The Doctor Who Hears Voices

Description

The Doctor Who Hears Voices tells the true story of Ruth, a junior doctor, who has begun to hear a male voice telling her to kill herself.

Suspended from her job, she turns to clinical psychologist Rufus May who is known for his unconventional approach to treating people with severe mental health problems. Although she admitted feeling depressed and suicidal to her employers, Ruth knows they would have sacked her immediately if she had told them about the voice.

The film follows Ruth's unorthodox journey with Rufus as she strives to combat the voice and regain her job.

Rufus May is a maverick psychologist. He believes there is no such thing as schizophrenia, that medication can destroy lives and that there's nothing wrong with hearing voices. Rufus is an authority on the subject. He was diagnosed with acute schizophrenia aged 18.

In this powerful and thought-provoking film, BAFTA-award winning director Leo Regan, takes a challenging look at how society deals with mental illness, using an innovative mix of contemporaneous documentary footage and dramatised scenes. To protect her anonymity, Ruth is played by Bafta-nominated actress Ruth Wilson and some details have been changed.

With figures suggesting as many as one in four people suffer from mental illness at some point in their lives, the film prompts the question, how far can people who hear voices also continue to live a normal life?

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