Independent Lens: Bedlam
Bedlam is a film about the national mental health crisis as shown through filmmaker and practicing psychiatrist Kenneth Paul Rosenberg’s visits ERs, jails, and homeless camps.
Survey Results
NPT partnered with ITVS to use their new survey tool, DocSCALE. The platform was developed by ITVS with the support of Gates Foundation to help measure the impact of documentaries. It's a simple, easy-to-use tool that combines standard survey questions with a unique feature: the ability for participants to directly interact with responses from other participants.
Bedlam raised awareness about or changed their perspective on serious mental illness.This open-ended feedback had a high level of “resonance,” as 84% of reviewers indicated they agreed with statements that expressed this theme. “Stigma” was the most referenced topic.
- Bedlam impacted viewer perspectives. Over half of audience members reported their perspective on the issue had changed after watching Bedlam, with 30% reporting it was “very changed” and 43 percent reporting “somewhat changed.”
- While audiences called for societal change, they also reported feelings of frustration and hopelessness. A similar number of respondents called for greater education about the challenges faced by individuals with serious mental illness and called on society to take steps to address those issues as expressed frustration about the lack of progress or lamented that the situation was hopeless. Both calls for societal action and feelings of hopelessness resonated with reviewers, with 89% and 86% resonance, respectively.
After seeing Bedlam what is the likelihood for you to seek more information, conversations, or action on mental health services in your community?
Did your perspective on the issue change after watching Bedlam?
