Comments

LOL - ... Cool hair-cut , I have a similar do.

is a self masturb... for people without hands....was created in 1955 by the russian novel price owner Dr.masturvatovich, dumbs.

I'm interested in hearing more about the patient shower rooms. I worked with a person with developmental disabilities who had been in an institution for nearly 50 years when the institution closed in the late 1990s. When we trained new staff to work with this person in the community home, we had to emphasize that only tub baths, rather than showers, be used because of his intense phobia of water falling on his face. This reportedly stemmed from the group showers that he had received in earlier years in the institution, which I know were not done to frighten or hurt patients, but were necessitated by lack of funding and staff to care for the large number of patients. Of course, any technique can conceivably be misused and perhaps at some point there was a caregiver who used the shower or water that was too hot or too cold as a means of behavioral control.

I think the round structure in the photograph is the one identified as Hooper Hall in the old photos on the Worcester State Hospital intro page. There is an interior photo also with a caption that identifies it as a day room. Perhaps one floor was the dormitory and the other floor was the day room?

The 1949 photos from Life Magazine on the intro page are wonderful! I had never been able to imagine what the "spinning chair" therapy looked like (all I could think of was one of my wonderful uncles who had a swivel chair in his ham radio room, and was the one adult who would let us kids spin as much as we wanted to). Is it true that a person with schizophrenia does not get dizzy from the spinning that makes a "normal" person dizzy? If so, there may be some medical significance to that....I know that schizophrenia usually emerges in a person's late teen years, and I remember that when I was a child, I could go on spinning rides at the fair over and over without dizziness (and never understood why my parents complained after one ride). Then when I was about sixteen, I went on a ride twice in a row, something I had done many times in previous years, and was so dizzy and sick that I had to sit on a bench for the next hour. It's probably two completely unrelated events that happen at the same time, but what would it mean if there is some kind of neural connection between not experiencing dizziness and the onset of schizophrenia?

Make that three - fellow tech geek here and I too would love to see this stuff. And in answer to the first post, more than likely some smart assed teenagers who have nothing better to do than destroy things. Pisses me off.

John, Lisa, Adam...I don't understand your consternation at the quality of architecture devoted to hospitals for persons with mental illness. Why are patients with this kind of illness less deserving than any other group? Should their home look like a jail, as if the patients are convicted criminals? If a person you loved required this type of care, would you still complain about the "waste?" What about the employees--were they also undeserving of an attractive place to work? I am troubled by the idea that only certain types of people are worthy of beauty or attention or care.

Such a stunning gallery, thankyou for making it possible for us to see these beautiful places Motts! x x x

you're a great photographer and damn hot(:

That is one rascally rabbit!

This room was where the big strong crazys were kept.

I think the meaning of this painting meant that there is danger but if you can get to a safe place you will be alright...maybe.

She cant take it Captain!!! She's gonna blow!!!

Beth...Beth where art thou?

How now...you are so naive.

The "SBS" is probably why most of the crazys' were there to begin with.

Looks to me like someone has too much time on their hands.