Six Schizophrenic Brothers

I've been involved in psychology in some form for over 35 years, from my days as a psych major and grad student, working in direct care, and teaching AP Psychology in high school for decades. I have never heard of a single family so stricken by this cruelest of conditions, so the title alone intrigued me.

The story of an exceedingly large Irish-Catholic family, with 20 years separating the oldest and youngest of 12 kids, 10 boys, followed by 2 girls. Six of the boys developed schizophrenia, most fairly severely.

Lots of interviews with most of the non-schizophrenia siblings, giving a fairly detailed picture of family life. But despite having the legendary Dr. Daniel Weinberger as one of the main experts, the filmmakers used him too sparingly and without the depth he could have added. For a documentary about a disorder that can have such heterogenous clinical presentations - and a three-hour one, at that! - there was precious little information about the symptoms of the disorder aside from hallucinations and delusions.

The story of Galvin family is fascinating, but with a broader perspective on schizophrenia, I feel like this was a lost opportunity to educate the public.