3,287 Comments for Danvers State Hospital

Nice pic. When I was in my teens many moons ago my friends and I used to climb the water tower in the town I lived in and drink beer for hours. The easy part was climbing up. The hard part was climbing down especially after a few six-packs. We obviously didn't have a lot to do.

That is a very pretty shot. A little eerie but still a fantastic shot.

This is a really good shot and the sky looks like it is going to storm.....its looks so perfect with the building

@Althea-Sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience with an art therapist that was certainly not competent. Art and Music Therapy is suppose to be very free-flowing, spontaneous, and there is no right or wrong way on the part of the client. It's suppose to be an expression of the client's OWN feelings through music and art. In my own experience as a Music Therapist, I have often improvised on the piano and the guitar while mirroring the expressions of the clients. Although there are some standard "music therapy songs" that are sung and performed on piano and guitar while the client may sing or play on a percussion-type instrument, a lot is simply improvisation, such as improvising on a series of chord symbols. In this way, it directly meets the client's need for self-expression.

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.

was in North Carolina at the time

The glacial drumlin the asylum sat on (Hathorne Hill) was at one time the site of the home of John Hathorne, one of the judges in the Salem witch trials. (Danvers was originally Salem Village at the time) Most of the witch trial incidents occurred in the general vicinity of this hill, not in present day Salem, MA.Thanxs motts great pic.

tht is prob y its not distroyed

it shows why we dont have institutions like this now a day

i would never be left alone in my room if i lived here

Big Ed what were you

i love ghost stories BELIVE ME

WELL IST DEMOLISHED CUZ THERS PROB T.B IN THER