From sanctuary to snake pit: the rise and fall of asylums
From sanctuary to snake pit: the rise and fall of asylums, with this title the New Scientist has a collection of photos on the history of the asylums. Fascinating pictures one of which depicts an old ECT apparatus
Most people associate the word “asylum” with squalor and brutality – an impression strengthened by portrayals in books and films like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – but they were originally designed to be places of sanctuary. Christopher Payne visited and photographed 70 such institutions across the US for his book Asylum: Inside the closed world of state mental hospitals, which documents how their fall from grace reflects changing attitudes to mental illness
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October 31, 2009 @ 7:03 pm
Are there any “asylums” in the good sense of the word…in the world today?
A friend and I sometimes discuss how it might be a really powerful and positive mental health treatment if we could find an “asylum” (in the true sense of the word…a protected/protecting safe place)to work towards recovering from our depressions.
I sometimes wonder how much the difficulties in my external world…(even everyday things like cooking, nutrition, grocery shopping, not having enough money, or support etc.) affect my ability to become well.
My friend and I wonder if it might be incredibly freeing to stay in a safe/positive asylum for an extended stay. To have a sanctuary where outside world stressors do not exist, where therapy was readily available anytime, where all the things we need are taken care of. I guess a place where we can simply focus of getting well and let go of all the external worries and experiences that increase our stress or affect our moods.
I often wonder if my stay in the hospital when I had ECT was more effective in lifting my mood, than the ECT itself. I had a wonderful roomate, met some really great people and for the first time ever in my life I had nothing to worry about, but getting better. It was a very powerful experience.
Science Report » Blog Archive » From sanctuary to snake pit: the rise and fall of asylums
November 1, 2009 @ 9:07 am
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November 1, 2009 @ 2:01 pm
Dear Aqua,
Some 10 to 20 years ago we had beautiful situated asylums in The Netherlands, at the coast and in the woods. Instead of upgrading these asylums on the inside they decided to put the patients in the centers of big cities. Deinstitutionalization was the excuse then. They sold the beautiful estates and the patients were put in houses in busy cities with to much stress, drugs etc. Some of them were even used by dealers to sell drugs. A sorry state of affairs.
Hope all is well, hope you’ll find some time and energy again for blogging, miss your posts enormously, take care,
Dr Shock
November 1, 2009 @ 6:00 pm
Dr Shock,
Unfortunately Vancouver did the same thing, though I am not sure the large estate-like Riverview Hospital was an Asylum in the true positive sense of the word. There have been lots horror stories about people’s stay there…but deinstitutionalization has really hurt so many people here. The severely ill have ended up on the streets, homeless, drug and alcohol addicted and all to often ignored. It is so sad to see how many mentally ill people are homeless, drug addicted and desperate in this city that is so full of so many truly well off and wealthy people.
P.S. I really missed reading your blog…so glad I have a computer again.
…aqua