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People with mental illness do not live "short and pointless lives" any more than any other category of people does. Nor are psychiatric care facilities "prisons for the damned." Statements like this seem to be a back-handed jab at mental health workers as "jailers of the innocent," but really they project the very attitudes they appear to be condemning in others--that people with mental illness are less valuable, that mental illness is somehow the person's own fault. I hope I have misunderstood the earlier comment and read into it something that was not intended.

keywords...no particularly good ones here, but a funny story about mental health work. Back in "ancient times" when the Internet was only a few years old, a co-worker and I (both totally new to the Internet) tried to look up information regarding treatment for a new resident who had mental health issues, as well as developmental disabilities, and also had been charged with a sexual crime. We entered "sex offenders" in the search box,j and up came a site called "(state name) House of Porn." It shocked us so much that for a long time we stared at the screen. Later we learned that we should have started with a keyword like "mental illness" and from there narrowed the search to "forensic" and our person's specific issues.

I would be grossly inaccurate if I described any of the people with mental illness that I have known as "lifeless shells." Very rarely, heavy sedation was needed for a few hours after an especially severe psychotic episode, but this was never the person's "normal" (baseline) state. Like everyone else, they were people with opinions, dreams, fears, memories, imaginations, pet peeves, skills, jokes, etc.--all the components that make up a personality. Some of what are called the "negative symptoms" of schizophrenia--lack of interest, flat affect, unresponsiveness--are not due to psychotropic drugs but to the illness itself. Yes, some psychiatric medications do have side effects that are found intolerable for some patients and those patients choose to not take medications because of that. Most patients find the side effects an acceptable price to pay for the relief of symptoms of mental illness. One of the most difficult medication-related experiences I remember was when Clozaril was first introduced. For many long-term patients for whom other neuroleptics had already failed, it really was a miracle drug. It gave them back what mental illness had taken from them. What was so sad was when one of the patients who had exhibited such a dramatic improvement with the drug developed a blood condition called agranulocytosis (a dangerously low, life-threatening, level of blood white cells). When that happened, the drug's protocol required that it be stopped immediately.

...I think I see a cavity sir....

"Open wide"

I worked for a company that mfr and repaierd these. They also had a similar machine called ADDRESSOGRAPH. The last of these were made in the late 1970s
Wonderful positioning

Her name is GENNIE PILARSKI. Sorry !

PLEASE READ THE GENNIE PILARI STORY BEFORE YOU COMMENT
The woman in the pictures is naked, because thats how defenseless she is in the grips of a psycological problem, and a state structured system. This building is now the story of this poor damaged womans life. Like more than a few that I knew from my young life. They ended up in ELGIN, or MANTENO, when their families FELT they could no longer take care of us, or if we had become too much of an "embarrassment". We used to joke about it , "Who would be the next to give up the MANTENO CRY' (the scream of an anguished, mentally confused young woman) . All of the wonderful, knowledgable, men who ordered those treatments had one thing in common. The letters " Dr." after their names. They all took the same oath, but to many of them it was just a game, and a subject for their next report. "Did you see that last one jump when the juice hit her?"
ENOUGH

THIS ONE IS FOR MISS RENEE DVORACEK, ELGIN, "CLASS OF 1972"

WOW brings back memories. We still have a portable picker we rarely use but it still passes inspection. Ole faithful. Just as green and has to be plugged in, very accurate to this day.

does anyone know exactly where on the site the ballroom is located please?

This is a breath taking shot : )

Maybe, instead of the evil staff picking the color that would make a patient even sicker, the person who used this room happened to really like the color and was allowed to choose it for the room's walls.

"Places like this" certainly did not make people "even more insane for the insurance money" because there was no insurance money to be had. A patient with insurance would go to a private hospital, not a state facility.

My new favorite

Sorry to burst the bubble, but all the stories are just that. Stories.

And for those wanting to get in, as of now, the Board of Directors for the Richardson-Olmstead Corporation say no. No one, other than possibly a journalist.

And please, for all that's holy, don't try and sneak in. You will get caught, and the fine is a minimum $10,000 and minimum 1 year in state prison; due to it being a historic landmark it's assumed you were destroying it.

I just want to hug the little guy and take him home. He provided comfort to someone and now he's abandoned.... makes one think.