47 Comments Posted by P.

Icewall,

Yes! Me to. A place to go for crisis counseling to take care of and nurture yourself and arts to express yourself with. Way better than a hospital and cheaper.

Kay-r, what you say is interesting. You are right that to compare cataplexy with mental illness is comparing apples to oranges.

In my experience patients were not left in the dark. There was a florescent light on 24/7.

Mica
you make me look at photo with a keener eye. i like the ceiling too.

I had a care provider give me sponge baths for a month or so when I was unable to due to cognitive problems from psychosis. I couldn't figure out how to work the shower and organize my clothes to dress. I felt very cared for by her. She was kind. On the other hand, when I had several people supervise me at one time during a bath I felt very exposed and embarrassed. I was like a child due to my psychosis. An adult acting like a child is different and they treated me like I was strange. At least that is how I remember it. It was when I was in a seclusion room for a month and I guess by law they were required to have several people supervise me. I suppose I was lucky to have had one at all although it didn't feel that way at the time.

The pillars and gate have beautiful lines. Thanks, Mott!

So odd. It looks like a mosaic on the top half, and the structure of the roof is odd and irregular. Still, I bet the creep of nature has improved upon it.

Is this a day room? It is so sad. I wonder what they did all day before they even had TV to distract themselves? I was in a nursing facility today. Many residents just sit in the hall all day long and look at people as they go by. Some are friendly, some are pretty out of it. Even today there is only so much TV you can watch. Institutions = boredom.

Looks like a dancing forest.

I used to work here.

It's fucked up that many people want to bring back the huge institutions with abusive employees, policies and procedures.

Flushed,
I too experienced institutional abuse that left me with PTSD. Its fucked up that so many people want to bring them back (not that they still don't exist in many forms.)

Boiler1220,
It must be really weird to see pictures of the seclusion room that you were in and to go there as a visitor. I picture the seclusion rooms that I have been in, but never have seen photographs. I am not sure what that experience would be like.

In most the institutions I have been in there is a culture of disrespect for the patient. They were regarded as below the staff in that they were "abnormal" or "fucked up" or "damaged". Having someone with zero training who works in the boiler room working on the units goes to show you the unit staff and patients weren't treated with value. Staff on units should have specialized training just like someone who works in a boiler room should have specialized knowledge and training, and unit staff should not fall asleep because there are people who need them. Not that it is I Worked There's fault that he was given that opportunity and staff weren't required to have specialized training, and he sounds like overall he was a nice and kind staff person. The liberal way and the method in which seclusion and restraint and the common interactions that staff had with the patients at Gaebler tells me that there was a pervasive culture of disregard and disrespect and dislike toward the patients. It was an unsafe place for a person physically, emotionally, and sexually. It is hard to see how a staff member can not see what is going on around them, but society was different back then. Even in the toughest hospitals to be in (whether public or private) there have always been gems of staff members who have a sense of humor, are competent, and stick up for you if not to the administration at least to their fellow staff members, and they set a good example for the others. In some ways it sounds like I Worked There was a good example and kind. Typically no one is all good or bad. No matter the job a person fills in the hospital the way they interact with the patients can have a great impact, and it just goes to show you the difference we can make in each others lives for better or worse.

Boiler1220, I agree. Sometimes I can really feel the heightened emotions of some posters (and can feel mine), and I feel bad that the person that perhaps the person might be experiencing some of the same negative emotions they went through then. But all the posts give me insight into how it was back then just like the pictures and I never want to forget.