(Jul 11, 2013) Three stories about psychosis and severe mental illness are told in Voices, a powerful forthcoming documentary that seeks to put a human face on a disease too often consigned to the margins by fear and dread.
Sharon, a Vietnamese immigrant, was diagnosed with schizophrenia shortly after her arrival in the U.S., when she began hearing voices and showing signs of paranoia and depression. Sharon’s story is a testament to the determination of one family to secure desperately-needed treatment for their loved one.
Thomas is a homeless man who has been living on the streets of San Francisco for 20 years. He no longer speaks with his family in Ohio, and does not receive any community services or treatment for his illness. His friendliness and outward good cheer mask feelings of isolation and distress.
As a young boy, Aaron was active and athletic, but in his teens he began showing signs of unusual behavior and slowly started isolating himself from his friends and family. Eventually, despite his father’s best efforts to get him into treatment, Aaron walked into the woods and never came back.
The directors, Hiroshi Hara and Gary Tsai, credit their motivation for the film to the “belief that personal stories have the power to decrease the stigma commonly attached to those living with psychotic conditions.” They maintain that “[w]hile focusing on the positive is important, … it is [also] critical to tell a fuller spectrum of stories.”
Voices is currently being prepared for film festival screenings.
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