Thank you for this . It is probably one of the most empathetic desciptions of life in a mental institution I have seen. I have a family member who died there 1907 after about 20 yrs inside. Before that he had a wonderful and successful life. A business failure seems to have been more than he could deal with, but not being able to have med. records we will never know his diagnosis. ----- Original Message ----- From: "rwalker" <rwalker@saber.net> To: "NORCAL Post" <NORCAL@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, May 29, 2010 9:18 AM Subject: Re: [NORCAL] State Hospitals > In 1956, as part of my rotation as a Student Nurse, a group of us were > sent to Napa State Hospital for our 3 month Psychiatric training. We > lived upstairs in a cottage that had patients below, who were judged to > be stable enough to be out on the grounds during the day. At that time > Napa State Hospital, or Imola as it was called, was a small city unto > itself. There was a farm, a cannery, and other places where the inmates > could work, like the laundry, or in kitchen prepping food. There was a > small store where people could buy candy, magazines, and trinkets. There > was a large auditorium that was used for various purposes, church > services on Sundays, and once a week it was turned into a roller skating > rink. > > All kinds of people were there for all kinds of reasons. They still had > the old locked wards for the most severely psychotic. The "snake pit" > wards, where they still had the old restraining boxes that they "didn't > use" any more. These were coffin sized boxes with wire mesh panels on > the sides and the lid which was locked over the patient. Body wrap > restraints like muslin body bags were still used. And they did use cold > water on people wrapped to "calm them down". What I saw there that > troubled me the most was the ECT/EST- electro shock therapy. Although > there were patients who said it helped them. One woman who was manic > depressive always let the staff know when she felt a manic phase coming > on, and would be given shock therapy. Others said it helped stop the > voices in their heads, or stop painful memories that haunted them. But > it was difficult to watch. > > As part of our Psych education, we sat in on patient conferences. > Psychiatry was very Freudian oriented then and there was always some > "sexually repressed" parent (usually the mother) who was blamed for the > patient's condition, especially schizophrenia. One of their prize > patients was a woman who had been lobotomized. She was considered one of > their success stories. I no longer remember what her original diagnosis > was, but she told us in flat tones, with an expressionless face that she > was "much better now." And who knows, she might have been. > > This was a new type of psych training for Nursing students. We were the > first class, (along with some students from UCSF) who stayed at the > facility. After a two week orientation we were assigned individual > patients to work with. I was assigned a 16 year old schizophrenic girl, > who was lost in her own world, and didn't talk. I took her out for walks > every day. She wasn't allowed out on her own. We would walk to the > little store and get a candy bar, then take a walk around one of the > little lakes by the farm. On Thursdays I took her roller skating. I > always did all the talking, telling her about my life and family, and > things I did on the weekends at home. I began telling her before I was > due to leave that I was going, and that another student would come to be > her new friend. She never said a word until my last day, and then asked > what she would do without me. I assured her that in a couple of weeks > she would meet someone new to be her friend. I heard later, that having > the students assigned to her helped her to start communicating again, > and within a year was well enough to go home on weekend passes. There > were similar stories for some of the other patients assigned to students. > > There were wards for all kinds of people. There were children who were > seriously disturbed, and there were a couple of wards for teens. One for > psychotic and violent, and the other for teens with emotional problems. > > And there were all kinds of people there--including some who shouldn't > have been. I remember one sweet grandmotherly lady whose family sent her > because they said she went crazy after "The Change." The staff knew she > was perfectly normal, but kept her because she had no where else to go. > And there were others like her-- women sent because of supposedly > becoming strange, or depressed while going through menopause. Most were > depressed, either from the effects of menopause, or for being committed. > Another I remember was a cute 15 year old girl from a ranching family > in another county. She had been repeatedly molested by members of the > family, who when she resisted and fought back, said she was crazy and > violent and had her committed. The staff kept her there for protective > custody. There was no way for her to be put into foster care, because > the family was prominent and had too much pull to be charged with the > molestations. Another young man was from a prominent wine country family > who had been in an auto accident and had suffered severe trauma to his > head. He was "not right" and so the family had him committed. > Apparently he had occasional seizures or violent episodes. Now some of > these people, including the youngsters, were truly severely disturbed, > and even today with medications could not be cared for at home. > > And that is where the hospitals served the best. People who could not > live in "normal" society had a place that was essentially safe, had > clothing, food and shelter, and didn't have to live under a bridge > somewhere. Yes, they were forced to stay there, and yes, as medications > became available for treatment, they were forced to take their meds. In > fact, they had little choice in whatever treatment was deemed > necessary. Now in a way we are back to where we were before the > hospitals were established. Communities do not have enough money to take > care of their own people with psychiatric needs. When I worked for a > local county health department, mental health funds were the first to be > chopped. There was eventually no place in our county for children with > mental health problems that needed in-patient care, and the adults > didn't fare much better. I don't know what the answer is. > > > > ----------------------------------------- > NORCAL ARCHIVES: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ > Enter NORCAL. Browse by month. > Or click the "Search all archives" link to search by keyword. > ----------------------------------------- > To post a message to the NORCAL mailing list, send an email to > NORCAL@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NORCAL-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message