1,337 Comments for Middletown State Hospital

My fathers best friends son is autistic. He's very calm though, apparently it's sort of a catatonic sort of autisism. He rarely moves but he is HUGE, the massive growth is also part of it.
I think mental disorders such as autism and downs symdrome are a bit more acceptable. For some reason it's the idea of people hearing voices and arguing with walls that seems to freak more of society out.

That's terrible about the family thing. My little cousin is autistic. He barely talks (he'll be 5 this year, in December) and acts in the manner of a 2 year old (VERY hyper & sometimes destructive)...yet the child could say the alphabet backwards when he was 3, without even taking a pause to think.

Cool Sara, I'm glad the world is getting more accepting. Some of these people are totally fine if they stay on their medication and the aids do seem super nice. Most of the caretakers around here are from Jamica and the other West Indian Islands, very nice people.
My aunts best friend is a nurse and she told me that the only time that she has ever seen anyone turn dangerously crazy is when they are either off their medication or have not been treated.
I heard once that it was considered shameful at one time to have someone with a mental problem in your family so many peopel were not given the help they needed. Isn't that sad?!
It's awful to think that someone could be cured of a disease but was denied the right to do so because of social codes. :-(

I've seen something similar as well. I was at the mall a few mos. ago, and saw a group of people in matching yellow shirts. As I was doing my shopping I'd seen that the big group had separated into smaller groups; one aide per each group with 2 or 3 of the patients in their care. The aides seemed really kind & caring, and I saw one guy treat his patients to Starbucks.

Beautiful

Not every hospital, even today can give you the BEST in specialized care. My brother died from mental illness and I wish he could have found a great place with "specialized care".

One time, many years ago, my daughter, neice and I all went to see a man they called Stoneman Willie. He used to be a prisoner at the Berks County prison and at the time, they were kind of experimenting with how much famaldyhyde(not sure if I spelled that right)to use. Anyway, they used too much on him and he actually turned as hard as a rock; this was maybe in the 1800's. They still have his body at some funeral home and we went to see him. We were shown to go to this top room of a garage; and there he was. There were caskets all around and we thought it was a storage area so my neice lifted the lid of one and there was an old lady laying in it!! I almost had a heart attack! Just thought I'd share that story.

I agree with Texas about the creepiness, But it is a Very Wonderful photo.

Hi Janice,
I totally agree. Now mind you, this would be a different story if violent patients were being allowed to run free around the malls but these people are really calm and nice. They seem well looked after and happy to be in the store. The aids seem very kind to them. Actually they seem much nicer and better off supervision wise than most of the "normal" kids roaming the area.

Hi Long Island. Same thing in my local shopping center. The attendants come in with with young people in their teens and are transported in a mini-van. They seem to enjoy being in the store and are always treated with respect from the patrons of the store and from the staff. I have always had the belief that we are all God's precious creations, and that they are no different from us in his eyes. That's my opinion, anyway!!

Hi Lynne,
I know you get upset when people go on about hospital staff being abusive and all the ill either being stupid or dangerous soI just thought you'd like to know that around my town things are getting better.
Seriously, the other day I was driving by blockbuster and their was a whole van from the asylum full of people. A few of them looked profoundly reatrded and a few of them seemed to have torette's symdrom (sp?) but they were all fairly well behaved. I think that one of the aids had gone in to blockbuster to rent a movie.
A few years agao it was unheard of to take those in a mental institution out for a day in the town around here, now we see it more and more. Everything is well supervisied and the patients never seem to be a problem. They don't bother anyone.
Hopefully society is getting more accepting now huh? :-)

Similar to before - swearing is fine - why do people have to be so cruel and thoughtless in the names they use for people with psychiatric issues and intellectual disabilities? This is not about being PC - it's about respecting others.

Thank God for people like mott that dont give a flying fart about censorship. The old stories from my home state Pootah (Utah) is that Brigham Young just orderd the insane to be executed. (Many of which he performed himself.) infact it wasent 10 yrs. after his death that the State (Territory before 1896) began building a state nut farm. in provo by the county cesspool dump. So as far i can gather the Mentally ill fared better on the east coast. even in that old Happy Acers Center for the Tappioca Minded.

I assume the calcium deposits in subterranean places comes from water leaching calcium out of stone and soil as it filters through those layers, but I wouldn't think building materials would have much calcium in them for the water to draw out. There's obviously *something* there for the water to absorb, though.

i shreaked at the first site of this picture. I thought the straw was someones hair...