Institutionalized: The Story of State Hospitals

[@laceneil4570]

Back when I was a troubled teenager, a psychiatrist diagnosed me with schitzophrenia and recommended to my parents that I be placed in a mental hospital. My parents refused to do this and went private for a second opinion. I was given a cat scan, a pet scan and an mri scan. I did not have schitzophrenia. Five years ago, I finally discovered exactly what I did have; autism. Sadly, mental health care is still not as it should be in the modern era.

[@elizabethcurley7654]

The first time autism was ever mentioned as a diagnosis, it was considered a subset of schizophrenia. A lot of the statistics from asylum-era “treatment” that cite schizophrenic patients, actually also include people with autism. The connection between the diagnoses was seen as the low empathy. I am glad that you were able to treatment that was more helpful for you. Just wanted to provide some historical context on how narrow that difference was considered to be in the past!

[@laino-mn7ku]

What is a cat and pet scanner? 😔

[@laceneil4570]

@@laino-mn7ku types of brain scan.

[@hypocritespuninanna9601]

I was thrown in Mississippi State hospital and falsely diagnosed with schizophrenia. When asking them if a brain scan can detect it or not I was told "no". I was then made to go to an outpatient facility called LifeCore and was told in secrecy (not knowing she was being recorded) by the therapist that she didn't find me to be schizophrenic.

[@ciaraskeleton]

​@@elizabethcurley7654Yes! I came here to say this. Autism' was classified as a psychotic disorder, and they would label it as a subset of schizophrenia. I'm an Autistic psychology student w a penchant for psychiatric research so it's nice seeing others who know their stuff.

[@ameliaflowers9836]

Insurance companies will never allow patients to go to a nice hospital and get well

[@samcolt1079]

THEY DONT WANT YOU WELL. IF EVERY ONE WAS WELL. THEY WILL BE OUT OF JOBS

[@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe]

Nice Hospital? Sugar Pops , cartoons and Horseback riding? And better? Never seen this. Insurance doing just fine!

[@pennylockhart9553]

I would say it's more the big pharma.

[@sallypaulsen7228]

I spent 3 years in a CA state mental hospital (severe depression), and the care was excellent. When the university hospital I had been in for 4 months got tired of trying to help someone who didn’t want to be alive, I was sent there fully expecting something like “Cuckoo’s Nest”. Wrong. Thanks to Reagan closing most of the state hospitals in CA, and lack of funding closing many other hospitals, there is now a huge shortage of mental health beds. Patients have so many rights that it is almost impossible to commit someone against their will now-even if they are psychotic or suicidal. There has to be a middle ground, somewhere.

[@judiw2045]

There are still long term "treatment" psych hospitals that are HORRIBLE. My daughter was admitted to one in March. It took threats by myself to get the police if they did not release her. They started her on 5 new drugs without any official diagnosis! This messed up her mind even more. They are in it for the money only. This is Willowcreek Hospital in Wisconsin. Beware!

[@cathymurray]

They closed most of state hospitals..then the problems started. Some are dual diagnosis. Mental health and or drug alcohol. Mental health system needs a complete over all. I've seen homeless mentally I'll elderly ppl with medical issues.

[@KaylaMarie-ox8le]

@@cathymurraythey closed them, because of horrible abuse, abhorrent conditions, and neglect. They had people in dirty conditions being tortured, frozen, and starved to death. Their treatments often left people permanently disabled, or directly killed them. What do you know about the hospitals before they closed them? They’ve also since opened up more. There’s still deaths covered up, and leaked footage of abuse from these places.

[@KaylaMarie-ox8le]

I’ve been hospitalized in California, and can assure you it’s very easy to have someone committed. I had a quick conversation on an iPad in a psych ward after being 51/50 and they automatically extended everyone’s times there. The same with the state I live in. There’s no objective standards needed, and the psychiatrist practically automatically wins when it comes to commitment and ordering drugs.

[@raimeyewens7518]

Agreed. Now patients have rights. There are patients advocates, ethics committees, surveillance cameras and other things in place for patients protection. We need somewhere to send the many insane people out here. A lot of them end up in prison.

[@DenitaArnold]

I think these places should be revived, to an extent, for extreme cases, and people who are unable to take care of themselves. Maybe some of the homeless problem would be solved

[@lindathrall5133]

THERE ARE A GOOD MANY MENTALLY ILL PEOPLE CAN'T LIVE OUTSIDE THE WALLS THEY NEED CARE 24/7 THEY CAN GET THEIR MEDS

[@thialove2121]

In th mid-eighties Reagan deregulated the banks giving them permission to extort last, security deposit, and credit score in order rather than ONLY A MONTH'S RENT to put a roof over our heads. THE BANKS ARE COMPLETELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS HOMELESS CRISIS- especially 2008 when they scammed BILLIONS FROM our taxes and send millions to their graves through exposure to the elements! Get your facts straight! Plus creepy puppet Reagan sent nearly 1/2 of these citizens in institutes out on the streets! I remember very well!

[@CJPhillips6648]

We need congress to do something, people with thoughts to kill, should never be released. Mental health is a major problem in this country! Time to reopen the asylums and get the dangerous ones off the streets..

[@CrystalMouse1]

As a disabled person, I can tell you that people resent taking care of other humans. They eventually abuse them. I've been repeatedly abused by people who claim to want to care for me. It's inevitable

[@nancyhanson5620]

You don’t know what you are saying.

[@jenniferblue1387]

My grandma died of cancer in Arizona state hospital. She lost her mind after her 11 yr old son was killed by Evo Deconcini a former Arizona Judge and Surgeon General. The grave was paid for . It was the day after Christmas. He was drunk . He never had any consequence’s legally and the injustice and loss I’m sure led to her mental state. But no one ever pieced that together. She was 52.

[@cbright1626]

Sorry about your grandmother. Arizona can be a tough state to get justice if -- especially if your grandmother had to get justice from Deconcini. I can understand why she had a tough time. Not being able to get justice for her son. The Deconcini's are a legal and political family famous in Arizona.

[@jenniferblue1387]

@@cbright1626 true. My grandma died poor, without power or acknowledgment.Thank you for understanding

[@Wise-Lady-La-Aura]

I worked at a big old State hospital way back when I was a teenager in high school, as a "dietary aide" meaning I worked in the kitchen. It was Dixmont State Hospital, founded in 1848 by Dorthea Dix. Dixmont began as the Insane Department of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital in Pittsburgh. This hospital was the first chartered public hospital in Pittsburgh and the first institution in Western Pennsylvania to offer treatment for the insane. I worked there, back in the 1970's. The patients who could walk, would come into the cafeteria, and go through the kitchen line to get their food. The patients had a curious interest in us youngsters. They would seek us out to look at and to talk to. Looking back, I now understand that they were remembering their own youth, it was our upbeat, happy, sincere, carefree teenage attitudes and our normal laughter and chatter that they enjoyed watching. It probably brought back memories for them. There were the old ladies in their house dresses, the Vietnam Vets who flirted with us, the fortune telling lady who could read your palm, your cards or your tea leaves. There was the man that was put in there by his step mother after his mother died when he was a teenager, and he was forced to have a lobotomy. His name was Al. Al was famous for coming after us and begging for a cigarette over and over. He was harmless, but relentless. I could go on and on about all the different people I grew to know that were patients there. There is a place for these State hospitals, and I believe State hospitals should be reintroduced back into our society. It provides a safe community for a certain type of mentally ill patient. These types of asylums do not exist any longer and they should. Society has not improved because they are gone. When they released all the patients, many of them had lost touch with their families and had no place to go to, so they wandered back to the abandoned grounds of the old State hospital and hid out wherever they could. Others started living on the streets, if they couldn't find any relatives to take them in.

[@KaylaMarie-ox8le]

There still are state hospitals. There’s videos leaked about the poor conditions and violence that takes place. At the hands of staff, and more violent patients. That was a sumner job, or after school? There were many employees who were high school students?

[@yourdeadtome3]

Get the man a cigarette

[@Wise-Lady-La-Aura]

@@yourdeadtome3 Exactly! I had to buy cigarettes as a 15 year old so Al could have a ciggy!! Al was forced to have a lobotomy by his stepmom and was forever childlike, but liked his cigs and liked the young girls, like me back then!!

[@Wise-Lady-La-Aura]

@@KaylaMarie-ox8le - No there are very few. There are mental wards at hospitals. Plus, no one can commit you , except a doctor or the jail you’re in. The beds are limited and most don’t have any room. The rest are private facilities. Look it up.

[@Wise-Lady-La-Aura]

So, no easy access State hospitals for the insane do not exist. A State hospital = free care. Since the overwhelming majority, now, are privately owned( often by Christian churches) they are a patient paid hospital. They cost money! Even if you have the money, you can’t get a bed for your mentally I’ll relative. It’s a travesty!! We need the State hospitals again in large quantities and easily accessible!!

[@richdiscoveries]

I have been in and through countless asylums over the decades. The paperwork and documentation Left Behind is staggering. Treatments, shortages in food and staffing, overpopulation, patient abuse, staff abuse and everything you can think of. Some of it is heartbreaking to read. You did an awesome job on this one brother

[@j.jkoechell7881]

Can we connect

[@SMtWalkerS]

Fascinating history. I had a schizophrenic aunt, who spent many years in and out of state mental institutions. She was beautiful, and a talented artist, but spent a miserable, disjointed life because of her mental illness. She would come stay with us during good mental periods, and we kids adored her. She would do arts and crafts with us and was fun and charming. But, ultimately, it always ended with violent outbursts, even threatening my mom with a knife. Away she would go again. The stress on the family was huge, trying to care for someone they love, but, who, at times, was literally bouncing off walls, screaming constantly, and destroying the house. It's awful and I think about my mom, trying to raise a big bunch of kids and trying to do what is right for a very much-loved sister. My aunt told me, much later, some of the good things, and the horrendous things that happened to her in those institutions, many years before. Mental illness is still very prevalent. It is a terrible situation, and so sad for all concerned.

[@Luke-iv5kx]

Imagine that, someone forced in an asylum multiple times went mad. What a crazy thought.

[@CJPhillips6648]

They released all the patients, to live on the streets, mental health needs an upgrade. And we need to get the people with mental problems in to safe facilities! Throwing medication 💊 at them, and not monitoring them is not the answer…

[@sarahadair5890]

I think the problem is the one size fits all approach. There needs to be many different styles of facilities for people who need support. From those who are a danger to other, themselves, to group houses, schools for scensory needs...

[@jolenehendrickson8915]

The ones on the streets believe it or not choose to be there

[@ericablaschke3497]

I agree it is a revolving door our patients keep coming back we don’t cure them

[@penelope-oe2vr]

And they can't afford the medication and won't stay on it when they're out on the streets. They will do drugs instead.

[@penelope-oe2vr]

@@jolenehendrickson8915 no one chooses to live on the streets. They are too sick to make the right decisions for themselves.

[@julieschafer2991]

Very well done and respectful. There are still a lot of problems. A large amount of homeless in Los Angeles are comprised of the mentally ill. There need to places where the can live, have mild supervision, and get the help the need to maintain health and safety for all.

[@victorianmelody46]

One of the reasons California has so many homeless could stem from places like Nashville buying 900 one way tickets to San Diego for the homeless with long criminal records. It is called the Homeward Bound program. I guess that did not work to their satisfaction or quick enough. Starting July 1st the State of Tennessee passed a law criminalizing homelessness. If you are caught sleeping or camping on any public property or parks anywhere in the state you can be sentenced up to 6 years in prison and a $3000 fine. Are we just going to start building detainment camps? First the poor. The disabled and the elderly could very well be next.

[@kmadon6828]

@Veronica Elis what? It's a major talking point of every politician up for running in CA. And we HAVE programs, we have been making progress, but you can't just snap your fingers and fix a societal issue. Why do you think people end up on the street? There are so many individual reasons that one single politician isn't going to solve it. Are you doing something about it? Probably not, but it's easier to make it someone else's problem isn't it?

[@nancyblack8772]

@@victorianmelody46 p9

[@nancyblack8772]

@@victorianmelody46 ëëëëëë l

[@joeskooma2315]

@@victorianmelody46 Meanwhile, our taxpayer money is being used to give illegal immigrants free healthcare, food/drink, clothes, housing, etc.

[@alisonpettit1185]

One random day I came across Byberry Mental Hospital. I became OBSESSED with reading about its history and the horrors went on there. I live right outside of Philadelphia so anytime I find something that happened in Philly I’m even more interested. I got a book called “The Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry: A History of Misery and Medicine”. Haverford State Hospital was within walking distance of my house. I couldn’t imagine being in one of these places. I also read Nellie Bly’s “Ten Days in a Madhouse” which is also so unbelievable to read. From reading these I can across Dr.Walter Freeman - The Lobotomist. It was pure torture. No wonder these brutal treatments “worked”. If someone is going to hammer icepicks into my eyeballs I’m going to stop doing whatever it is that got me there.

[@nickphillips4398]

Sounds like a retard house

[@brendaklingelsmith6008]

State run psychiatric facilities still exist. They are even in the same locations. They have been renamed. They are violent dreadful "hospitals ". I have worked in them. Our mental health services need so much improvement even after all these years.

[@bradphillips6081]

The word autistic replaced retard...

[@CJPhillips6648]

Mental illness is a Big problem, we can’t just release people on the streets,they are not getting the care they need! It’s up to us to force the state facilities to stay clean, loving places for the patients to get the care they desperately need! No more killers on the street. Stand up and make it right!

[@jolenehendrickson8915]

What country are you in? Not in the USA patients aren't treated like that unless criminally insane

[@kelly1827]

@@jolenehendrickson8915 Not true. In some state run facilities there is abuse to patients by staff and/or other patients, in part due to inadequate staffing in terms of the number of them and how well trained they are.

[@brendaklingelsmith6008]

@@jolenehendrickson8915 definitely in the US. State run hospital are very different from private hospitals.

[@connievollmer2273]

I was in the state hospital in Texas between October 1971 thru April 1972. It was hell on earth. People have no conception of how horrible it truly was. One flew over the cookoos nest didn’t hold a candle to what I lived through

[@tracyshaffer4510]

I was in a state mental hospital when I was 16 y o, 1979 or 1980 upstate NY. I had purposely overdosed and was locked up put in straight jacket tied to a bed and we all had to stay in a large room with guards. I agree it was hell on earth. I had to hire a lawyer before they would let me out. Oh and they put me on meds that were made for ppl that had schizophrenia. I think jail would have been easier.

[@penelope-oe2vr]

I'm very sorry you went through that. God bless you. May the rest of your life be peaceful and happy.

[@donnakaye2015]

My mother had schizophrenia. She was in and out of a Texas mental hospital, thru most of the 70's. As a child, it scared the hell out of me.

[@kathleengivant-taylor2277]

Know the feeling. I was in mental hospital for severe eating disorder for over 6 months and yes it was hell. I suffered nightmares for years and still do sometimes and it made my illness worse not better

[@kathleengivant-taylor2277]

@@tracyshaffer4510 yes hell on earth. I was also force fed and restrained

[@c.joyceb.8991]

It's horrible what Mental Hospitals turned into and the same with Nursing Homes! Their solution was to close the Mental Hospitals that was so wrong. They are needed now.

[@CJPhillips6648]

They care less about patients, & more about spend less $$

[@Monipenny1000]

My aunt was put in Hawthornden State hospital NE Ohio around 1966 when she was only 16/17 years old likely for seizures she had. She was there for a year and raped by an orderly resulting in pregnancy, her baby died after birth. She reported the rape to staff, being hystrical, they put her in a straight jacket for a few days. Once released of the jacket, she escaped. She did not know who raped her because it was night and dark. Justice was never served.

[@LokiSherry]

I have ADD and I found your editorial to be articulate, interesting and easy to listen to and absorb. I especially appreciate that there is no background music. Great work you are doing here. I wish these people had more advocates and I hope your work helps to change the system.

[@SuperGuanine]

I also CANNOT stand what is referred to as background "MUSIC."

[@ohkay7418]

We need these back. They needef better funding and more oversight. Instead of locking up the troubled we have locked ourselves up

[@mandibailey9104]

Dorothea Dix is one of my heroes. Thank you for including her contributions. Many leave her out. Clara Barton and Dorothea Dix are my heroes they are why I chose to study medicine.

[@valkyrie1066]

My father told me very young that he could have me sent there if I ever made him angry. I had a great aunt in an institution. In those days, if you had any issues, they "farmed" you out to somewhere else, lest the neighbors think badly about the family. *fume* I was finally introduced to her. She seemed sweet and simple. The facility was a NIGHTMARE and that was even while family was visiting. I can't help but to think how much better a life she would have had staying with family, (maybe not MY family) nstead of being institutionalized in childhood. It was made clear to me in toddlerhood that If I was not capable of keeping up, I would be discarded. I was told as a child I was "a retard", my father even told the school. They gave me tests. IQ of 138. The damage was done; as I still thought of myself as an idiot, my father told me so. Him hearing the test results only made him DOUBLED DOWN. I should have realized at that point that I wasn't dealing with a reasonable person. It took a long time to realize what was "abuse" and what was "true."

[@virginiaconnor8350]

It's horrible what they did to your aunt! Did you read what happened to President Kennedy's sister Rosemary? They gave her a lobotomy just because she was mentally disabled. If she developed any issues-anger, sadness- it was because she realised that people were treating her badly and tried to fight back to defend herself.

[@marleysmommy]

@@virginiaconnor8350 I just saw a documentary on Rosemary Kennedy. I was so shocked that so prominent would allow their daughter to be treated this way. Poor girl. Lobotomies were pure torture. Left permanent trauma for the person...if they survived and was coherent. I read somewhere that they still actually do lobotomies in different regions of the world!

[@marleysmommy]

Reminds me of the movie, 'Girl Interrupted' so sad. I'm sorry you were treated like that by your father. There is no room for anyone to down play what you have gone thru and the trauma it has permanently caused you.

[@leitmotif7268]

My heart hurts for you reading your comment. It’s horrid how cruel humans can be to one another.

[@chadsimmons6347]

My sister worked at Missouri State mental hospital in Vernon County, sometimes i would visit her at work. She was always nice to patients, but kept a bar of soap inside a tube sock in her pocket for self defence. I was 16yrs old when visiting one day when a pretty blonde girl took off her clothes & offered me sex, my sister "soaped-her-good"

[@tinawilliams9610]

I retired from a mental health facility in St.Louis and they have so much oversight it's crazy. A state team comes in 4x a month to check the charts and to make sure their rights are not violated.

[@tinawilliams9610]

I retired in 2019

[@j.jkoechell7881]

What was it called

[@MadeleineVanLeunen]

St. Louis State?

[@tinawilliams9610]

​@@MadeleineVanLeunen no, Bellefontaine Habilitation Center

[@deenababie]

I lived this as a child when they sent my Mother to one in NYS. She got out of a strait jacket and walked out the front door, made her way down the railway tracks in the rain and by night was exhausted. She found an unlocked car and crawled in for a quick nap but was discovered only to be sent back to a place where they did wretched things to her. She just wanted to get home to her children. This is how they treated women with postpartum depression!! Shock therapy was given to her and talks about a lobotomy were shot down angrily by my grandmother. Can you imagine that?!? For simply having her hormones go out of balance they wanted to turn her into a vegetable!! She lives a quiet and normal life after surviving this abuse by doctors in the 1970’s and has outlived many others in our family. She has the strength of titanium over all of this and more. This all happened at Hudson River Psychiatric Hospital which had a fire a few years ago.

[@mariekatherine5238]

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger? There’s some truth to this. My grandmother lived to 103, passing on October 14, 2001. She was never in an institution, but most modern people wouldn’t survive her life.

[@ree68moy33]

JFK’s sister had a lobotomy which caused great damage. This is why he fought hard to improve the conditions in these institutions.

[@ABeautfulMess]

My grandmother spent a great deal of time in St Elizabeth in DC...she had schizophrenia and epilepsy.. and endured a number of sessions of electric shock therapy.. which sadly causes seizures... It was a hamster on a wheel

[@elainemartin7141]

Same thing with my mother--schizophrenia and epilepsy.

[@elainemartin7141]

Shock therapy too

[@courtneymeador8535]

This is a wonderful documentary. As someone with mental health issues, I applaud how you treated the subject with professionalism and kindness. I hope to see more doucmentaries from you.

[@briangibeault2316]

I built the buildings at the Danvers State Hospital site. Also, my crew had the spooky task of boarding up all the tunnels underneath the grounds. Sheathing a 21.5 pitch roof at that height was INSANE! Let's just say there were a few "close calls". 😳

[@Threadbow]

Wow What we're the tunnels about?

[@dianareintges4117]

Converted to condos

[@dianareintges4117]

If you built Danvers state you must be very, very, very old.

[@LeahKan]

There's a movie showing Danvers State Hospital called "Session 9"...supposed to be a haunted horror movie... I rented it by accident years ago

[@freeparking301]

A 21.5 pitch roof…now that’s a pain in the ass!

[@robinright825]

My 40 yr old severely autistic son lives in a 'state school'. Things have changed drastically. I compare it to living in an in- patient rehab type center or a good quality nursing home. It's clean, he's well fed & well cared for (I visit often) - there's lots of activities and even employment for those that can work. I'm so thankful this facility exists, I don't know what we would do without it. To clarify, the facility my son lives in is for developmentally delayed individuals. The population in the area with mental illness are in a different location - but equally as modern and up to code.

[@sarahadair5890]

I'm in America. My uncle has developmental and muscular delays due to lack of oxygen at birth. He was a second twin birth. He grew up and lived with his parents and siblings until his mom was too elderly and he was starting to want to be more independent. He now lives in a house with roommates similar to him and carers. He also has his siblings that visit him and take him out on trips alot too. 🥰 I remember being told that my grandmother was told to put him in an institution back when he was a baby. My grandmother refused. She raised 6 kids.

[@CJPhillips6648]

That’s what every state should have caring facilities, to give people the special care they need! God bless, have a great day!

[@kathleengivant-taylor2277]

Just off the subject a bit but I heard during covid 19 lockdowns they were not letting family visit residents in home. Is this true? I would hope not as that could be very damaging for the resident and family members .

[@129stacey]

@@kathleengivant-taylor2277 yes, that was true. I work in an Illinois mental health facility and during COVID, they couldn’t go anywhere and couldn’t have any visitors.

[@nataliehilton1537]

@@kathleengivant-taylor2277if they think people are going to forget about those times they are mistaken. Many suffered and died alone unnecessarily. No healing, no forgiveness. The only consequences are for victims… for now.

[@kathyweinstock3264]

Well done and impartial brief documentary. Good intentions and then the realities of practical application falling tragically short. Yes, the problems continue today and seem not to be generally answerable. PTSD. Chronic homelessness. Drug addiction. Efforts to help do not make a difference with many individuals not wanting to participate with what is offered. Although, some people do benefit. For close to 20 years I worked as a social worker at our state mental hospital. It has its roots in the old history and I thought it might be mentioned in your documentary, but no. It is very similar to your examples. The old buildings have mostly been destroyed and replaced now with "newer" construction, yet ironically in an archaic old world spiderweb shaped prison form. Our hospital has continued due to court commitments secondary to dangerousness/crimes against others. Commitments are mostly indefinite in length. An increase in patient rights has an unintended backlash effect where the staff working there have to deal with violence against them with no real world consequences for those patient behaviors. An increase in predominance of personality disordered individuals and where lawyers tell their clients they are "getting them off" with an "insanity plea" creates a toxic environment for staff and other patients. Good intentions and realities remain in a shifting chronic state of conflict...

[@greedyfirstalgorithmlast26]

Starts out with a Lie, British had Mental Hospitals Way Before America. You fucking liar! I spent 30 Years in State Hospitals, 1959-1990 and You are distorting and making HATE SPEECH your value. Goddamn your soul -basterd. Starts out with a Lie, British had Mental Hospitals Way Before America. You fucking liar! I spent 30 Years in State Hospitals, 1959-1990 and You are distorting and making HATE SPEECH your value. Goddamn your soul -basterd.

[@mharris5047]

Most states eliminated the "insanity plea" after John Hinckley, Jr. shot President Reagan. The new plea is "guilty due to mental defect" or similar wording, the person gets the exact same prison sentence that he would get if he were sane but supposedly the prison has to provide psychiatric treatment. In reality it is only medication that is used to treat mental illnesses in prison, not counseling. Medication is very important but some need to see a psychiatrist regularly as well. Many of the mentally ill in prisons also receive unofficial "therapy" from their fellow inmates which is so harrowing that I can't even describe it here without losing my YT account.

[@purpleprose1315]

Typical thought process of a social worker. Such a useless bunch.

[@DirtyDanMunicipalMan]

I’m watching this video while in my car at work right next to an old abandoned high rise state mental hospital.

[@j.jkoechell7881]

Which one

[@laurieerickson5648]

this is the only documentary on this subject I have seen that has even touched on the fact that a huge portion of the former patients ended up on the streets or in prisons. It seems that our leaders that campaign on mental health issues or homelessness skip right over this fact. Wether they choose to not address this or are quite literally uninformed and in the dark something has to be done. Maybe there are no right answers, but what was done in the past nor what we have done to correct the past are solutions that can be seen as the right path by any stretch of the imagination.

[@nopamineLevel100]

I watched a documentary on the history of mental health care in the UK, and a similar situation occurred when the country decided it would be better for institutionalised patients to go back into their communities under the care of a GP or family. Obviously cutting costs to the state was a huge factor for bureaucrats, but there were many professionals who thought people would be happier and better cared for in the community. Unfortunately it never works out that way, and hundreds of people ended up homeless or between homes; some ended up in prison; others just struggled to cope with basic responsibilities, and a few went on to commit acts of violence. It's such a complex situation, I have depression, anxiety and ADHD, and even in Australia where we have more affordable healthcare, the mental health services are woeful and it's taken me over a decade to find some decent help.

[@freeflyer151]

There is an old asylum by me, when they closed they literally just let all the patients out onto the street if they had somewhere to go or not

[@lynnjudd9036]

We indeed have gone from one extreme (state facilities) to the other (jail or the community).

[@xChaosReignsx]

Well done on this documentary! You had my attention for the whole video

[@jnolette1030]

We need them now. Our streets are full of people who need to be there

[@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe]

Let's tidy up! Let's feel better! Our state Legislators will get right on it!

[@Gecko....]

Europe does not have masses of homeless like we do in say skid row LA. why? They don't have asylums either. But they do have socialised medical care where people with mental health problems are treated before they fall off the deep end. Locking people away in asylums is just hiding the problem, how about we get to the root of the problem. It's just bad government policy.

[@toniarmijo9943]

No, we don’t need that shit back!! I barely survived my seven fucking years in them! Not to mention the 13 years of drug addiction, mental illness, homelessness and incarceration once old Reagan threw us all out on to the streets! I’m going to say this as politely as I can…. SIT THE FUCK DOWN! You have NO IDEA what you are talking about!

[@marleysmommy]

This was interesting. I lived 2 1/2 years in a private psychiatric hospital as a teenager in Hawaii. We need to continue to educate the public about behavioral health illnesses and destigmatize as much as possible. We are all humans...just like those who don't struggle with mental illness. Our country needs to take a step back and evaluate how severe a mental health problem the US has and start funding the very services that lawmakers cut funding to that keeps all of safe and receiving the services that we so desperately need. We also need to have some serious training of law enforcement and how they handle someone in crisis. We have one of the highest death rates by cops simply because they have no clue as to how to deescalate a situation and shoots and kills instead...

[@CJPhillips6648]

We have to blame the government, things have gotten out of control. I hope the next president will fix this problem.

[@grangrampa832]

You said it

[@adoe2305]

@@CJPhillips6648 the government isn't going to save us

[@Jeffei-qs7kp]

@cjphillips6648 The government is VERY LAST institution to fix anything this serious and complex. Tell me your kidding.

[@jimjones1130]

Not taking advice from a crazy person

[@CarolAnn-gh9fl]

I’m 61. My godfather was told that his mother had died of tuberculosis when he was a child. In the mid 70’s he was contacted by the State of NY about having to share in the cost of “Mary Smith’s” care due to him being her closest relative. He assumed it was a distant cousin until he received her birth certificate. It was his mother, she’d been a resident at Pilgrim State Psychiatric Hospital since before WWll.

[@DAVIDSMITH-md6gr]

I lived beside a mental institution growing up. My parents worked there for over 30 yrs. I use to go visit them at work, the things I heard and saw were unreal. After they shut it down and built the new one, some of the patients were released to go out on their own. That was several yrs ago and a few of them are still on the streets today..

[@HaileyMSmith]

Do you mind sharing any of the things you heard and saw there? I’m curious about it.

[@DAVIDSMITH-md6gr]

There was a lot of screaming and yelling, throwing things. I also watched a patient drag another patient down the hall while they were peeing themselves. I could see the institute from our home and some of the patients knew my mom and dad very well. It wasn't nothing for some of them to walk out of the yard and show up at our door looking for something to eat. My dad worked on the most violent ward and fought on a regular basis. I could see thru the years the mental and stressful effect it had on their lives. Later on in life I myself worked there on the substance abuse ward and decided I wouldn't spend anymore time there that was necessary. Some of the baddest dudes in town were brought there on a drunken spree's, things could get bad real quick... All in all it was a violent, depressing sad place to be. Humanity like you've never seen before, worse than the movies.....

[@HaileyMSmith]

Wow, i can’t even imagine. Thanks for sharing.

[@DAVIDSMITH-md6gr]

I left a LOT out and You are so welcome...

[@BADD1ONE]

Thanks for sharing ​@@DAVIDSMITH-md6gr

[@indigomoon777]

My mom worked at Hudson River State Hospital when I was a child in the 60s-early 70s. Just the gothic architecture still haunts me. I hated going to her job to pick her up. I remember it well.

[@Napoleonwilson1973]

So jealous I love the the gothic architecture

[@indigomoon777]

@@Napoleonwilson1973 It’s being torn down. But as a small kid it was scary!!!! Pretty much right on the Hudson River!

[@Napoleonwilson1973]

@@indigomoon777 yes I bet it was

[@CJPhillips6648]

These places are needed to keep mental illness under control! I agree, they need to make the outside of the building inviting. With a pritty color.

[@penelope-oe2vr]

@@CJPhillips6648 yes and these days cameras can be put in to help stop and deter abuse of the patients. Mental illness isn't something someone chooses. It's a disability, a sickness and needs to be viewed as such. People shouldn't be judged for it negatively. They are sick.

[@nopamineLevel100]

Great documentary, you have an excellent narrating voice and the story was beautifully written. Keep making videos 👍

[@SuperGuanine]

Agree plus was glad no background "MUSIC"

[@chrisblack8390]

I used to hang out at Maple Manor in Crown Point, Indiana in the 90s. It was a poor farm until they got a new building maybe 1914. Then an insane asylum with a jail. Probably in the 70s it was a old folks home but the county sold it in the late 80s. My friend was the maintenance man. The new owner wanted him to live there so it didn't get vandalized. Him an my sister in law lived there for 3 years. We had so much fun. Everything was left there. We had a big Halloween party in 92. Decorated for 3 months. Got to take whatever we wanted too. It was a scary place. We had a shower there and when we were decorating these 2 metal doors that were chained shut started opening an closing as far as the chain would let them. Me an Sue got the heck out of there! Didn't go back till daylight to finish. The owner kicked out my friends and 2 weeks later he tried to burn part of it down because it cost to much to tear it down an the firemen came in and there was a backdraft and the whole thing burnt down. It was so sad. I saw it on TV an couldn't believe it. The owner was real mad at the firemen and left an ran a firetruck off the road. When the Maple Manor sign fell off the top there was a cement sign under it. Lake County Insane Asylum. That sign broke in 3 pieces so my friend took it to his house and put it back together and made it a sidewalk. Great video. Thanks

[@topsykretts7642]

I recently went to Massachusetts and visited the old Danvers campus. It's a private apartment/condo complex now, and, really, only the façade remains, but it's a heavy and hallowed place. It's beautiful and was a very moving experience, especially after having admired it's grandeur and studied its history for so long. It's on Kirkbride Dr. Gave me chills.

[@samsalamander8147]

If your ever in Mass again a good one to visit is Foxboro State Hospital it’s a beautiful campus that’s now mostly condos but it still has an imposing facade. I drove by it and instantly knew it was an old mental hospital.

[@seashackf1]

@@samsalamander8147not far from Foxboro is the Medfield State hospital. It’s now a state park and nothing has been redeveloped. It’s as it was when it was closed and boarded up. The grounds are maintained and have plaque’s around with info about the buildings.

[@mariekatherine5238]

The old NYC Lunatic Asylum, or what’s left of it, is now a high price condo with sports center, maid service, gourmet food services, etc. It’s no longer for the poor and abandoned mentally ill. I remember when the crumbling octagonal tower was the only thing left, surrounded by a thicket of vines, trees, shrubs. In the center of it was a small homeless encampment of maybe two dozen people. The new million dollar residences on the site are said to be haunted. The sports center, the octagon, is well known for uncanny and creepy experiences.

[@chantelcuddemi7646]

I'm one of the lucky ones here in the U.S. I've never been put in a mental hospital, as I've got a good therapist ,and good coping skills for my ptsd and depression.

[@amydavis4945]

I'm going to assume you have never been to a State Hospital, nor know anyone that ever has. Because if you knew what they are really like, you would not wish your darkest enemy to spend one minute inside one of these places. State hospitals are, as it would make sense, funded by State funds - funds that no one believes are really all that important, so they get as little as possible. Having very little in funds means the people they hire to work in these facilities are often either completely unqualified and/or can't find work in any other mental facility because they have been FIRED for being abusive or negligent. Even the doctors/nurses at these facilities are ones that can't find work anywhere else because ... well, I'll just say it... they suck. The facilities themselves do not get enough funding to even keep them maintained, and often there is peeling paint, broken plumbing, leaky roofs, and even worse. The food that is usually shipped in is something most people would not feed their dogs. The "treatment" (mental and physical) for whatever disability/diagnosis is pretty much non-existant except to load the patients up on sedatives so the staff doesn't have to deal with them. You may think that I am exaggerating or that I've "watched too many movies"... but I'm telling you what I have personally experienced when I was younger and required in-patient care. Private-owned psychiatric facilities are much much better - but unfortunately only some people can actually afford them (or have good enough insurance, or don't need longterm care).

[@nancyk3615]

Im so glad that you're using your own voice an not a fake voice. ❤

[@Deathtofrogleghorn]

There used to be a mental institution in my old neighborhood. First it was an old Marine Corps reserve unit, then it was converted to a mental institution, then it became an elderly home, and now in its final iteration, it is still an elderly home, but now they use it as a school for children, a polling place, and they offer some social services.

[@Awsom47Merc]

* A.F. Ericsson I recently came across this vid of yours while researching Eloise Sanatorium because of recent events in the local Detroit news about ideas for new uses of the site. Even though I'm a Michigander I wasn't familiar with it. Anyway I congratulate you on your thorough research in making the vid. You also put in a lot of editing of visuals and audio. Thankyou for your work.Very professional effort . 👊😎👍

[@thriftingintheholler7854]

I worked in a state mental hospital in the early 2000’s. They actually built a new one not long after and it’s nice.

[@j.jkoechell7881]

Which one

[@alanh1406]

Institutions were incredibly flawed, but getting rid of them was NOT the answer for ALL of the people that resided in them.

[@nicholen9007]

This is very well done, I must admit. I was not expecting such a great and detailed watch. Thank you for making this documentary. I do hope it becomes a popular video to watch for all.

[@greedyfirstalgorithmlast26]

Starts out with a Lie, British had Mental Hospitals Way Before America. You fucking liar! I spent 30 Years in State Hospitals, 1959-1990 and You are distorting and making HATE SPEECH your value. Goddamn your soul -basterd.Starts out with a Lie, British had Mental Hospitals Way Before America. You fucking liar! I spent 30 Years in State Hospitals, 1959-1990 and You are distorting and making HATE SPEECH your value. Goddamn your soul -basterd.Starts out with a Lie, British had Mental Hospitals Way Before America. You fucking liar! I spent 30 Years in State Hospitals, 1959-1990 and You are distorting and making HATE SPEECH your value. Goddamn your soul -basterd.Starts out with a Lie, British had Mental Hospitals Way Before America. You fucking liar! I spent 30 Years in State Hospitals, 1959-1990 and You are distorting and making HATE SPEECH your value. Goddamn your soul -basterd.

[@joc9549]

I worked in a state hospital for 9 years, alot of us treated our clients very well. You always have afew bad apples of course. I wouldn't mind going back to work there.

[@colleenmorgan1590]

The Reagan era decimated mental healthcare facilities, sending thousands onto the streets. Napa Valley Mental Hospital was self-sustaining w/ gardens and cattle as well as a sewing factory which gave the patients purpose til he contracted out these things and slashed funding.

[@toniarmijo9943]

I was one of Reagan’s victims. 😢 When we were thrown out onto the streets, that led to 13 more years of my life battling drug addiction and homelessness. I’m 61 now. My life is finally a bit better.

[@BADD1ONE]

Carter signed the bill. Reagan implemented a few years later.

[@jenniferdrogalis2338]

My grandmother’s mom passed away in the 1918 pandemic. That left my great aunt and grandmother with just their father as caretaker. A crooked priest wanted my great grandfather to sell his remaining cemetery plot (next to my great grandmother’s burial site) to him and my great grandfather refused. The priest took matters into his own hands and put my great grandfather into an “asylum.” This left his two daughters without available parents. My aunt went to work and my grandmother (10 years younger) was put in an orphanage where she was raised until 8th grade. My aunt worked and paid (essentially) for my grandmother’s room and board so she wouldn’t be adopted out. My great aunt would visit their dad every week but it was apparently so crushing and horrifying that she never really spoke about it. I often wonder how my grandmother, my mother, and my lives would have been different had my grandmother had her father growing up. The nuns at the orphanage were strict and so that is how my grandmother learned to parent. My mom was also strict in comparison to other parents her age. They were/are both very loving women, but it still makes me wonder how things would have been different.

[@Littlerailroader]

Grew up a short drive from the Danvers State Hospital. It's condos and apartments now. Most of the patients are elsewhere now.

[@cathymurray]

Haverford State is the same now in PA

[@SOEtacticalgear]

Good job on this video. I can't believe it's only got 6 comments. We were in an asylum last weekend. Filmed for 4 hours.

[@Napoleonwilson1973]

What one did you explore ?

[@deborahgrimes7172]

The Marion instituteion in Smythe co Va is where my great grandmother died in 1930s.

[@Wickedpissah138]

We need to really consider opening these places back up.

[@samcolt1079]

GET THESE POOR PEOPLE OFF OF THE STREETS. THEY STILL NEED HELP

[@ryanschram7266]

we definitely need these institutions again..

[@ozzymoto6483]

I worked in a state mental hospital in the 90s. It was home to 103 adult women.

[@j.jkoechell7881]

Which one

[@penelope-oe2vr]

We definitely need some sort of group home, or mental institution to be brought back. The USA doesn't have *ANY* mental health care system at all, and these people are out on the streets left to their own devices and it isn't good. Now, with cameras their care can be better monitored so they aren't abused like many were in the past. Those atrocities shall never happen again. But we do need somewhere to put those who cannot care for themselves to be properly cared for.

[@CJPhillips6648]

Yes, state of the art facilities with modern technology, for patients with mental illness, staff to care,& respect them. It’s time to get them off the streets!🙂

[@CJPhillips6648]

Yes I agree!

[@KellyDFlynn]

I agree 100 percent

[@bailey2777]

Yes, so many of the buildings are empty and not being used. If only our systems worked as they should 🤨😣 We have to do better 🙏 I have fears of what fentanyl is going to do to our nation 😭 substance abuse and mental health go hand in hand 🙏🙏 Blessings to all ❤️💙💜💙❤️

[@penelope-oe2vr]

@@bailey2777 they should use the tax money from Marijuana sales to help fund better mental health care and rehabs. It's sad that we are the richest country and our mental health care is so bad, and not a priority. If we fixed that, it would fix the rest of the problems also. I live in Boston and it's absolutely horrible. People shoot up right out in the open there's a whole street where all the addicts just live on the sidewalk and needles are everywhere. It's so awful. It's like he'll on earth

[@TCMedicare101]

Clearly, the state hospitals were mismanaged, overcrowded, underfunded, and many were rife with abuses, yet , now, those with mental illnesses that are severe enough that they are unable to function in society are homeless or housed in prisons. I do believe that there needs to be institutions (good ones) where this portion of society can have safety, proper nutrition, a roof over their heads, and treatment with occupational therapy to assist them in reintegrating into society.

[@brentfreeland5834]

Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown Connecticut was opened in 1867, thanks to Althea Dix. It was originally established to help Civil War veterans suffering from Shell Shock. The CVH property also houses The Whiting Forensic Institute, designed to treat the criminally insane.

[@lucianaromulus1408]

We need these back, we have a serious mental health crisis in the 1st World

[@RajaMCool]

Well yes…but the state hospitals shouldn’t be like 4:58 they were during the height of their popularity.

[@lucianaromulus1408]

@@RajaMCool no I agree, abuse isn't the answer, but then we went the extreme the other way

[@samcolt1079]

YA THINK

[@TruthNTime]

Very well done documentary Bro. Very well researched and presented in a good formula. Thank you for your time and work on this topic.

[@sydneysheppard4979]

I remember when they closed ours in Harrisburg pa..a little bit later I got in the methadone maintenance center just down the hill a bit..and I rode a bus every morning pulling up to the same light at the same corner..and there was a bus stall on the corner..a lady who was left out of the hospital up the hill made the bus stall on the corner her home!! I remember a winter one yr..an this lady would be up brushing her teeth in a bu ket..an she had like 5 carts covered up with plastic blue tarps..I felt so bad for her...one day I walked down to the Hess station to get coffee and donuts...when I passed her going back I tried to give her a couple dollars..but she wouldn't take it...I came back to the buss an told everyone an some guy spoke up an said well we all did what u did already..made me feel terrible!!! Where I live now there's a guy who lives like this in a public parking lot..our city just let's him there to exist..he's got very bad mental issues!! When I see him there I get angry at our city government...I say open more now!! It's true..a bed in our local psych unit at our hospital takes some times days waiting in the er!!! That's sad!!! We gotta look after these people better!!!🇺🇲🇬🇧🇦🇷🇺🇦💪😎

[@Steven-em5if]

I worked at a state hospital for 4 years, late ‘70s and early ‘80s. I think the past reputation and hollywood movies, also the state thought of a small budget. It all meant the end of the hospital. I think it could have improved and was while I was there. I am sure it would be much better today, I have talked to former residents who really miss them. I think we need to think twice about the community making a difficult patient acceptable.

[@jeanettecollazo9616]

Been in two and they love to put you in solitary confinement for months at a time I can't stand to be touched anymore I'm 67 years old and screwed for life

[@tracyshaffer4510]

They would drug you up as well, horrible places.

[@kathleengivant-taylor2277]

Been in one for severe eating disorder and still have nightmares about what they put me thur. Yes horrible places

[@myjessicajourney1915]

As an ongoing ECT patient, I want to also mention that ECT procedures are exclusively done under general anesthesia. I feel absolutely nothing other than some mild lingering muscle pain the next morning. The worst part of it all is getting the IV. If anyone has questions, feel free to ask.

[@missjody5803]

We need to reopen insane asylum. We know so much more about it now.

[@samikay9599]

There are still psychiatric hospitals.

[@theGIGbetween]

They have closed down these hospitals because these people do not have health insurance and they were being treated criminally… The government still does not believe in mental healthcare to this day and there’s no way to fund these places

[@nunyabiz7473]

@@samikay9599not enough to properly serve the population

[@atomicwarpath]

This comes down to the question of who controls it, my definition and your definition of who belongs their differ, and you definitely can't rely on the government to determine this

[@Jesjuice]

I've lived in Danvers for 40 years now, and i love learning about the old state hospital. Many of my friends growing up, had parents that worked there, and they'd tell us stories. My good friends father was trapped in there during the blizzard of '78, and he refused to even talk about it. We used to break into the tunnels and the old hospital itself, when we were teens. My friend was one pf the security guards. Its been made into apartments now, that countless occupants have claimed are extremely haunted.

[@myrnajucar3498]

Thank you so much for the detailed info.

[@FirstLast-vr7es]

You are off to an excellent start. Clear, concise and atmospheric. Everything I like to see in a documentary. Thank you for making it. I'm now subscribed, so I'll be back if/when you decide to make more.

[@matildagreene1744]

I know someone who was put into a mental ward after being sexually assaulted by a doctor in another facility (not mental) , while under sedation but wake enough to know what was going on. They always have and always will cover each others butts.

[@vickiwaatti1076]

I have had 38 ECT's - I have severe depression, Bi polar and, BPD. They have helped so well that i am off all my meds.

[@cloutmastermemes2007]

These places need to be brought back. There are way to many insane homeless people that are dangers to themselves and to pedestrians. I’ve had a homeless man pull out a k-bar knife just Bc I didn’t have 50 cents to give him. I had to pull out my pockets and everything to prove it. Thank God I didn’t have my wallet on me. I was using Apple Pay for fas

[@cathymurray]

I was assaulted on an elevator. Molested happened so fast so strong n jumped off another floor. Mgmt said he was harmless.

[@vonadawilliamsom6873]

My mom was in an institution and was not treated well, and my grandfather, who is her father , he got her out of there and took care of her. And she went on to be a waitress and got to move into her own place and even got her children back. What a strong woman. 🙂

[@beverlyjohnson8801]

Loved the show and was very impressed with the commentator. I have experienced mental diseases and am very familiar with them.

[@nikm2089]

I love the mental hospital, such a great place to go when life gets overwhelming. Good place to escape the world.

[@deana8202]

Abilene Texas has a state school that originally was an epileptic colony. It had its own surgery suites. The population was 6k. They've torn most of it down. They built group homes/cottages. The elderly epileptic patients, some who lived their entire lives there were put in nursing homes. One man had been put there as a sm boy because he had seizures. He worked in maintenance there. He was almost 90 when they moved him to nursing home. Another elderly lady, Edna Crabtree carried a babydoll everywhere. There was a lady named Ruby Griffin that had a twin sister who was normal. Ruby apparently suffered birth trauma from forceps during delivery. She had a speech impediment. One day she was fighting w staff, I heard the side tell her if she didn't behave, she wouldn't get a tray. She immediately got a look of terror on her face and went to her room. I told aide you can't tell them that. Apparently the aide had worked at state school and she said that if they acted bad, they didn't get to eat.

[@gracevalentine1666]

What a lot of work went into this doc. Transform exclusion to inclusion to reduce suffering. Nice theme. Thank you

[@oriondezine5879]

Bring them back. It is ridiculous to let these people sleep on the streets and wait until they commit crimes and then lock them away in far worse conditions then they experienced at these places.

[@jestinrobinson5115]

The Government is doing this on purpose. So it isn’t going to happen unfortunately

[@WendyAllen-df5yg]

Unfortunately prison is the only place to detox and get the proper medication. It's criminal

[@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe]

Where the Hell are there families?

[@ZoeX87]

Gone or unable to care for them. Mental illness often results from terrible home lives and dysfunctional and abusive families.

[@tfoxen7518]

I volunteered in a mental hospital in a small town in Iowa, near 1971. I was a curious, compassionate kid in elementary school. There were adults wearing diapers in cribs that had to be spoon fed, to young people. All were classified as retarded. The mush in the white bread and powdered milk that was a feeding regimen, served on long tables, is what drove me away (from my memory). It truly was disgusting (I was far from a picky or spoiled eater). I felt so bad for their situations. One young boy seemed so normal, as I'll never forget how this affected me.

[@brandiwilliams7448]

I think what they were doing was a good thing but the way they were doing it was wrong. These institutions did help and I think they would help a lot if they were done the right way.

[@echofoxtrot2.051]

As always, the excuse is "underfunded and understaffed". Because our government wastes our taxes. Leaving those who need it most, to be forgotten.

[@jayjayjenni]

28:55 I worked at Brattleboro Retreat in VT about a year after VT state hospital closed. For some context, the State Hospital closed literally overnight. During the hurricane, the hospital and parking lots were getting so flooded they had to discharge all of the patients. Since they held a lot of patients who were NGRI (not guilty by reason of insanity) they couldnt discharge them to the street. Brattleboro and VTSH both discharged as many patients as they could and the NGRI patients were transported down to Brattleboro. Practically overnight they had a unit with a much higher acuity than the hospital was currently treating. Even when I started 8 months later, it was still a really dangerous situation for patients and staff alike. There’s a lot of psych patient protections in VT which, although those protections are great policies and should continue to exist, it made this one specific situation really difficult to navigate safely. Just my little slice of history.

[@robertmcfall9071]

My sister Polly and I were abused by adoption parents and taken out of the house and put in the Glenn home for children in Terre Haute Indiana. She went to Texas bcuz we found a letter in the adopted parents room that was addressed to us and it was from our other 4 siblings and they all lived in Texas. She ended up being schizophrenic bcuz she couldn't handle the daily attacks. In and out of hospital after hospital and jail but she got on SSI. But they would cut her off her check when she didn't take her meds. So she spent most of her adult life homeless in Texas all because she hated the meds. Seriously failed system in Texas. rip sis. I just have PTSD and severe depression and I hate people and especially crouds.

[@anhedonianepiphany5588]

Although it appears wasteful to demolish these former facilities, the misery that their walls once encompassed, and the depraved indifference they came to represent, constitutes an insurmountable mental hurdle for many. This was a well constructed presentation. All the best going forward with your channel.

[@ericablaschke3497]

Now we use chemical restraints instead of physical restraints

[@maehake2791]

I've been thinking they need reopened with all the extreme homeless problems. Find some kind of hand production work to stay occupied. Maybe that would keep down the weird stuff from happening.

[@samaulicino4202]

Well researched documentary based on official accounts. Much more to this story then we are led to believe. Keep digging for answers people!

[@carmelitabiffle5572]

State mental hospitals are still much needed but of course should be run compassionately and with proper treatments with goals to cure wherever possible. The problem seems that mental hospitals in the past were prisons where patients were tortured rather than of being helped.

[@georgiawessling7987]

I worked in a mental hospital, so to speak. I was there for 7 years and loved it. The patients loved me too. I would stand at the half doors and talk to them. I also worked at Scholastic in the evenings and could buy returned books for 10 cents per piece. I would take them to the hospital and the patients, if they behaved well for a certain amount of time, could get some of those books to read. They loved it and it helped their behavior immensely. In fact, one girl got transferred later to a better building in the facility. She thanked me for what I had done.

[@cherylnelson5792]

This was informative and well done. We have had 3 to 4 in Maryland.

[@kimochkaks]

My parents were teachers at the state hospital in St. Joseph, MO in the late 60’s and 70’s. The facility now houses a museum and is a juvenile detention facility.

[@joshuamlnarik5942]

Glore Psychiatric? Place is wild! How sad that what i remember most about the museum is the rectal dialators on display are crusted with 100-year-old shit!

[@Pacoh007]

insanity is an easy way to make someone else a scapegoat

[@sproutsies5178]

the way the state of CT and UCONN have acted about the mansfield training school in the decades since its closed is so fucked. theyve essentially just swept the atrocities that they committed against KIDS there completely under wraps. i go to uconn and one of my friends who’s in disability studies rn is working on a massive piece through the human rights department to expose what happened and the number of kids that were sent over there and just hearing what he’s learned (the campus has HEAVY police presence so him his colleagues and the professor theyre working for had to do a LOT of sneaking around) and just seeing the photos he took while there was spinechilling

[@matthewdenham7398]

I have learnt about these places on KZbin and it's made me more aware that they were people. Just people

[@Jilldenise80]

Im surprised that the Ladd School located in Exeter Rhode Island was not mentioned (unless i missed it) its doors closed in 1994, it was a place where the patients were severly neglected and abused

[@bc-ge5qo]

These institutions served a great purpose and should be revived for our safety

[@jerrypaulwhite]

🤡

[@marleysmommy]

Unfortunately people are quick to only look out for themselves and also disregard the safety of those that are institutionalized. That's part of what is wrong with our society. Me,me,me, and always me. Whatever happened to looking out for each other? That includes those who are incapable of advocating for themselves and obtaining the resources they really need. If you want to just lock them up in jail or a hospital, you are an active part of the problem. These are people, human beings. Just because they have illnesses that weren't their choice to have, and they have no roof over their heads doesn't mean we can just throw them away for 'our safety' what about their safety? And it is proven that a huge majority of the homeless population, including the mentally ill, are not violent at all.

[@combos7]

exactly the people saying these need to be revived are oblivious to how many thousands are open across america. locking more people up and drugging them for just being themselves isn't gonna stop or prevent future violence it will just get worse@@marleysmommy

[@jeffreym.keilen1095]

I grew up in a town in Massachusetts that had a State School. And one town over from me also had a facility. Both have beautiful archatecture. Unfortunatly, by the 1990's, both places had fallen by financil cuts, time, elements and a changing world. Some of your footage reminds me of those places: Foxborough and Wrentham. Thank you for this informational vid on a sensative subject.👍

[@seashackf1]

I think some of the footage is from nearby Medfield state hospital. The buildings are boarded up, but the grounds are open as a park.

[@shelleymeyer2128]

This is extremely interesting! Thank you.

[@shelleymeyer2128]

Also I'm happy that a lot has improved through the years. Mostly improved.

[@michaelsteele4587]

You stated in the beginning of the video that these hospitals are "extinct" which is not true...there are still dozens of State and privately operated psychiatric hospitals large and small in operation from coast to coast. Treatment methods have changed but these hospitals still operate because there will always be a need...sadly, we need more of these instead of allowing people with mental illness to be housed in jails, prisons or on the streets. During my teens, I spent a short amount of time in a couple psychiatric hospitals due to severe depression. My experiences weren't bad but this was in the mid and late 90's. My first stay was a full two months at the age of ten thanks to a neighbor of my parents who was a total Karen calling the cops and then lying, claiming I was attempting suicide when I was actually collecting rocks behind our house on the railroad tracks with a friend. Emotionally, the experience was traumatizing not knowing why my parents couldn't help me come home etc but the staff were wonderful to us kids on that ward and made every night feel like you were at a sleepover with friends and not other "patients." One of those hospitals that was doing right by those inside yet it too fell victim to funding and outsourcing by the mid 00's.

[@littlefeet4177]

I've worked in a county community mental health agency in Michigan for 12 years. All states in the USA have them. Some less populated areas combine them into regions. We provide mental health & substance use disorder treatment & referrals 24/7 365 days a year but many people don't seem to know these services exist. If people need a higher level of care we find beds at the psychiatric hospitals or crisis homes. We can serve uninsured & Medicaid. There is also a brand new nationwide 24/7 number 988 that was just rolled out a few weeks ago . If you or someone you know needs help please reach out. We're here to help. It's our life's work.

[@bighug7359]

What is this 988 ? Could you give us a little more info?? Thank you.

[@vandavis000]

My grandma was in arkansas state hospital in little rock she was treated very bad and shocked daily . They locked her in what she called the quite room for days no food water or restroom. Had to urinate in floor.😢

[@PURDY_POISON]

My grandmother spent a good deal of time in Dorothea Dix, Broughton and Butter. This was in the 50s. She was addicted to barbiturates. I think she was bipolar because I am. But that's what they did before understanding addiction, was lock u up!!

[@BL-no7jp]

These places were warehouses for husbands who wanted to get rid of their wives. In the 80’s, I used to care for these formally institutionalized patients. They are usually were placed on autopilot care and I had a number of falsely diagnosed patients. I had many who were misdiagnosed as mentally retarded when they were actually schizophrenia, a woman who was institutionalized 40 years for “faking seizures” when I had her retested with an EEG which revealed seizure activity, etc. I believe psychology remains a pseudoscience, as most seem to have their own issues, while giving false diagnosis to others along with the manipulation of others to help their struggling business, and they are not to be confused with psychiatry with an MD. It’s like comparing a Chiropractor to an Orthopedic specialist.