PROTEST PSYCHIATRY –
My Newest Film, Free!

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I just made a new film, called PROTEST PSYCHIATRY, on the psychiatric survivor-lead protest of the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting in New York City.  And I’m thrilled by how it turned out.  For starters, I filmed it on no budget whatsoever, created the entire film in three days, and have uploaded it straight to Youtube, so it’s freeeeeee!

This film, for me, was an experiment.  I have been feeling lost as a filmmaker for the past year or more.  I think the big reason has been the process:  it’s huge and expensive and time-consuming.  Each film has absorbed months, literally months, of my life.  Well, all that changed five days ago.

Five days ago (May 2) I was hit with the inspiration bug:  to make a film a new way.

My goal:  to film the whole thing in a few hours (on May 4), to give myself a couple of days to edit it (on May 5 and 6), to make it short (it’s 13 minutes long), to do no post-production whatsoever (big relief), and then to share it with the world (on May 7).  And….it worked!!  So what excites me as much as having a new film (which I love!) is that I have a new template for filmmaking.  I am now confident that I can easily take my little film studio on the road, as everything I need fits within a little backpack — and make more films.  And I want to expand my subject matter…
And so, here’s the film — PROTEST PSYCHIATRY.  In it, please meet some of the most courageous and inspiring people I know.  They sure inspired me!

30 COMMENTS

  2. Fabulous!!! I have that disconnect too that that man talked about, between the frontal cortex and the emotional system . Makes it really difficult to figure out how I feel or what actions I need to take. I need help from trusted friends to know what matters to me and how to deal in life. What is that anyways? I hope it heals as the rest of my brain and body heals from 20 years of psychotropics. Five years off yesterday and have come a VERY long way in my healing process.

    Great job Daniel!!!

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      • I’m now thinking it’s called depersonalization. He mentioned ECT and 22 years of psych drugs. We have the drugs in common but not the ECT. That sensation comes and goes now with different levels of disconnect. I hope he reads this to help him understand that he’s not alone and that it will get better with time.

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  4. Daniel,

    Thanks so much for making and sharing this great video. It can be frustrating after the latest APA protest I am unable to attend when one has a hard time finding much news about it. Your video did an outstanding job showing the many psychiatric survivor/protesters as this meeting while also focusing on some of our most “famous” people in the movement like the great Jim Gottstein who has done so much for the movement and fighting for rights and freedom and many others.

    I was also impressed when you interviewed those three young guys. Initially, it appeared they were just going to regurgitate the usual psychiatric spin about mental cases needing their drugs. But, when you answered their question about what you thought about psychiatry, I was very impressed with their common sense when they saw that people were really dealing with life problems that they needed to face and talk about rather than psychiatry giving them drugs to push their problems/issues down and/or interfere with people facing and solving them.

    So, though you’ve quit doing therapy, I was amazed at how you dealt with these young guys that seemed to bring out the best in them as they seriously and intelligently considered the issue and gave a great response!! That is also hopeful that the public is seeing through the BS of biopsychiatry making all of life a “mental illness!”

    So, I really appreciate this great film that also serves as an on the spot, up to the minute report about all the great people/survivors/advocates who attended the protest of the 2014 APA meeting in New York.

    Thank you again Daniel and all the wonderful survivors who made the great effort to attend this meeting and spread the word about the harm of psychiatric stigma, brain damaging drugging/ECT, oppression and ongoing and accelerating rights violations in a supposed democracy!

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  5. Daniel ,
    I really enjoyed your film and it gave me a real taste of what it was like to be there since finances kept me away from the live protest. Maybe next year.
    I’m interested also in your idea of easy portability of film making equipment as I once went to film making school for 3 months till my government loan fell through during the Nixon administration. Is it presumptuous to ask what is the necessary equipment you have it distilled down to? Keep up the good work.
    Thank you ,Ex psych prisoner ,forced shock,and torture also repeated forced psych- drug injection survivor,5 time escapee and finally free, ready to do battle .Onward the Revolution.
    Fred

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    • hi fred. dig it! my film equipment for this film came to about $1350 i think. $800 canon camera (takes tapes, not memory cards), ~$300 beechtek audio adapter, and ~$250 boom mic. and that was it. pretty simple………and basically super-cheap as far as a camera set-up goes. i do have a light tripod but i didn’t need it for this project. i also have lavalier mics for indoor interviews but i didn’t use them here. they’re probably about $250 each, and i have two. then it also takes a computer for editing, and i have a 4-year-old mac book pro with an older version of final cut pro. probably a lot of this stuff could be purchased used. my stuff is all old and works fine. all the best to you fred,
      daniel

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  6. Nice work. I was there at the protest. I never knew there were others out there organizing against forced medication before I found this web site. I’m very grateful for your work and the work of others who continue to stand up for freedom, both physical and psychological. Thank you for making this film.

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  7. awesome film- i loved it!! my story, in a nutshell- my husband got caught in a ten year long mind drug nightmare that in many ways has destroyed our lives. i have manged, somehow, throughout, to protect my children and keep most of the details from them and to fight with my husband for his career. i personally have always known the truth about all this -docs and drug companies and the power of one’s own mind- and my husband has recently woken up and is drug free and feeling amazing. i and we are starting to speak out and become active in this movement but are held back by the need for relative anonymity to protect our kids and livelihood. i actually live not far from ny and struggled to decide if attending the rally was something i could do. i decided, not yet, but the whole day i was there in mind and spirit and soul. i was so sad all sunday to not be there. thank you, thank you, for making me feel like i was in fact there.

    keep it up

    erin

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  9. I am completely blown away, both by your film and by the contagious spirit of a “survivor”-led event.

    As I have no words that would be more meaningful than actually watching this, excuse me while I send this link to everyone I know!

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  10. Daniel

    Thanks so much for doing this film. It is very important that this history making be documented. I was away at the time of the demo and very disappointed that I could not attend. Your film gave me a real sense of the spirit and content of this protest. I can’t wait for the next opportunity to expose and demonstrate against the criminal enterprise of Biological Psychiatry.

    Richard

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  11. Welcome to my world Daniel, I do everything now for free. I first had no option, having to be a support to my sons in and through psychiatry. Now I find a freedom in having no master as in “he who pays the piper calls the tune”.

    All the best with your new way of working, Chrys

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  12. Two German films set in East Germany prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union give one a preview of life in America given the nation’s current drift. The Lives Of Others and Barbara. The latter is the story of a doctor send to a country side hospital as punishment. Both seem to resonate with this nation’s current oligarchic direction. Psychiatry is being seen as a useful tool for dealing with dissonant types. Mandatory treatment will be most important. I believe after 9/11 that George W. hired the former top head of the Stasi to help out in the USA. Have not heard much about him since.

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    • Agni

      I am very concerned about psych drugs as a means of dissonant control. I believe that the widespread use of psychiatric drugs is sort of a preventative measure. Economics of course spurs this on tremendously too.
      Stasi, had to look that up.
      I tell you another scary thing going on. The Nazis developed the technology to perform mind control from a distance. The technology could implant images and impulses into the mind and inspire and direct victims. It could drive people mad too.
      This technology has continued and has been perfected in the US and Russia being that many Nazis defected to both countries particularly their scientists.
      Inspire someone to perform mass shootings? I don’t know. But I do know they’ve perfected the ability to drive someone mad.
      Of course there is always the power of propaganda which is a major tool of Big Pharma and psychiatry.
      I’m sorry to see that Daniel is retired as a psychotherapist. I just discovered his Utube videos. He was so passionate about how to help someone in distress. Where can I see his other films? This was a pretty effective mini documentary.
      And the nation’s oligarchies are aiming at going global. They are not just satisfied with controlling the US natural and human resources. They’ve been thinking globally since the first of last century at least. Research Bush’s granddaddy Prescott Bush.

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