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.

The documentary is compelling in its subject matter and the testimony of the people involved, but alas, there is a great deal of disorganization that can be difficult at times to keep track of. It makes it hard to truly form an understanding because they will jump around from brother to brother and flip to different points in the timeline in very jarring ways.

It's also worth noting that this documentary doesn't cover the full scope of what schizophrenia entails and that this shouldn't be someone's only reference point for researching it. The subject matter is also deeply disturbing and triggering at times, so I would definitely stress that viewers take that into consideration when deciding if they should watch it. This is not leisurely viewing.

It's a shame that mental health is still such a stigma and society. It is one of the reasons that our jails are completely full because this country has not learned how to deal with mental health. I think these documentaries are important, and should continue as it relates to how it affects a family. I cannot believe a reviewer that blames the parents, when six of their children out of 12 have schizophrenia. This is a very serious disease of the mind. We also know that it is hereditary. My father was schizophrenic and luckily I'm not, but I continue to advocate for mental health while keeping a close eye on my daughter.

This is not a bad documentary. And one must remember that this is the late 60s in early 70s when a ton of mental institutions were being closed because medication was supposed to be the savior. Unless you have dealt with someone in your family, let alone six in your immediate family deal with this horrible disease. You should not comment on here and point fingers. It's heartbreaking, but these stories need to be told!

I could not stop crying. To see these beautiful lives devastated by mental illness-

It is disappointing to see reviews saying anything about this family making money on this- REALLY!?!?!

They are willing to share their stories and they have been through hell- I do hope they were able to make some money for sharing this amazing and tragic story. This family went through all of this in a time when mental illness had even more stigma than now.

We need more people willing to share their experiences with mental illness. Until everyone can see how it is effecting then we will continue with stigma and avoiding seeking help.

The story is very fascinating, but the storytelling is weak confusing. The interviewer was not asking the obvious good questions.

The repetition of info was maddening. I swear they say the same thing like 5-6 times sometimes. The editing could have saved a lot of time for viewers. But I guess they stretch it out to make more money or something.

The attempt at drama, with showing each son's picture breaking was tacky. Not a lot more to say other than if you can ignore the general production, you'll be OK, which is why I didn give it a lower rating.

Not sure if the director is the editor and the producer or what, but it seems amateurish. It shows that almost anyone can do this work now, since the audience no longer seems to care. AI would do it about this good.