This riveting documentary shows the transformation that has occurred in psychiatric care through the pioneering work of Dr. Heinz Lehmann. When Dr. Lehmann fled Nazi Germany to Montreal in 1937, he devoted the next sixty years to finding new and more humane treatments for the mentally ill.
Dr. Lehmann’s greatest legacy came with a single pill – Largactil – the first anti-psychotic drug used in North America. By successfully treating patients with this drug, Lehmann introduced the world to the idea that biology plays a role in mental illness.
While Untangling the Mind is a record of Lehmann’s perseverance and humanity, it is also an important historical record. Extraordinary archival footage of doctors performing electric shock therapy and lobotomies demonstrate how far psychiatric medicine has come.
Awards
Chris Statuette Columbus Film Festival, 2000
Western Psychology Association, 2000
Best Documentary, Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival, 2000
Certificate of Merit, Golden Gate Awards Competition, 2000