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Originally Posted by Speedy
Jan, I don't agree. The one I was in was great. I think it's unfair you lump all mental facilities like this together. Depending on the facility and what she's in for, many of this stuff just doesn't happen anymore. I would also question some of the sources you say you read, after all, some of the patients are being treated for things such as parinoid schitzophrenia, bi-polar, manic depression, and other mental problems. People afflicted with certain diseases also mimic a "zombie" like state. The movie "Awakenings" dealt with this particular problem, where a form of Parkinson's evolved so much, it made one appear to just be statutes, unaware of their surroundings.
Sadly, many of the hospitals are understaffed and the employees are underpaid. Plus it's been shown that some of the most predatory people who can exsist DO get jobs there, hence the abuse. But that's changed in the last bunch of years, now that it's been brought to light, there is more checks and video cameras, as well as reporting that isn't swept under the rug as in days long ago.
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I didn't want to come off as 'lumping' them all together. I guess 'generally' wasn't a good choice of words. I agree that mental institutions today are more organized and not as abusive as they were in the past, however, can we really say that there are no instances of abuse and/or wrong-doing anymore? I didn't know much about mental facilities or mental health prior to taking this course but I think this course has taught me a lot. One of its aims was to reveal the injustices faced in the past and present in psychiatry and psychiatric institutions. I trust that the information is accurate seeing that my professors' sources were scholarly. The course was co-taught and both professors have decades of experience in mental health practices. One of them considers himself to be a 'psychiatric survivor'.
Although many of you have wonderful accounts from these facilities (which I am relieved to hear), it doesn't mean that all the things I have mentioned have not and do not still occur. In the past, there were countless instances of abuse and other wrong-doings that went unrecorded so the truth of what really happened never even made it past the institutions' walls. But later on, those who have actually 'recovered' and made it out, were able to express their tormented experiences in the facility all those years. Nurses and orderlies would treat patients as if they were non-individuals, looking at them as inferiors. When doctors came around, they would stop whatever they were doing to the patients be it verbal, sexual, physical abuse so it was really well concealed. Or so they thought. But unfair treatment occurred on a daily basis. Various asylums in Canada and the United States have been accused by former patients to have treated patients in a less than appropriate way. Of course, we are speaking past tense. However, how can we be so sure it doesn't still occur? Unjust acts on the part of staff to patients could still be committed today and it may just be covered up like it was before. Barbaric treatments like Electroshock still occurs with dangerous adverse effects like amnesia. I think we should look at mental institutions with a critical eye.
I understand that some of you have been committed or knows someone who has, but consider yourselves lucky. More than likely you and/or the people you know have been too obviously 'sane' in their eyes so they did not try anything on you. This also reminds me that there were also instances of preferential treatment among patients as well. Those who were perceived to be 'saner' than others were treated far better. Also, those with more money and those with a more critical family were treated better as well. Of course, behind closed doors, no one can really say what really occurs. Especially those who are too drugged up to speak for themselves.
I guess I can only speak so much about it according to what I have read and what I was taught by my professors -- some facts and some personal testimonials. From MY personal experience though, public institutions that care for those who are less abled or those who are perceived as not being in the 'right state of mind' tend to often-times neglect their patients. I volunteered at a nursing home a few years ago and I saw a lot of neglect. Seniors would be laying in their own waste for hours before they were cleaned up. It was a horrible experience for me (the visitor) so I could only imagine what kind of eternal hell it was for the 'residents'. That kind of neglect (a form of abuse) still happens today. Not just in that nursing home, as I am sure we all have heard controversial things about nursing homes. But my point is, if this could take place in nursing homes in the present, what makes us so sure other institutions whose aim is to help the less abled are much different? Most are still very understaffed. When an institution is understaffed, neglect is often the result.
mental hospitalization
