I know this sounds ignorant but we still have many mentally ill people. Where are they housed? Seems like many are out on the streets but are there large mental hospitals similar to this today?
shareI would be curious to know the answer to that myself.
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No . . . thank goodness. Unfortunately, however, as intimated above, too many of the mentally ill now find themselves in prison. Many--too many--of our mental institutions were closed in the 80's and 90's with the idea of making their treatment more community centered. It wasn't a bad idea, except that they were closed before such community centered programs were in place. So many patients found themselves with no where to go--save the streets or jail. Still today, there aren't enough such programs. Many of the programs that DO exist are good--though the quality varies, both due to the moneys available and due the abilities of the individuals working with the clients.
I worked within the state hospital system in Kansas for over 30 years--mostly as an RN. Over that time, I saw a huge improvement in the way our clients were treated--and things had already improved greatly from the time of the film to the time I started in the late 70's. Yet make no mistake, all aspects of treatment still have a long way to go. As far as the hospitals are concerned, no matter that they're immeasurably better, they still aren't what they should be. There aren't enough doctors, nurses or aides--and unfortunately, the staff that are there are too often unsuited for that type of work. The head nurse in this film is not TOO far from what one might actually encounter. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of fine staff; there just isn't enough to go around.
Someday, perhaps, we'll put in the kind of resources that are really needed for treatment. But I'm not going to hold my breath.
Fighting for Truth, Justice, and making it the American way.
Thanks for the well written answer.
shareNo problem. :-)
Fighting for Truth, Justice, and making it the American way.
No, and you can thank, if that's the right word, Geraldo Rivera. In the mid 1970s, he did an expose of a horrible children's asylum called Willowbrook. Legal Aid groups got busy and discovered that most state asylums were merely warehousing the mentally ill, but doing nothing positive for them. So, on behalf of some patients at the institutions, they brought a class action lawsuit opposing the warehousing. "Treat me or release me" was the demand. The state said "Duh, OK" and opened the doors and released all the patients, most of whom picked up empty refrigerator boxes and moved them over subway gratings for their new homes. Be careful what you wish for.
shareThe large state operated mental hospitals still exist nationwide. They try to make them nicer, and have more regulations governing them. Madison State Hospital in Indiana still exists as do Evansville, Logansport etc.
One of my oldest and dearest friends has been in Madison several times and in the mental-psychiatric wards of regular hosptals. For several years she was warehoused in Parkshore Estates, http://bit.ly/1lDXDyt which is a godawful nightmare of a "nursing home" in Chicago that really was like this movie. Worse. Besides the stuff covered in the article I've linked to, it's gotten consistently low ratings from the nurses who worked there. Like the building was a fire trap, the elevators didn't work, etc. Some of the nurses and staff people wanted to be kind, but they were grossly understaffed and underfunded due to cutbacks. You were lucky if you could see the dr. for five minutes once every couple of months. Fortunately she has friends who got her out of there.
She's not violent, she is an artist who listens to angels. She was put in these places for physical decompensation and self-care issues. Her poetry is exquisite. I am doing what I can to get her published.
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