2 Comments Posted by AHunter3

wrote:
Lynne: >Having worked in schools, hospitals, group homes, nursing homes, foster homes, private homes, and institutions, I promise you that what happens "in there" also happens "out here."<

No argument there. NY has involuntary outpatient commitment and I've seen / known of atrocities in a wide variety of settings. Inpatient psychiatry doesn't have a monopoly by any means.

Be that as it may...

rich_edwards: > It seems that people assume that the ECT, chemical coshing' and neglect of their worst institutional nightmares still goes on<

They do. Involuntary electroconvulsive treatment still takes place in NY's psych centers. (Not each and every one of them, but yes, they have procedures and those procedures set forth exactly how one imposes electroshock on folks against their will when they wish to do so). And yes, neuroleptic drugs and shock are both used as punishment for unwanted behavior.
wrote:
It is difficult to explain to people the horrible dehumanization of institutional psychiatry; it is difficult for people to listen and believe, because who WANTS to think people treat people this way? (And all subsequent improvements are incremental at best, btw...).

This little washdown facility may have doubled as routine mass hygiene and as intervention/punishment. Think of COLD water.