Almost 70 years ago, an American psychiatrist at Cornell University started work on one of the longest running and most respected mental health surveys in the world.

The Stirling Country study laid the groundwork for a whole new field of research and changed the way we think about and treat mental illness. And it was conducted entirely in rural NS. In fact, the research continues to this day even though most of the people who live there have never heard about it.

Today on the Best of Atlantic Voice, we're going into the archives to bring you a doc by the CBC's Eileen MacGuiness about The Stirling Country Study.