Changing Minds: The Inside Story - Series 1 (ATOM Study Guide)

200 years ago Australia's first psychiatric hospital, Castle Hill Lunatic Asylum, was founded seven miles outside Parramatta in New South Wales. Two centuries later, huge strides have been made in treating people with a mental illness and in the way they are cared for. Yet until now, what actually happens inside a modern mental health unit in Australia has rarely, if ever, been seen. As a result, fear, stigma and lack of understanding exists.

Changing Minds: The Inside Story has been given unprecedented access to the wards of Liverpool Hospital's Mental Health Unit. Some patients are there voluntarily. Others have been detained under the Mental Health Act and are not free to leave. Some patients understand they are unwell. Others don't. If doctors believe the patients may harm themselves or others, they have the right to detain them.

With the agreement of their treating team, patients agreed to be filmed whilst unwell and then later consented formally once they recovered their health.

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This study guide is aimed at middle and upper secondary school levels, with relevance to English, Media Studies, Social Studies, Health and Human Relations, Psychology, Legal Studies, Ethics.