In many ways, American healthcare is number one-but not in overall performance, says the WHO, which ranked the U.S. 37th. Unlike most first-world countries, America does not guarantee care for all of its citizens regardless of ability to pay. This ABC News program seeks to understand what factors contribute to top-notch healthcare as it assesses the advantages and disadvantages of the Canadian and U.S. systems. Can some of the Canadian benefits be...

"Dazzlingly, daringly written, marrying the thoughtful originality of Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts with the revelatory power of Neurotribes and The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, this propulsive, stunning book illuminates the experience of living with schizophrenia like never before. Sandra Allen did not know her uncle Bob very well. As a child, she had been told he was "crazy," that he had spent time in mental hospitals while growing up in...

Due to ignorance, politics, and misused technologies, childbirth until very recently was often deadly to mother and child. This program presents a medical history of childbirth from ancient times to the present, contrasting methods and beliefs of the past with today's obstetrics. Along with commentary from obstetricians, medical historians, and evolutionary biologists, the program highlights dangers and advances in birthing through documentary clips,...

For 17 million Americans, severe, long-term mental illness is a fact of life-a fact little understood by the majority of their fellow citizens. In an effort to raise public awareness of the day-to-day impact mental illness has on families, this intimate documentary profiles Robert Neugeboren and his brother, Jay, as decade after decade they cope with Robert's schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Drawing on Jay's heart-rending yet uplifting family memoir...

In the late 1790s the young director of a Paris insane asylum prohibited the use of chains and shackles. Philippe Pinel's decision is the first of many advances detailed in this program, which studies the history and physiology of schizophrenia, and illustrates current research aimed at finding a cure. Outlining the functions of neurotransmitters and the development of antipsychotic drugs, the video discusses newer medications and the importance of...

This video is a film about sex, relationships and mental health. Although mental health problems may interfere with peoples' sexual functions and practitioners are aware that psychiatric medication can interfere with sexual function, service users often feel that these matters are ignored or discounted. At a time when there is such an emphasis on promoting equality, working towards recovery and overcoming stigma, UNSPOKEN argues the importance of...

OCD is built on magical beliefs that don't make much sense in the real world, says Cosmo-and he should know, because he has had the disorder since he was a child. In this program, Cosmo reaches out to others with OCD to more deeply understand the nature of his own condition: Nellie, who fears becoming someone else and uses repeating rituals to keep those fears at bay; Margaret, a hoarder and a hand-washer; and Mark, who must check every single thing...

By any standard, Derek Paravacini is an exceptional pianist. Stephen Wiltshire can draw whole cityscapes from memory with uncanny accuracy. Both are savants with severe learning disabilities due to autism. Focusing on these two case studies, this program looks at how a disability sometimes unlocks extraordinary abilities, as well as how research on savants has led to a better understanding of brain function. Allan Snyder, professor of science and...

At some point, you contemplate suicide. You think, 'This is useless. I'm suffering too much. What's in store for me?' In this program, patients share their stories of terror and triumph as they struggle to deal with their irrational fears and avoidance behaviors. In addition, mental health professionals contrast behavioral cognitive psychotherapy, augmented by video conferencing and virtual reality, with psychopharmacological intervention, which usually...

For two years, the narrator of this program went through a nightmare, feeling a self-hatred and worthlessness beyond love and redemption that he described as "the concentration camp of the mind." This video presents one man's attempt to convey the ordeal of severe depression by writing a memoir about the experience. Dramatic reenactments, along with interviews of the narrator's psychiatrist, fellow patients, and their spouses and friends, effectively...