Tag: psychiatric institutions

Involuntary Obedience: Rituals of Humiliation Disguised as ‘Care’

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Like slavery took such a long time to be ‘officially’ forbidden, psychiatric hospitals will be with us for some time yet. Their masters, the doctors or administrators, no longer give beatings with their hands but with the far more treacherous chemicals that allow them to keep a good conscience and distribute what are beatings nevertheless.

The Decline of Danvers State Hospital

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For nearly a century, Danvers was a model asylum in the humanistic treatment of the insane, hosting visitors from all over the world. Patients and their families regarded a stay at Danvers as a positive, healing experience. But after the psychopharmaceutical "revolution," the hospital became a snake pit where the mentally ill went to languish and often die.

Inhumane Medicine in Germany: A Dark Chapter Continued

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Although I left Ueckermünde without the ability to speak, heavily traumatized and barely able to move, I managed to reclaim life after more than a decade. Today I am one of the few witnesses who survived the Hell of Ueckermünde, who can tell the story of my companions and raise awareness of the injustice committed against us as well as demand answers.

Inside Croatia’s Pioneering Mental Health Center

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From The Guardian: The oldest asylum in the Balkans has now been transformed into an unlocked mental health center. The patients have begun living in...

State Spends $90 Million on Unnecessary Mental Health Care

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From the Star Tribune: Minnesota taxpayers have shelled out more than $92 million to house patients at a state psychiatric hospital who no longer require...

Institutional Psychotherapy in France: An Interview

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In this interview for Hidden Persuaders, Camille Robcis discusses institutional psychotherapy, a French psychiatric reform movement that began during the Second World War. Robcis explains...

State Permanently Closes Psychiatric Hospital

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From The Boston Globe: The state of Massachusetts has permanently closed the Westwood Lodge psychiatric hospital due to issues of patient safety, quality of care,...

Reporter was Locked in Mental Hospital for 10 Days

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This piece from Newsner chronicles the life and work of Elizabeth Cochran Seaman, a journalist who went undercover to expose the conditions at an infamous mental...

State Sees Boom in Number of Psychiatric Beds

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From The Boston Globe: Massachusetts has seen a significant increase in its number of psychiatric institutions since 2015. However, many psychiatric patients are still waiting for...

Chinese Psychiatric Patient Wins Long Battle for Freedom

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From South China Morning Post: A middle-aged Chinese man diagnosed with mild schizophrenia has won a four-year, high-profile legal battle to be released from a...

Mental Health Patients Wait Over Three Years to be Discharged

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From The Telegraph: Mental health patients across the UK are waiting for years to be discharged from psychiatric units. At least 91 patients have waited...

New York Times Hosts Debate on Psychiatric Institutionalization

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In the Room for Debate section of this weekend's New York Times, specialists in ethics, psychiatry, social work, addiction, and human rights hash out their...