28 Comments Posted by Althea

Auntesther, I can totally relate. By and large I've found psych hospitals to be cold, sterile, lifeless places where patients are essentially infantilized. It's not treatment, it's babysitting. If you play nice and do what you're told, you get out. Like you said, there are kind, caring individuals there who genuinely want to help people, but in my experience most seem to be going through the motions. Ironically, the most positive interactions I've had were with the low-paid mental health techs. Unlike many of the other staff members (particularly the nurses), they treated me less like a case number and more like a human being.

I hated art therapy. I'm a writer, but not artistically inclined in the least, and in the two places where it's been a part of the treatment regimen, the "therapists" frequently got impatient and snippy with me because I couldn't follow their directions precisely. They were very demanding and seemed to expect me to do things perfectly and were very rigid about the activities that they would allow me to do. One was incredibly rude and nasty and even called me out in front of other patients and staff, which promptly sent me into a self-destructive rage. When I talked to some other staff members about it later, they agreed that she was out of line; one even suggested that the therapist had taken a particular dislike to me because I reminded her (the "therapist") of her daughter. The next time I went to that hospital I was happy as hell to see her gone. The rec therapist who's there now is wonderful -- very upbeat, encouraging and sympathetic, exactly like someone in that position should be.

While it sounds like this sign was intended for staff, I've been "on precautions" in the hospital. It just meant that I was a suicide risk, so the staff made sure to keep anything -- and I mean anything -- out of my hands that I could conceivably use to injure myself. Most places have allowed me to keep things like paperbacks, lip balm, even pens and non-spiral notebooks, but everything else was kept locked up. So if I wanted to brush my hair, for example, I had to ask a staff member to get the brush for me. It's inconvenient at times, but I understand the rationale and I've never really objected to it.

I can't remember if this was the case at every hospital, but in at least one place they did indicate that I was on suicide precautions by putting a certain color of sticker on the name card next to my door.

P.S.: It's probably just graffiti, created long after this place closed, and poorly-drawn graffiti at that.

Meh, I agree with the poster who sees this little screed as mostly sarcastic and somewhat self-pitying. That's not meant as an insult to the mentally ill; I've been hospitalized myself on more than one occasion. It's hard not to feel sorry for yourself at times in places like these! :)

I'm not trying to engage in flaming here, but I have to agree (in part, at least) with sunsetblvd1. I can understand and even empathize with her irritation at those who insist on finding something sinister in every aspect of a psych hospital, but Lynne's comment just struck me as a little callous, particularly for someone in the mental health profession.

I've been hospitalized on more than one occasion and I'd like to think there's some interest in what it's like to be a patient, but with all due respect, comments like the one referenced above tend to discourage me from posting. I highly doubt that I'm the only former patient who feels this way.

Again, I'm just offering this as a view from the "other side," so to speak, not as a condemnation of anyone, and I hope I won't be attacked for voicing my concerns.

Rebbnix, I had the same impression you did looking at this. While there was documented abuse at this particular facility, this photo (in my opinion) shows that there were some positive aspects. Art projects are great for kids -- and who doesn't love teddy bears? :)

This actually doesn't look all that bad for a seclusion room. It has toilet facilities, light and ventilation. The ones I've seen were completely bare; then again, in the places I've been people aren't generally kept in the "time out room" for an extended length of time, as they appear to have been in this place.

Thank you, Chloe. I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way. People clearly were mistreated in this place. Does that mean they're mistreated everywhere? Of course not. It's the exception, not the rule. Granted, I tend to be biased in favor of patients, having been one myself on more than one occasion, but I don't believe there's any justification for what we're seeing in this photo. It's demeaning, it's degrading and it's dehumanizing.

LOL @ J-131274. Big T is an ass who needs to be publicly whipped for desecrating this beautiful old building.

Okay, that's a bit extreme, but seriously. What a classless moron.

Graham, it's the result of deinstitutionalization, a well-meaning but ultimately ineffective policy begun in the 1960s (though it really kicked into high gear in the 1980s) aimed at alleviating overcrowding and eliminating the need for long-term hospital stays. The ostensible goal was to transfer the care of the chronically mentally ill to communities, allowing people to live their lives outside the confines of an institution, but the net result was a huge increase in the homeless and prison populations because most communities lacked the resources (or the compassion) to adequately care for these people. The only real beneficiary of this policy was the state, which was no long obligated to provide funding for the treatment of the mentally ill. It happened in both the USA and the UK and it's a terrible shame. Many of the people had been in hospitals their entire lives and were completely unable to cope with life on the outside. Phil Collins's song "Take Me Home" is about this very subject.

Funny, I've been in four different hospitals and in only one was the bathroom not part of the room (though it was right outside the door). And I live in a state with one of the lowest mental health budgets in the country.

On another note, I didn't think we were allowed to tear people apart on this site, particularly on pages like this one, where former psych patients (such as myself) might post.

Ah, deinstitutionalization. Great in theory; in practice just an excuse to cut funding and turn the mentally ill out into the streets -- or let them rot away in prison.

Just to clarify, an individual can be found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect *or* not competent to stand trial. There are typically different facilities for each class.

That should have been "those *who* were deemed unfit to assist in their own defense."

Ugh, I hate it when I leave out words. I think faster than I type.