Really Surprised!

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Any documentary that includes contributions from Thomas Szasz "and" Charlotte Iserbyt has the makings of a truly great film. Unfortunately, a worthy attack on the junk science of psychiatry was almost allowed to degenerate into an ad hominem filled polemic against eugenics and something called racism. For that it loses one point. "Psychiatry: An Industry Of Death " is actually the name of a museum, one founded by Szasz with the backing of the Church of - wait for it - Scientology. It is ironic that a sham religion founded by a con man should be in the forefront of the anti-psychiatry movement, but this one worthy deed will have earned L. Ron Hubbard a pair of angel's wings. Although "...Industry Of Death" does appear to go over the top - there are many people out there who are more evil than any psychiatrist - it is the evil good men do that has always been the bigger problem. The film does not dwell too much on the quackery that is psychiatry, concentrating instead on the powerful vested interests, ie big money, that have turned America in particular into a charlatan's paradise, often at the expense of children who are diagnosed with ADHD at the drop of a hat.We are also shown the historical perspective and the horror shows of psychiatry from the insane asylum to the lobotomy and beyond. You will probably disagree with much of what this film says, but most people will agree that whether or not it actually exists, the extent of mental illness has been greatly exaggerated, that psychiatric drugs should be used as a last resort if at all, and that the financial influences on psychiatry should be reigned in.

It goes without saying that this documentary is seriously biased and not meticulously researched. Also, the creators of the documentary are affiliated with the Scientologists making it fairly easy to identify their hidden agenda. The primary purpose of this documentary is to fully discredit psychiatry and to make a convincing case against not only psychiatry but also psychology. Some of the most outrageous claims in the documentary are that psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and mood disorders are actually made up and do not even exist. The evidence is abundant that schizophrenia and for instance bipolar disorders exist and affect people worldwide. Also, the documentary uses various techniques to make a strong case against psychiatrists whom it portrays as evil, manipulative and insidious. They are somehow always working for pharmaceutical companies by advocating their drugs. The documentary continues to overgeneralize and distort the field of psychiatry by invoking conspiracy theories which do not hold water. Despite what is mentioned above, psychiatry has been responsible historically for some gruesome human rights abuses by employing highly questionable and unethical techniques such as the electric shock therapy and lobotomy. Also, psychiatry played a pivotal role in Eugenics and has helped justify horrendous crimes throughout history, let alone slavery and the Holocaust. Psychiatrists have asserted that intellectual inferiority and propensity towards violence is inherently related to race. We can keep denying these truths at our own peril. One interesting aspect of the documentary is the fact that it claims that psychology has no scientific merit and that it must be dismissed on the grounds that it is a pseudoscience. Nonetheless, it then goes on to discuss psychological techniques used by the governments worldwide to extract intelligence from prisoners of war. The psychological techniques effectively remove the defense mechanisms in these prisoners by breaking them down. If the creators of this documentary in fact oppose psychology then these techniques must be non-existent. They cannot even be used because psychology as a pseudoscience must be fully and completely spurious and worthless. There are numerous contradictions in the documentary which seriously undermine its credibility. The arguments are one-sided and sweeping over-generalizations take place throughout the entire documentary. Scientologists largely responsible for creating this documentary have an insidious agenda, which is to completely dismiss psychology as a whole and to convince you that psychiatry is inherently evil. While psychiatry has a dubious history it has important current real-life applications without which the suffering of many people would continue and their symptoms would not subside any time soon. I recommend the documentary but remember to be source critical.

I came through mental hospital treatment in Poland. What is in this movie is true also about Poland. As long as you have cash you will be kept, your relatives cheated that you need all this pills , even electric shock. Mental hospitals are places where people are left without help, forced into believing into lies, changing pills one after another. Its a sick system. My advice - If you feel bad , turn to God or true friends or some anonymous support group but don't come to this greedy heartless people. If you take pills - try to resign from them step by step. I was in mental hospital nearly 11 years ago. Now I don't smoke, don't drink alcohol, nor take any medicine and do my best to treat myself the best way I can. This is the best therapy - be your friend. If there is anything that scares me on this world is being put into hands of psychiatrists. This movie together with "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" are real pictures of mental hospital like Toszek in Poland.

This is not a documentary. It is a libelous piece of rubbish put forth by the scumbag Scientologists in order to discredit psychiatry. The outlandish dialog is superseded only by the distinct lack of any credible resource within. Honestly, Tom Cruise seems more sane and credible than this piece of tripe. Do yourself, and humanity, a favor and leave this rubbish on the shelf (along with Scientology). It is high time that people push back against the garbage spewed forth against logic and reason. Spit back in the face of rubbish like Scientology and the obvious fiction it is derived from. When the originator of Scientology says, "The way to make a million dollars is to start a religion." You know it's time to run kicking and screaming.