Educational Media Reviews Online

Working Like Crazy provides a touching look at mental illness through the eyes of those who suffer. Recovered patients who were told they would never work again are shown as they go through a typical day of work and home life.

The camera follows six psychiatric survivors, one of whom started a business for them in Canada: the A-Way Courier Service. Through the camera we see and hear their personal thoughts and reactions to everything.

The survivors speak for themselves through their stories and shared thoughts. The director of A-Way talks of her first job with a veterinarian service and how she had to wear gloves to cover the self-inflicted scars on her arms. Another survivor tells how she used Tylenol with codeine "to get the day over with."

Susan, a schizophrenia survivor thinks people read her mind through the airwaves and "electrical things". We go with Susan on a typical workday as she courageously shares all her inner emotions, even her suicidal thoughts.

We observe survivors who work at a local restaurant, The Raging Spoon. Here they work, eat and party. We see the pride these people have in their ability to keep jobs and live somewhat normal lives. We see how they are empowered through their jobs and the support they receive from each other.

This documentary provides two surprises. First, it demonstrates the hidden intelligence of psychiatric survivors. We see how survivors develop clever solutions to everyday challenges. For example, Susan tells of how kids made fun of her because she keeps rats. To change their opinion, she showed the children her rats. They now call her Rat Lady, which she likes, instead of Cuckoo Person.

Secondly, the video provides a novel approach to providing factual information. We see artifacts of psychological treatments as Lori, a survivor, tells what they are and how they affected patients. Other survivors tell of the prejudices against psychiatric patients in their treatments and how they are often not allowed to give feedback to their doctors.

The technical quality of this production is good. Numerous camera close-ups allow us to see all the emotions of the survivors. The camera and sound qualities are unobtrusive and never distract from the story. Working Like Crazy provides a welcome change from the flash and dance of some productions that attempt to manipulate emotions through fluff.

Typically we like what we know. The documentary is important in a sociological aspect because it allows viewers to get to know these survivors. It gives us a better understanding of psychiatric survivors and hope for them. As Susan says "I've learned the art of surviving."

Recommended for anyone especially sociology, psychology, and health science classes, older children, adults, medical professionals, as well as psychiatric survivors.

Highly Recommended