Comments

wooooww

that's pretty brutal.

asbestos in water...it's not harmless if I drink it!

oh noo the ceiling is meeelllttiiinng

look there's the red pyramid

oh nooooo!

I am loving all these pictures narrated by everyone who was there

yeys!

maybe the inmate was asking for a "snack" and just couldn't spell very well? ;)

oh no its the cops!

E.P. is epileptic patients. I am a 3rd year student nurse, and I work in psychiatric units as part of my nursing education.

i thought the most haunted thing was a lie because how could they hear the noises and not the viewers at home

there must be someone out there with money who could save this wonderful building?come on ,before its to late.

same thoughts here with us,would love to walk around the grounds as we spoke to local man who said its fantastic.

And when Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are done remaking Alice in Wonderland, they can come here and remake the story of Cinderella. ; )

Oh, to be young and idealistic, knowing it all and out to reform the world! Then reality intrudes, and you learn how very little you know :-( (maturity is not when you finally know everything you need to know; it's when you realize how much you have left to learn)

The baths, the wrapping in sheets...we think those are horrible methods today, but at the time when they were in widespread use, they were considered state-of-the-art therapies. Of course, as with anything, there were some staff who used them coercively, as a threat or punishment. As wrong as that was, in most cases it was not because the staff were sadistic. They were overworked, underpaid, inadequately trained, and inadequately supervised.

Involuntary treatment in a locked facility is sometimes required for the safety of the patient and the community. Even in community settings, I have had jobs where I went to work every day knowing that I would be met with what, in any other setting, would be considered a criminal assault. The only question was the form of the assault. It might be having my hair pulled, getting a bite that broke the skin, being kicked, hit, punched, head-butted, pinched, scratched, having my clothing torn, having the interior of my car damaged in the course of transporting a patient, etc. Other patients have assaulted (even murdered) others in much more extreme ways, including arson. We cannot do away with institutions altogether. If we did, the only alternative for some patients would be jail. The symptoms are not the person's fault, but safety must be maintained while treatment alleviates the symptoms.

There are safeguards in place today to guard against "unfair" treatment. Individual program plans, behavior support plans, psychological services, human rights committees, mandatory review of all adverse incidents, oversight by advocates and guardians, required staff training in client rights, sensitivity, abuse and neglect all help to make programs more person-centered/client-focused.

As for leaving people as they are...if all you could do was yell/scream/cry, would that satisfy you??? Wouldn't you want help to teach you additional skills and to help you be more independent? Should we not help a child with autism learn to use a communication device, a picture exchange communication system, or some other means to better express his/her wants and needs? Should we really just say "that's the way he is, we don't want to change it"?

Or someone who has schizophrenia and walks around town all day talking to the voices in his/her head--should be not provide antipsychotic medications in an effort to help the person interact with others, maybe have a job or go to school? Should we really just decide that he should stay that way?

Most people do want treatment to improve their health. If a person has diabetes, does that mean that's how they are, and they should forgo treatment and stay that way? Even when a person doesn't want treatment, sometimes that refusal is a symptom of their illness. Often, people in a manic phase of bipolar disorder feel great--lots of energy, little need for sleep, exaggerated sense of their own abilities, etc. What they don't see is how they are alienating those closest to them by their extreme irritability and/or risky behaviors (spending too much money, driving recklessly, using street drugs, sexual promiscuity, etc.).

If we stipulate that institutions are undesirable, then we, as a society, have to be willing to provide and PAY for the costs of adequate community-based treatment.

Most patients with a mental illness or developmental disability, if they are sufficiently self-aware, do not want to be left as they are. They want to have their own homes, drive a car, manage their own money, have a job, get married, go out with friends...just like everybody else. Some of the most heart-wrenching words I have heard from clients have been from those with mental retardation who asked "Why am I like this? Why did I have to be born this way?"

Oh, dme, you poor naive person. Trusting good ol' Mr. Government, Mr. Law and Mr. Court, and or course, Mr. Nice Doctor to take care of you. :(

They only gave lobotomies because it was the best way to help "crazy people"? LOL. The US gave more lobotomies than any other country (though not per capita). One of the doctors who invented the "ice pick" method went completely out of control, trying to break his "record" for giving lobotomies.

Come on! The USSR banned lobotomies in the 1950! THEY knew it was inhumane. HAHAHA.

Also the reasons they had for distributing lobotomies were vague, at best. "Youthful defiance" is one of them. One of the Kennedys was given a lobotomy when she was about 18 or 19 for experimenting with boys.

Plus, in the 50s and 60s, anyone you didn't want to deal with could be sent to the mental institution, whether they were truly crazy or not. Old mothers, out of control teenagers... they were easily classified as "mentally ill" by jerks on a power-kick who had long ago lost any empathy or sense of understanding.

It wasn't always a fair system, and it still isn't, though I'm sure it has gotten better... maybe... anyway, stop being an idiot. The world is a messed up place and not everyone in the world is nice and looking out for your best interests. What I say is the truth. I'm sure you know this, but man, your post sounded stupid and naive. Sorry, man.

uhm, nice walls. I like that place :)

perfect