This film “The Shattered Mirror” shows the nature and cause of the mental illness known as Schizophrenia. It features the notable psychiatrist Dr. Humphrey Osmond, who is attributed with coining the word psychedelic and for his research into utilizing psychedelics for treatment of alcohol addictions. His work later inspired the novelist Aldous Huxley. Humphrey also identified adrenochrome; the hallucinogen produced in the brain which is said to cause schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is the world’s most prevalent mental illness. The film opens with Shakespeare’s King Lear quotations (:25). Dr. Humphrey Osmond speaks on the illness (:30). The film features actual schizophrenic patients, not actors. One is pictured touching a clay bust (1:25). Earliest reports of Schizophrenia date to the dawn of human civilization (2:32). A patient called Renee (2:46) is pictured walking down city streets. The film is presented by National Education Television Network (3:09). The title screen rolls over ballerinas in class (3:21). Symptoms tend to vary and can come on at any age (3:29). Renee comments on the strain and exhaustion from ballet practice which eventually lead her to a mental breakdown (3:57). She details her experience while walking down an alley in the city prior to taking the subway as her symptoms increased in severity (4:31). Dr. Abram Hoffer; the Director of Psychiatric Research at Saskatchewan, Canada speaks on Renee’s symptoms (7:09). Hoffer was known for his work on the “adrenochrome hypothesis” for schizoaffective disorders. Arriving from California, after three months she was sent back to New York believing herself to be ready to maintain a fairly normal life (7:21). In New York, Renee copes with loneliness (8:02). After one year, Renee is filmed in ballet class (8:42). Aspects of Renee’s life exasperate and draw out Schizophrenia symptoms. She struggles to maintain two jobs, clerical work in the morning (9:08) and restaurant work in the evening (9:25). Another patient is seen standing inside of tree branches (10:10). Dance therapy class encourages direct contact with one another (11:49). Once the music pauses however, the patients recluse back within themselves (12:27). Dr. Humphrey Osmond; the Director of Urology and Psychiatrics for New Jersey shows a test utilizing questions on a card to help patients identify their emotions (12:34). Osmond and another psychiatrist conducted long conversations with hundreds of patients to build the questions for the experiment (12:49). A 27 year old patient is questioned (13:45). A volunteer is used for the control test (16:15). The 27 year old patient is later seen reading cards from the experiment (17:47) finding himself caught on a card reading “I feel as though my ideas may turn into insects”. Dr. Lawrence Kubie; the Psychiatric Consultant at Sheppard Pratt Hospital discusses how patients slip in and out of lucidity (21:58). Kubie was a notable psychiatrist and psychoanalyst with numerous celebrity patients including Tennessee Williams. An orderly delivers specified medications to patients (22:46). The film concludes on images of patients dancing before a Christmas tree (23:32).

Humphry Fortescue Osmond was an English psychiatrist who expatriated to Canada, then moved to work in the United States. He is known for inventing the word psychedelic and for his research into interesting and useful applications for psychedelic drugs.

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