Ok, I can see that this show has touched a nerve in many reviewers. I can imagine the frustration of folks suffering with undiagnosed illnesses. I myself have been dealing with depression and anxiety as well as chronic back pain. I have been trying to find good treatments for years and have found little.
Any of these shows can tend towards being a freak show, but I didn't feel that the series is overtly trying to do this. These disorders are hard to wrap your head around, but I do believe that it gives a glimpse into this world.
Are these folks suffering from physical conditions or are they psychological. Either way, they are suffering and while the series presents itself as a bit of a freak show, I think it is intriguing enough to engender some empathy from the ignorant, myself including.
What is clear is that there is a world of hucksters praying on these folks, which makes me angry. Many of the rouge treatments seem to be completely made up or back themselves up with fake science. They likely make a lot of money off of these folks.
To be honest, I am on my second episode, but am intrigued enough to continue.
If you are interested in medical mysteries, check this out.
167 Reviews
true story
randomful19 September 2020
I have no medical degree, but seeing Jamison smirking all the time, like even he doesn't believe his sickness, is just so obviously fake. someone who has so much pain to even say a word would not be "smiling" all the time.
all these people had psycho trauma which made them sick for attention.
but keep using those "supplements" , then probably we could discuss the real illness.
overall, I agree with Netflix. fake sickness require fake medicine. let the people with imagination earn their money on healing the "ill".
overall, I agree with Netflix. fake sickness require fake medicine. let the people with imagination earn their money on healing the "ill".
Confused
grimreaperrr18 May 2019
So does this Show promote that if your partner gets chronically sick then just leave ??? My ex has been sick now for over a decade and I've looked after him for 8 years and we were only together for the 2. I would never abandon him. I'm a carer and I do not feel like my life is behind or he's a burden to me. He makes me appreciate him and life so much more. This show is crap.
A dangerous muddle that confuses physical and psychosomatic illness
astopford13 August 2018
The issue I have with this series is that the stories are broadly framed as being psychosomatic even though some of the conditions have a long and established history of being physical. For example, ME has been recognised as a physical neurological illness since the 60s. A lot of viewers seem to be lumping all the conditions together as psychosomatic an example can be found in another review here on IMDB.
I think this is for a number of reasons: The stories are jumbled up randomly rather than one story per episode, Doctors speak in general terms about psychosomatic illnesses rather than about the individual cases, Poor editing, e.g. a clip of Jamison who has Me (Which is a physical illness) is used while a doctor talks about chronic illnesses being caused by the mind then followed by another MD saying statistically most cases are psychiatric. There seems to be disproportionate amount of content from doctors talking about psychosomatic illnesses and not enough scientific content validating conditions, e.g. the history and science of ME.
Documentaries like this need to be handled very carefully and sensitively, there is enough misunderstanding and stigma that surround these illnesses and documentaries like this should be helping educate people rather than perpetuating ignorant and harmful views. It has been deeply upsetting to read all the negative comments questioning the validity of peoples illnesses on Twitter.
I think this is for a number of reasons: The stories are jumbled up randomly rather than one story per episode, Doctors speak in general terms about psychosomatic illnesses rather than about the individual cases, Poor editing, e.g. a clip of Jamison who has Me (Which is a physical illness) is used while a doctor talks about chronic illnesses being caused by the mind then followed by another MD saying statistically most cases are psychiatric. There seems to be disproportionate amount of content from doctors talking about psychosomatic illnesses and not enough scientific content validating conditions, e.g. the history and science of ME.
Documentaries like this need to be handled very carefully and sensitively, there is enough misunderstanding and stigma that surround these illnesses and documentaries like this should be helping educate people rather than perpetuating ignorant and harmful views. It has been deeply upsetting to read all the negative comments questioning the validity of peoples illnesses on Twitter.
Irresponsible & Unscientific
katherinerjohnson13 August 2018
This show markets itself as bringing awareness to the struggles of people living with chronic illnesses, but it seems like this series was actually made specifically to undermine the credibility of people who suffer those illnesses. This show is full of people with very real and well documented conditions (like lyme disease and dystonia), and others with scientific evidence of toxic levels of exposure to mold, gas, and other pollutants, and portrays all the conditions as psychosomatic and all the people as delusional, attention seeking, and manipulative.
Yes, psychosomatic illnesses are a thing, and there are awful people in any group, but this show leans heavily on a false equivalence to create this impression. For instance, one person is shown getting a VNG -- a common and well established test for neurological and vestibular conditions -- and places it next to someone reciting random "codes" for energy healing, and someone else being "detoxed" with magnets. The show does this without distinguishing in any way between those tests and treatments with proven efficacy vs. the scammy, woo-woo BS.
It also repeatedly conflates psychological and neurological. Diseases of the brain and nervous system are not the same as mental illness, yet the two ideas are used interchangeably throughout the series.
This show has the potential to do real harm to people suffering from chronic illnesses. Don't waste your time on it.
Yes, psychosomatic illnesses are a thing, and there are awful people in any group, but this show leans heavily on a false equivalence to create this impression. For instance, one person is shown getting a VNG -- a common and well established test for neurological and vestibular conditions -- and places it next to someone reciting random "codes" for energy healing, and someone else being "detoxed" with magnets. The show does this without distinguishing in any way between those tests and treatments with proven efficacy vs. the scammy, woo-woo BS.
It also repeatedly conflates psychological and neurological. Diseases of the brain and nervous system are not the same as mental illness, yet the two ideas are used interchangeably throughout the series.
This show has the potential to do real harm to people suffering from chronic illnesses. Don't waste your time on it.
Insulting drivvle cobbled together by mindless producers
syeoak16 August 2018
An absolute insult to the Chronically Ill. Misleading, biased, and lacking in credibility and research.
The prejudice is cringeworthy. Do not waste your time with Horseh*t like this. For a mor realistic and informed report on Chronic Illlness, watch 'Unrest'. Do not waste your life watching this post-grad journalistic rubbish.
Shamefully exploitative
exceedhergrasp13 August 2018
I can only imagine how these chronically ill individuals felt when they saw what their hard work and sacrifice had produced. The filmmakers draw back the curtain on their lives not with compassion, but more like a sideshow huckster asks the healthy audience to step right up and get a closer look at the freaks. Once you realize the framing, it's hideous. Worse, it's obviously taken its directorial inspiration from 'Unrest', a far more honest depiction of chronic, unexplained illness. The hard work the Unrest crew put in to carefully decide how to frame their narratives feels stolen, co-opted by a team that was lazier and carried ill intent, hoping to capitalize on Unrest's success. Healthy people looking down on sick people is nothing new, so the only question I have left is to wonder what possessed Netflix to pick it up? If this show were about any other marginalized group, would that be all right? Asking for several million friends.
An impartial review of this remarkably objective series
Neil_Durrant29 August 2018
There's clearly been a stir over this series in forums for people with esoteric conditions, hence this campaign of one star reviews. If the authors had watched the series and given any specifics, I'd be less disgusted. As it stands, ordinary people have been drowned out by biased activists and the rating has been trashed, a real shame.
From an ordinary viewer's perspective, Afflicted plays it straight down the line. It's not fawning, but neither is it sceptical. When expensive therapy is being filmed, a message sometimes comes up on the screen explaining why the person is putting whatever it may be into their body, or "Detoxing" by some bizarre method or other - the foot bath taking the prize for idiocy. The text is noncommittal, e.g. "Some say that x helps to cleanse the body of toxins". So far watching the series, this is the only aspect that isn't 100% supportive of the participants, but to fawn over unproven treatments that are bankrupting and breaking up families for no clear purpose would be utterly ridiculous.
If the participants DO have a problem with the film, it can only be that looking in the mirror was a shock. There are a few sequences that were clearly not expected to be used, showing warts and all the sometimes transparent behaviour that I'm sure would have led to damaged egos. I must add at this point though that there were some sufferers that came off very well, and lent lots of sympathy from the viewer toward their clearly terrible predicament - this with exactly the same treatment from the producers.
in fact, the plethora of fake one star reviews is to be expected, given some of the personalities involved. I do think it's unfair to the makers of the film, as they have created something interesting and eminently watchable about a subject generally avoided by mainstream television.
From an ordinary viewer's perspective, Afflicted plays it straight down the line. It's not fawning, but neither is it sceptical. When expensive therapy is being filmed, a message sometimes comes up on the screen explaining why the person is putting whatever it may be into their body, or "Detoxing" by some bizarre method or other - the foot bath taking the prize for idiocy. The text is noncommittal, e.g. "Some say that x helps to cleanse the body of toxins". So far watching the series, this is the only aspect that isn't 100% supportive of the participants, but to fawn over unproven treatments that are bankrupting and breaking up families for no clear purpose would be utterly ridiculous.
If the participants DO have a problem with the film, it can only be that looking in the mirror was a shock. There are a few sequences that were clearly not expected to be used, showing warts and all the sometimes transparent behaviour that I'm sure would have led to damaged egos. I must add at this point though that there were some sufferers that came off very well, and lent lots of sympathy from the viewer toward their clearly terrible predicament - this with exactly the same treatment from the producers.
in fact, the plethora of fake one star reviews is to be expected, given some of the personalities involved. I do think it's unfair to the makers of the film, as they have created something interesting and eminently watchable about a subject generally avoided by mainstream television.
Wow, people are crazy.
myopiczeal15 August 2018
Lots of 1-star reviews from people butthurt because a filmmaker decided to shed light on people who think they are sick with non-existent diseases like electromagnetic sensitivity. Aww. Maybe you should seek help from an actual doctor, and not naturopaths and other quack woo peddlers. Ozone therapy FFS. Yikes.
Is it exploitation? Maybe, but when you buy into a sickness because you read about it on the internet, and ask for attention, and refuse to accept when they tell you that it's psychosomatic, it's hard to feel bad for you. Bravo to the filmmakers. BS dies in sunlight.
Is it exploitation? Maybe, but when you buy into a sickness because you read about it on the internet, and ask for attention, and refuse to accept when they tell you that it's psychosomatic, it's hard to feel bad for you. Bravo to the filmmakers. BS dies in sunlight.
Woefully uninformed and misleading sensationalism
Valentijn7813 August 2018
This series is about Medically Unexplained Symptoms (MUS), which are exactly what you would expect them to be. Except that label is usually used as an alternative to hysteria, hypochondria, and psychosomatism. Basically it means that someone doesn't think symptoms are bodily, but instead are generated in the mind.
To support this hypothesis, fringe examples are given. The gas-mask wearers, the woman who's primarily sick when her disconnected husband is around, the people who spend absurd amounts of money chasing every bit of false hope dangled under their noses.
The one good think in this movie is that it highlights the shameless quackery and exploitation that sick people are subjected to. Unfortunately, the contrast is offered in the form of several "experts" pontificating on the emotional origin of physical symptoms. The series does nothing to explain that psychosomatic hypotheses are entirely unproven in chronic illness (versus, for example, a temporary increase in heart rate from being frightened), and indeed ultimately untestable and unprovable - ergo unscientific.
Needless to say, they also do not explore that psychosomatic hypothesis have an abysmal track record. Gastric ulcers? Used to be stress before the bacteria was found. Multiple Sclerosis? Hysterical housewives until the MRI was invented and showed brain abnormalities.
This series was especially befuddling because it included ME/CFS, which has already been proven not be psychosomatic. A few denialists still clam it is, but the basis for their beliefs is just as shoddy and marginalized as those who still believe AIDS is caused by a stressful lifestyle, or autism is caused by emotionally distant mothers. There are literally thousands of research papers document abnormalities, especially with the immune system and energy production. There are objective and widely used tests which have been around for decades and provide incontrovertible proof of biomedical dysfunction.
This series could have been good if it focused on the exploitation of the patients, which was both rampant and disgusting. Instead it judged the cause of their symptoms, essentially dismissing their experiences and awareness of their own bodies. In the process, disinformation has been spread to whoever watches this series, and patients with similar diagnoses face an increased threat of negligence and abuse as a result.
To support this hypothesis, fringe examples are given. The gas-mask wearers, the woman who's primarily sick when her disconnected husband is around, the people who spend absurd amounts of money chasing every bit of false hope dangled under their noses.
The one good think in this movie is that it highlights the shameless quackery and exploitation that sick people are subjected to. Unfortunately, the contrast is offered in the form of several "experts" pontificating on the emotional origin of physical symptoms. The series does nothing to explain that psychosomatic hypotheses are entirely unproven in chronic illness (versus, for example, a temporary increase in heart rate from being frightened), and indeed ultimately untestable and unprovable - ergo unscientific.
Needless to say, they also do not explore that psychosomatic hypothesis have an abysmal track record. Gastric ulcers? Used to be stress before the bacteria was found. Multiple Sclerosis? Hysterical housewives until the MRI was invented and showed brain abnormalities.
This series was especially befuddling because it included ME/CFS, which has already been proven not be psychosomatic. A few denialists still clam it is, but the basis for their beliefs is just as shoddy and marginalized as those who still believe AIDS is caused by a stressful lifestyle, or autism is caused by emotionally distant mothers. There are literally thousands of research papers document abnormalities, especially with the immune system and energy production. There are objective and widely used tests which have been around for decades and provide incontrovertible proof of biomedical dysfunction.
This series could have been good if it focused on the exploitation of the patients, which was both rampant and disgusting. Instead it judged the cause of their symptoms, essentially dismissing their experiences and awareness of their own bodies. In the process, disinformation has been spread to whoever watches this series, and patients with similar diagnoses face an increased threat of negligence and abuse as a result.
Nearly all the participants had ANXIETY
kcolledge-3624715 November 2022
Where all these 1 * reviews have come from is beyond me?
The chap with M. E I do believe could be genuinely sick.
The rest of these people have severe anxiety and mental issues and genuinely need help.
I have been a sufferer of anxiety for 20 years. I used to be one of these people... so so convinced I was physically ill. I had every test, doctor, scan, treatment... you name it. I was told I had multiple things. It never got better.
Then I was given an SSRI and went to counselling. Weeks later, my physical symptoms began to improve. Months later, they were nearly all gone.
Coincidence? No.
I feel for these people, I was one of them. I know how incredibly convincing these physical symptoms can be. But they aren't. I hope they all get the help they need.
The chap with M. E I do believe could be genuinely sick.
The rest of these people have severe anxiety and mental issues and genuinely need help.
I have been a sufferer of anxiety for 20 years. I used to be one of these people... so so convinced I was physically ill. I had every test, doctor, scan, treatment... you name it. I was told I had multiple things. It never got better.
Then I was given an SSRI and went to counselling. Weeks later, my physical symptoms began to improve. Months later, they were nearly all gone.
Coincidence? No.
I feel for these people, I was one of them. I know how incredibly convincing these physical symptoms can be. But they aren't. I hope they all get the help they need.
Needed more research, less sensationalism
girlfriday-5641930 July 2020
These poor folks weren't portrayed in a great way and didn't get the care they deserved. The truth is this show was real in the sense that people with chronic illness (like me) are desperate for answers and for doctors to think their claims are serious and not "in their head." There IS something to be said for a mind-body connection however, and much as I can understand why these participants feel wronged in the way they were portrayed, I APPRECIATE their story, because now I know I am not alone. And it encouraged me to keep seeking answers. I'd like to see a renewed Season 2 with actual top medical professionals giving help and advice.
ME is a real illness!
tesswitch13 August 2018
An opportunity missed to help those with ME and educate the idiots who think it's psychosomatic. Do you really think we'd choose a life with "forever flu", unremitting pain and utter exhaustion? There is enough evidence showing mitochondrial disfunction!
Misleading and hurtful
llamahum13 August 2018
Just when myalgic encephalopathy is getting recognition as a real, horrible disease, this crud comes out, "reaffirming" that if we just tried harder, we wouldn't be sick. Sadly, that is anything but the truth. Please do not watch.
misrepresented yet again
rachelraynor13 August 2018
The ME community has been fighting for years to get the recognition, and funding, that this illness deserves. The programme makers have manipulated the evidence in a way that perpetrates the myths around ME. This is a serious neurological illness, unfortunately this is not shown. Shame on you Netflix, please don't watch.
netflix, please remove this film
dlsherman42222 August 2018
Finally
shirleybizeau-7828818 August 2018
Warning: Spoilers
A show focusing on mental illness and the minds of weak, hypochondriacs and just plain lazy users. Pilar should be sued by her husband, Nick was just a lazy bum that got scared of the real struggles in life and went running home to mom and dad. Carmen is whacked. Star and Jamison are the only two with real chronic illness. The chick that moved to the desert to escape mold...THERE'S NO MOLD IN THE DESERT!! Then she turns down a $25,000 treatment offered for free. Hmmm...maybe cause if she actually got well nobody would make her the center of attention anymore. Or the lesbian Jill...what a manipulative user. Just like Pilar. All I saw was a show about psychologically messed up manipulators.
Poorly researched and misleading
gardenmom-9449713 August 2018
They had an opportunity to do a great service to educate people about these illnesses but they add to the problem. They did not even follow what the National Institute of Health uses as criteria to dx, and treat. They are suggesting psycho-social disorders but if they had researched any truly scientific journals or contacted top dedicated researchers, not fly by night, just pocketing money from desperately sick people, quacks, this could have been an awesome awareness avenue.
Extremly disappointed. They should be embarrassed by the lack of real research on their part.
Extremly disappointed. They should be embarrassed by the lack of real research on their part.
Ignore the bad reviews...
abbycatt16 March 2019
Apparently lots of people with these "illnesses" are upset by this docu-series so they came here to give b.s. 1 star reviews. It's actually very entertaining and I definitely recommend to anyone who is curious about people with these bizarre afflictions science doesn't recognize.
Good representation of a huge problem
sbanksknabs14 August 2018
Warning: Spoilers
This show accurately depicts the way functional and environmental medicine steal hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars from patients that may really have problems, that aren't getting properly diagnosed.
There are interviews with the 7 patients, with varying degrees of genuine and psychosomatic illnesses, medical professionals from both environmental and typical medicine, believers and non-believers. I don't believe this show attempts to convince you in either direction, as it's clear that none of these people are reading from a script.
The truth is that all of the participants are self-diagnosed and most likely have something psychological that is affecting them. This may come from lyme disease, or killing someone in a car accident or stress, but without treatment for these, people end up paying $300/week for a hyperbaric oxygen bath or questionable IVs or energy healing.
At the end of the day, as long as there are people naive enough to use rife machines and other pseudoscience, there will be smart, un-ethical people ready to capitalise. This does not mean there are no chronically ill people that do need treatment, there just needs to be some kind of regulation, which i think this show highlights perfectly.
There are interviews with the 7 patients, with varying degrees of genuine and psychosomatic illnesses, medical professionals from both environmental and typical medicine, believers and non-believers. I don't believe this show attempts to convince you in either direction, as it's clear that none of these people are reading from a script.
The truth is that all of the participants are self-diagnosed and most likely have something psychological that is affecting them. This may come from lyme disease, or killing someone in a car accident or stress, but without treatment for these, people end up paying $300/week for a hyperbaric oxygen bath or questionable IVs or energy healing.
At the end of the day, as long as there are people naive enough to use rife machines and other pseudoscience, there will be smart, un-ethical people ready to capitalise. This does not mean there are no chronically ill people that do need treatment, there just needs to be some kind of regulation, which i think this show highlights perfectly.
This show is insulting.
reneegonzalez-8950913 August 2018
As a long-time sufferer of ME/CFS I was insulted by the way these people were portrayed. They were presented in a light which made them appear to be hypochondriacs, and while there may be some over-the-top crazies in any group, that does not negate the seriousness and realness of these conditions. I was hoping this would finally bring some much needed facts and information to light about my condition, but instead it just furthered the stigma. Very disappointing.
Sad, and difficult to watch...
stealthy_agent3 September 2018
Afflicted follows the stories of several people who suffer from major mental illnesses. The illnesses themselves are not unusual (e.g., agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, etc.). However, there are two things that make these people's stories particularly sad and compelling. The first is that all of them have supportive family or friends who truly want to believe that they're suffering from "physical" illnesses rather than "mental" illnesses. This seems to stem from a belief that people can be treated (with medication and/or medical devices) for physical illnesses (and get better), whereas mental illnesses are permanent and untreatable. This is simply not true. With consistent, accurate information, and appropriate therapy and medications, most of the people in the video could improve. However, any progress that could be made in that area is being hindered by the second issue: all of the individuals have been taken in by undereducated and/or unscrupulous pseudo-medical practitioners. The number of pseudo-scientists profiting off this small number of people is mind numbing.
I'm writing this review after the second episode, as I simply can't watch these people suffer anymore. However, I am hopeful that the subjects of the documentary received some professional help. As you can see from skimming this site, they are not alone. A number of one star reviews have accumulated on IMDB, and they're mostly from people who watched the show, hoping that it would explain how to fix their particular "physical" illness. They say things like, "they're mixing up the mental conditions with the physical conditions. Mine is the physical one!" Of course, they're all physical conditions to some degree - all mental disorders are.
I'm writing this review after the second episode, as I simply can't watch these people suffer anymore. However, I am hopeful that the subjects of the documentary received some professional help. As you can see from skimming this site, they are not alone. A number of one star reviews have accumulated on IMDB, and they're mostly from people who watched the show, hoping that it would explain how to fix their particular "physical" illness. They say things like, "they're mixing up the mental conditions with the physical conditions. Mine is the physical one!" Of course, they're all physical conditions to some degree - all mental disorders are.
Great idea for a show
jb000001111222213 August 2018
I've known many people who self-diagnose and assume they have multiple illnesses, most of the time it is more a mental disorder than a physical one. Anxiety and/or depression combined with some type tragic event usually trigger unknown illnesses. All of the people on the show obviously have some level of mental health issues but they refuse to get diagnosed for or even see if they have. Instead, they self diagnose and refuse to listen to professionals of any kind. If you only accept one diagnosis that isn't even proven real or scientifically viable why refuse all other possibilities? It could be just the pain and fear of being alive..which is something many people deal with every day, depression, anxiety, both can lead to physical exhaustion and pain, but both can be treated on some level.
Sensationalist Garbage
deborahlinehan-8944713 August 2018
Even the description on the imdb home page is sensationalist by it's use of the word "bizarre". I am not bizarre, my illness is not bizarre (approx 1-2 million people are affected in the US, many undiagnosed by the exact stigmas this film perpetuates). Yet what IS bizarre is for a filmmaker to mislead its subjects and viewing audience in favor of clicks and views. What story are they trying to tell here? Images of desperately ill people in gas masks and fringe treatments to titilate the audience into watching like a sideshow attraction. My heart breaks for the subjects who probably thought they were finally getting awareness out there for their respective diseases only to be betrayed by the film makers. Consider watching "Unrest" instead--an award winning documentary (short-listed for an Acadmy Award nomination) that portrays what it means to be a human living with a devastating chronic illness. This "documentary" is nothing short of negligent.
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