Mental (TV series)

When young and dynamic Dr. Jack Gallagher arrives at Wharton Memorial Hospital for his first day as Director of Health Mental Services, he must deal not only with a patient who suffers from hallucinations but also with the skepticism of the rest of the staff regarding his unorthodox methods of treatment.^[6]

Jack and his team deal with a young woman suffering from hysterical pregnancy. But what they do not suspect is that her husband is under the same delusion.

A battle is set up in Wharton Memorial Hospital between Jack and eminent philosopher and book author Dr. Gideon Graham (David Carradine), who is in a catatonic state.^[7]

A child suffering from bipolar disorder is secluded in the hospital after an incident with a knife. Jack finds out the only way to help him is by playing a video game existing only in the boy's head.

After a panic attack in the middle of a live talk show, a movie star is secluded in the hospital. Despite the resistance of the patient to undergo psychiatric care, Jack suspects he is suffering a serious personality disorder.

When Leonard Steinberg, a gambling addict seriously in debt, threatens to jump off the roof of Wharton Memorial, Jack tries to talk him down in order to get to the bottom of his suicidal tendencies. Later, Jack goes to court to testify on behalf of a mentally incapable patient charged with manslaughter by prosecutor Marcie Crane (Lori Heuring), a high-profile attorney who has never lost a case. In a surprising twist of events, Jack's expertise is needed more than ever as the case turns out to be much more complicated than it originally appeared. Meanwhile, Jack and the team meet for a poker game after work, and sparks continue to fly between Rylan (Warren Cole) and Veronica.

When Veronica's former patient Craig (Rob LaBelle) returns to Wharton Memorial, Veronica finds his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Tourette's syndrome have advanced and become worse than ever. When Craig's wife, Mimi (Nina Siemaszko), pushes for an invasive, unproven brain surgery to treat his condition rather than have him undergo therapy in the mental ward again, Jack and Veronica become skeptical of her wishes. As they attempt to dissuade Mimi from moving forward with Craig's operation, the team discovers Mimi may have some serious issues of her own. Meanwhile, Jack becomes infatuated with a neurosurgeon named Zan (Jaime Ray Newman), and the rest of the team questions their own love lives.

When 16-year-old Heather Masters (Allison Scagliotti) attempts to commit suicide by lighting herself on fire, Jack and the team must work to get to the bottom of her suicidal tendencies. However, when further testing and discussions with her father and psychiatrist reveal a dark secret that has been hidden from Heather since her birth, Jack is faced with a difficult ethical dilemma. Meanwhile, the relationship between Jack and Dr. Zan Avidan grows, and Jack continues his search for his twin sister with schizophrenia, Becky.

After a drug dealer is shot and killed in his own apartment, the only witness to the murder is the dealer's autistic teenage daughter, Leeza Wilson (Holliston Coleman). While the detectives struggle to obtain any helpful evidence from Leeza, Jack uses his unconventional methods to uncover new clues from Leeza's statements. However, when the detectives bring forth a subpoena to move Leeza out of Wharton Memorial, Jack is forced to race against time to solve the murder mystery.

Jack and Carl take on the case of Billy Bauer, a construction worker suffering from physiological and psychological symptoms following an on-the-job accident. As Jack investigates the circumstances surrounding Billy's accident, he discovers Billy's memory of the event and reality of the event are completely different, though his symptoms resonate with a more severe incident that occurred on the same site over 100 years prior, The Rose Park Mine disaster. As Jack and Carl spar over Billy's diagnosis, Veronica and Rylan's relationship is jeopardized when Rylan makes a questionable decision on the job. Meanwhile, Jack continues to search for his missing sister.

After four years of trying to track her down, Jack is reunited with his estranged sister with schizophrenia, Becky, and quickly makes her treatment his No. 1 priority. Things prove to be more difficult than expected when another family member arrives and offers unsolicited advice. As Jack tries to help his sister, Veronica enlists his help with Clay, an Iraq War veteran who was committed after he shot himself in the hand in front of his wife and son. As Clay continues to suffer from both amnesia and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Jack struggles to help him remember the details of the wartime attack that left him traumatized. Meanwhile, Jack's own family ties provide unexpected insight into Clay's situation as well as his own life.

When factory worker Brian Jennings (Alex Weed) is admitted to Wharton Memorial with a few chopped off fingers, Arturo and Chloe believe they can be re-attached. However, after he refuses any type of surgery, his boss claims that Brian has purposely cut off his fingers to collect disability payments for the rest of his life. The doctors are soon left questioning the true motives for his dismemberment when an even darker secret is discovered at Brian's apartment. Meanwhile, when Nora assigns Veronica (Jacqueline McKenzie) to Becky's case, Jack argues with his colleagues and his parents, who have power of attorney over Becky's affairs, about the course of her treatment. When Becky tells Jack she's moving to Florida to a facility near their parents, he struggles with the decision to keep his sister close or to let her go.

When a patient named Ellis Kahane (Joseph D. Reitman) tries to check himself into the psych ward at Wharton Memorial claiming to be a werewolf that will transform at the next full moon, Carl turns him away believing him to be just a nuisance. However, things take a dangerous turn when Ellis takes the entire team hostage to prove to them that his transformation will take place when the sun sets that night. Meanwhile, as Wharton is faced with serious budget deficits, Nora struggles in her attempts to find proper funding for the hospital, and is forced to make a difficult decision when given a tempting offer. Also, Jack speaks with a therapist regarding his recent troubles.