Under Pressure (La. Association for Mental Health, 1963)

Shows the pressures under which members of a large city police department work daily, and stresses the importance of handling any situation that may occur during a policeman's regular patrol routine. This police training film was produced by The Louisiana Association for Mental Health and filmed in Cleveland, Ohio with assistance from the city’s police department. It tells the story of four policemen and the pressures they face in their work on a daily basis.

Combat Fatigue Irritability (US Navy, 1945)

Gene Kelly directs and stars in this wartime naval "training" film. Kelly plays the role of Seaman Bob Lucas, a troubled and angry "fireman" whose ship was sunk in battle. Many sailors died at sea, but Lucas lived through it and suffers from what now might be termed "post-traumatic stress disorder." After lashing out at everyone around him, Lucas comes to understand his emotions, and moves from illness to wellness, with the help of a wise psychiatrist. Kelly considered his performance in Combat Fatigue Irritability one of his very best. But no filmography lists it.

Until I Die (Video Nursing, Inc., 1970)

The purpose of this presentation is to discuss death and dying. This objective is achieved with presentations of interviews with clinical patients and hospital staff personnel. Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross stresses the need for hospital personnel to reach out to help the dying patient. In this presentation Dr. Kubler-Ross describes the five stages through which patients with a terminal illness go in order to come to a peaceful acceptance of their own imminent death. These stages are noted to be denial, anger, depression, bargaining, and finally acceptance.

Psychiatry and Law: How Are They Related? (USPHS, 1970)

This film, part of a series produced by the U.S. National Medical Audiovisual Center, presents a discussion about the role of the psychiatrist in criminal law, courtroom, and prison. Alexander Brooks of the Rutgers University Law School moderates. Panelists Dr. Thomas Szasz and Dr. Bernard Diamond take opposing views. Szasz argues that psychiatry is used to manipulate both the law and the defendant, and is not applied in any scientific way in the courtroom, nor can it be.

Bill and Sue: A Co-therapy Approach to Conjoint Sex Counseling (A.B.and B.A. Chernick, 1973)

This presentation demonstrates a co-therapy approach to conjoint sex counseling with simulated interviews with the couple and the aid of diagrams and graphs. This program stresses the importance of each member receiving support from the therapist of his own sex. Drs. Avinoam and Beryl Chernick, in addition to their role of sex counselors, also assume the roles of the patients, Bill and Sue Williams. The Williamses have been married three weeks and were referred by their minister for sex counseling.

Case Study of Multiple Personality (C. C. Wholey, 1923)

This film records a case of multiple personality. A woman (Mrs. X) regresses to a childhood state (Susie). She also has another, less well-developed secondary personality (Jack). Later, in response to the death of her parish priest, Mrs. X goes into a trance state for 24 hours and emerges as a baby with a mental age of about one year. The patient is seen at a family picnic, and later, as Susie, writing down answers to questions. There appears to be a struggle between Susie and Jack, and when Jack appears, he exhibits male posture and handshake. Mrs.

Prefrontal Lobotomy in Chronic Schizophrenia (Bishop Clarkson Memorial Hospital, 1944)

This film shows the improvement that can result from prefrontal lobotomy in chronic psychotics. Four patients are shown before and after the operation. Patients include one 25-year-old aggressive female, one 22-year-old aggressive male, one female who had been catatonic for five years, and one 26-year-old Ph.D. who has had catatonic lapses in the last three years. All patients appeared calmer and more sociable after surgery. Only the five-year catatonic female had to continue hospitalization after the lobotomy, although she had improved greatly.

Prefrontal Lobotomy in the Treatment of Mental Disorders (GWU, 1942)

This film describes and demonstrates a prefrontal lobotomy, an operative procedure employed in mental disorders resistive to other methods of treatment. The procedure consists of cutting the white matter in each frontal lobe in the plane of the coronal suture. This passes just anterior to the frontal horn of the ventricle and interrupts the anterior thalamic radiation. This film includes a written description of the procedure, review of landmarks on the skull and frontal lobe on a demonstration skull and brain, operation on a live patient, and X-rays taken after the operation.

Introduction to Combat Fatigue (US Navy, 1944)

This formerly restricted film was intended to be shown to patients suffering from combat fatigue. A medical officer/narrator explains the nature of fear and how it helps the body and mind cope with threatening situations. Profiling a soldier named Edwards, the narrator explains how combat fatigue begins, grows, and finally incapacitates the soldier. Aboard a ship headed for the combat zone, Edwards feels excitement and tension. In the combat zone, he behaves as expected -- he leaves his ship, wades ashore, penetrates a jungle area, and fires at the enemy. He is afraid but not cowardly.

Palmour Street (Georgia Department of Public Health, 1950)

This film shows events in the family life of rural African-American families living on Palmour Street in Gainesville, Georgia. It illustrates basic concepts of mental health as they relate to family life and highlights some of the ways that parents influence the mental and emotional development of their children. Also addressed are the challenges for a household in which both parents work outside the home. Shots include: a health clinic waiting room, people dancing on the front porch, pea-shelling, communal outdoor clothes-washing with washboards and tubs, and other scenes.

Roots of Happiness (Mental Health Film Board, 1953)

Dramatizes the case of a family in which the father respects and loves his wife and children, permitting each to develop as an individual, learn important life skills, and put down strong roots for the future, and contrasts this with a family in which the the parents seem to ignore one another, hostility is present, and the children are not shown love or taught responsibility and a strong sense of self.

Fears of Children (National Association for Mental Health, 1952)

A series of episodes typical of those arising in families with small children shows how the fears of a normal five-year-old named Paul are related to feelings about parents. His fears--of the dark, of being alone, of new situations--not only prevent him from enjoying experiences that other boys enjoy, but tend to widen the gap of misunderstanding between him and his parents. The film points out that Paul's feelings are common to children of his age and may be accentuated when parents become either unduly protective or over-severe. Sponsored by the U.S.

Narcosynthesis (Bishop Clarkson Memorial Hospital, 1944)

Under light narcosis produced by ultra-short-acting barbiturates, patients re-experience emotions associated with psychic trauma and become more amenable to suggestion. The four examples are: 1) the effect of simple suggestion in choreic movements; 2) the effect of reassurance and suggestion in hysteria with hemiporesis; 3) the production of emotional responsiveness in a schizophrenic-like state; and 4) a severe case of major hysteria in an 11-year-old girl.

Pseudo-sclerosis (Struempell-Westphal, 1945)

A young woman wearing scanty clothing is shown sitting in a wheelchair. Her body shakes and trembles. She tries to touch her nose but cannot. She attempts to hold her hands out in front of her, but they will not stay still and continue to tremble when draped over a stick. Her arms flap up and down when she tries to hold them out at her sides. Every physical task is performed with trembling and uncoordinated movements. Her eyeball is shown moving jerkily. She is photographed walking out-of-doors with the help of an attendant. Her gait is unsteady.

Rights of Age (Mental Health Film Board, 1966)

This film, about protective services for the aging, dramatizes the story of one recluse who, like many older people, attempts to be self-sufficient long after she is able. Not until she becomes physically disabled does the community have an opportunity to extend to her the various benefits now available for the aged. Twenty or 30 other older individuals are examined in the film, all in need of physical, psychological, or legal assistance.