a chaotic, even violent, relationship. Fortunately, she survived Picasso's abusive behavior and its sequels to find a new path, the best one, the one that is worth to be told, in spite of Picasso.

0.0

Within my soul

Invalid Date

No overview available.

7.0

Jon Richardson: A Little Bit OCD

Jul 24, 2012

Jon Richardson investigates OCD. Is he simply a demanding perfectionist or does he have obsessive compulsive disorder?

3.5

I Remember Nothing

Mar 28, 2017

January 2011 : the revolution bursts in Tunisia, my father’s country. The Tunisian people scream in a rage and I, here in Paris, can feel their revolt vibrating in my heart.

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