The Clinic
(PHOTOS)
Denmark is considered the happiest country in the world. It is however also one of the leading countries in consumption of psychiatric medicine. How did we get there? What has changed? Katrine Borre investigates how psychiatric diagnoses are made and who profits from them. She meets the people affected by psychiatric diagnoses and their struggle to come off medication and reconnect with their families.
Katrine Borre got the inspiration to this film when she made “Mette’s Voice”. As in “Mette’s Voice” this film also gets close to the people struggling with their diagnosis and it paints a different picture of life with diagnoses and medication.
The film is now in production, but we still need funding to make this film come to life. If you liked “Mette’s Voice” you can help us make a film that is just as important and touching by supporting our campaign on Kickstarter.
The Characters
Nina, Maria, Carsten, Kent and their families are ordinary people who had trust in doctors and authorities. They have all received very high doses of ADHD drugs even though they thought it was odd. They are all happy that the ADHD drugs are now out of their live
(PHOTO) Maria: 27 years, a mother of two small children. Maria has always been a happy girl with a lot of energy and power. At school she was the class clown and the teachers hated her. She herself believes she was immature. When she heard about ADHD in the media, she was convinced that was what she had. She got a test and a lot of medication at a psychiatrist. Once she called the doctor crying, and she was given anti-depressants. When she was on the medication she couldn't stand the noise of her own children. From being an outgoing girl she turned into someone who would rather be home in her room. She didn't notice the changes herself, but her family did! When we met her later on she had gained her weight with more than 20 pound, because of the medication (altså fordi hun ikke er på den mere, ikk'?). She had got divorced and want's to find herself again. She wants to take care of her children who paid the highest price for her medication. At the clinic she is making progress. She and her new psychiatrist agrees that her problems are mostly caused by her relationship to her mother, and Maria needs to break free from her mother. That's hard because both of them are very opinionated. Maria feels the medication has ruined her life.
(PHOTO): Nina: 29 years, lives at home. She is a sensitive and dreamy girl. She was assaulted and lost her self-confidence. Apparently she was depressed, but instead she became an ADHD patient for ten years and was put on large amounts of medications. Her mother is very much against diagnoses and medication, but she was not heard. To Nina's mother it seemed that Nina's symptoms got worse when she started taking the medicin. Nina need help, but got the wrong kind. Nina's mother is worn out and her father has Parkinson's disease. When we first meet Nina she is almost psychotic. She is afraid about what will happen to her and she believes that there are knives behind her. She gets off some of the medicine and she longs to get out of the medical system and get on with her life. She feels trapped and she needs help.
(PHOTO) Carsten: 49 years, married to Lene, they have two teenage children. Carsten's father had a tumor in his heart and lay ill at home. He died when Carsten was 16 years old. It was traumatic experience and not something they talked about. As an adult Carsten worked as porter in a chapel where he prepared the dead for their funeral. There was no supervision. Carsten burned out and got a diagnosis and a lot of medication that didn't help him. He started drinking, especially when Lene work night shifts as a nurse. One night he wanted to visit his parent's graves in Hobro and he took the scooter. He was stopped by the police, his driver's license got suspended and he was hospitalized with a drug intoxication. A wake-up call, Carsten calls it. He needed help! Carsten's son Morten was kicked out of school, was diagnosed with ADHD and put on drugs for two years. Because ADHD is considered heritable, Carsten was also tested and received the ADHD diagnosis. Morten hated the drugs because it made him indifferent towards everything. He eventually dropped the medicine because he rather would feel alive, as he says. In principle Morten still has the diagnosis. Morten is happy he has got his farther back. Carsten and Lene is reconnecting after Carsten cut down on the medicine.
(PHOTO) Kent: In his late 30's, sensitive and educated as a social educator. Earlier in his life he suffered from anxiety, but he learned to handle it. At one point he was worried about a child at the institution where he worked. He searched the internet and stumbled upon the ADHD diagnosis. He thought the symptoms matched some traits in him. He went to the doctor and got the diagnosis himself. He received a lot of medicine and in short time he could no longer get by by himself and he received domestic help. His massive pill consumption made him really ill and he started to get facial tics. He started seeing Asger. Asger doesn't believe he has ADHD and he reduces his medications until he is completely off. After a few weeks he can manage himself. He leads a case in The Psychiatric Patients' Board of complaints. He looses the case.
(PHOTO) Asker Stig Nielsen: the psychiatrist. Asker has been member of the network ”Læger uden Sponser” (ENG: "Doctors Without Sponsors"). He believes the conditions in psychiatry need to be improved and he hopes this film can help. In his opinion the medical industry has a high influence on doctors and diagnoses. "It's all about money", he says. Asker has facilitated the contact to Maria, Nina, Carsten and Kent.
The Team
(PHOTO) Katrine Borre, director. Katrine has been following Maria, Nina, Carsten and Kent for two years.....
(PHOTO) producer:
(PHOTO) editor:
(PHOTO) composer:
(PHOTO) advisor:
Collaborators
BigDoc Production is collaborating with Mad in America about the production of this film.
Blog
“The Clinic” has already received big support from critical psychiatrists and organizations that sympathize with its theme. We have asked them to write about their take on this conflict in this blog. There will be continuous blog posts here on the site.
Stay in touch
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