Is it easy to distinguish between the mentally ill and the supposedly sane? In this two-part series, ten subjects live and work together for five days, facing a battery of mental and physical tests. Five of the volunteers are considered normal; five have a history of mental illness. Monitoring them is a panel of experts with no prior knowledge of the participants or their histories. These mental health professionals must detect and diagnose the sick based merely on observed behavior. Will the bipolar and obsessive-compulsive personalities reveal themselves, or will the “normal” subjects trip up the experts? An unflinching look at the stigmas attached to mental disorders and the ways in which society and the psychiatric profession define mental illness. A BBC/Science Channel Co-production. 2-part series, 50-51 minutes each.
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