Mental Disorders, Illness, Health: Psychiatric Hospitals in 1950s America

(scratchy audio)

(music)

(male voice)

Christmas time, the holidays is this the

way they end for me, here in this place?

A "mental hospital" they call it. Huh.

That's a fancy name that is, but I knowa

better, the "Bug House". A place where

they'll lock you up and then throw away the key.

And now they've go me too. Me, Fred Clanton.

Fred Clanton, Fred Clanton. Is that really

my name? Oh, everything's so mixed up.

These grounds, these buildings, they're

all so dark. Everything's dark, even the sky.

I'll never get out. That George. He's turned them

all against me. Even Betty. They keep

talking about me. Why won't they let me alone?

Oh my god, oh no, don't let them take me

in there. I'll never get out. Oh god, what will

happen to me now?

(male voice)

Narrator: What will happen to Fred now?

What happens to all of them? The men and

women from every walk of life who each

year pass through doors like this. Into the

mental hospitals of our land. Here, in the story,

of Fred Clanton and the typical

Oklahoma State Hospital to which he

came, the spotlight focuses on these people.

Many patients are old and often theirs is

a tragedy of hospitals such as this. The tragedy

of fathers and mothers too old to work,

rejected by their own children.

Classed as senile and committed to mental

hospitals because there's nowhere else for them

to go. Yet, given proper care, they can still adjust.

Make new friends to ease the passing of years.

Some patients are disturbed, unable to care

for themselves in normal life situations.

Others are physically, as well as mentally, ill.

Many are capable of limited adjustment. Able

to work at varied tasks within the hospital.

There's the veteran, returned from years of

service over seas. The farmer, who had never set

foot outside of his home county until he came

here. Deterioration, chronic conditions, limit hope

for some. Others, may go home tomorrow.

Meanwhile they are living here. 3,200 men and women

all gather together in a modern mental institution.

A city in itself, complete with every facility

for effective treatment. Though shortages in

hospital personnel do exist, patients are secure

and comfortable and most of them are happy.

But while mere custodial care can never be enough,

a favorable environment and human comforts

are essential in any therapeutic system.

For most, meals are served cafeteria style. Food is

plentiful and good, an investment in patient health.

Just baking the bread for 3,000 people is a man-sized job.

Above all though, these kitchen chores offer patients

work. The therapy of "busy hands".

The laundry, more chances for patients to focus

on specific realities outside themselves. First step

along the road that leads to recovery and release.

The patients tell you the power plant smoke stack is

525 feet tall. They seem to take a personal pride

in it. Maybe because power is so important here.

The sick must have heat and light. There's water to be

pumped and food cooked, and laundry washed.

Patients must be housed and today's new hospital

buildings center on human needs and comfort.

Whether they provide living quarters or treatment

facilities, whether they are there for convalescence,

old people, the tubercular, veterans, or occupational

therapy, these modern structures are part of

a long range, integrated plan to improve conditions

for all who live within these grounds.

Special units provide homes for nurses and attendants.

For they too play a vital role in helping patients to regain

health. In addition to the regular staff, student nurses come

here to learn to recognize and care for the mentally ill.

There are lakes for fishing.

The hospital farm cuts operating costs, provides

fresh truck and dairy products. And the familiar

scenes, the work, help make patients from rural

areas feel at home.

They come from all sorts of homes, these patients.

All kinds of backgrounds. But somewhere along the line,

life became too much for them. Some apply for

voluntary admission to the hospital. 1 of the 3 procedures

by which residents may enter a state mental institution in

Oklahoma. Many former patients return of their own free will

when new troubles assail them. All applicants for voluntary

admission are held a minimum of 15 days for examination

before they may be released.

Other patients are certified for admission by two

competent medical examiners. This is the second method by

which patients enter the hospital under the terms of

Oklahoma's mental health law.

The majority, however, come by court order.

Committed either by a judge or a 6 man jury.

This was the case with Fred Clanton.

Judge: Fred Planton? Oh yes, how are you Fred?

Fred: Well I'd be alright if they'd just let me alone.

Judge: Well, why don't you tell me about it?

Fred: You can't fool me. I know you're in with them too.

Judge: Fred, I'm going to send you to the hospital.

And if you will cooperate with those doctors

I think they'll be able to do you some good.

Narrator: The admitting clerk records Fred's case history

as soon as he enters the hospital. Takes care of valuables

until he has sufficiently improved to be trusted with them.

Escorted to the receiving ward by an attendant, he's

bathed and outfitted.

He gets a blood test. Part of the medical examination given

each patient on admission. There is a chest x-ray also.

And a spinal fluid test.

Finally comes the neuro-psychiatric check. Designed to bring

out data related to the patient's mental disorder.

Fred: They're turning my wife, you know, Betty, against me.

They're taking up all of her time.

Psychiatrist: Why do you think they are doing you this way?

Fred: Well, I've been working on this for years.

They don't know it but I'm on to them. You see?

If they can just get Betty to team up with them, then

they'll all fight again together.

A clinical psychologist gives Fred a variety of

specialized tests. In order to make possible a more

accurate evaluation of his total personality.

Following the examination and testing, an informal

meeting of the hospital staff arrives at a tentative

diagnosis of Schizophrenia, paranoid type. Fred

benefits from the skill and experience of all members

of the staff as well as the psychiatrist to whose care he

has assigned.

(music)

Diagnosis and staff approval completed, the patient is transferred

to a treatment ward for therapy.

In Fred's case, insulin shock is prescribed.

A common treatment for Schizophrenia.

Electroshock therapy may be recommended for other disorders.

Hydrotherapy is useful in calming disturbed patients.

So are sedative packs.

But whatever the mode of treatment, it's essential

that it be supplemented by an atmosphere of

security and calm. The effective hospital must always

serve as a refuge for its patients. A place where they can

live quietly, during that period of reorientation in

which they learn how to achieve a better adjustment

to the world outside.

Degree of adjustment, the level of orientation varies

sharply from patient to patient.

Some show a complete loss of contact with

reality. Dark shadows across disordered minds.

In other wards, are light in life. A return from

private worlds to the here and now.

As patients improve they are moved to wards

in keeping with their condition. They are given

the opportunity for contact with others who are also

getting better. Shown that their status as

individuals is recognized. That no matter what their

problem, there still is hope.

In Fred's case, Insulin Therapy, brought relatively

quick improvement. Close linked with it, helping

further, was personal follow up attention by the

psychiatrist directing his treatment and care.

Occupational therapy reinforces shock treatment,

helped Fred to draw away from his feelings of

antagonism and suspicion and move closer to reality.

Boredom is always an enemy of the mentally ill.

Now improving, Fred begins to take increasing interest in

the wide variety of recreational facilities.

Patients enjoy movies just as much as anyone.

And a hot game of dominoes, or pool, or ping pong

is always fun.

The sewing room is popular and a permanent wave

may serve as a mile stone of self-respect for many

women in spite of the bubble gum.

Books mean so much to so many.

Improvement brings added privileges,

a more normal life.

What could be better than an afternoon softball game?

Friday dances give Fred a chance for contact with

women on a social plane. Help to spark his dormant pride.

Religious services and the chapel offer inspiration.

Then, there's the happy day when Fred is granted

grounds privileges.

Fred: Fine doctor. As a matter of fact I feel like

going back to work.

Doctor: Well, uh, you have to stay around the hospital

for a few days, maybe we can find something

for you to do here?

Fred: Oh?

Doctor: How would you like to help us out

around the hospital here?

Fred: I don't know whether there's much

I can do or not.

Doctor: We have quite a few jobs that, uh, you could,

might do. For example, you might, uh, work up the

dairy, might help out in the garden, or you might, uh,

work over in the cafeteria or we might even

be able to get you on the ground crew.

Fred: Ground crew?

Doctor: Yes sir.

Fred: I'd like that a lot, I really would.

Doctor: Well that's swell. You just report out there

in the morning and everything will be alright.

Fred: In the morning?

Doctor: Yes sir.

Narrator: What a difference it makes. At last

Fred can be outside once more, working, enjoying

the sun and the seasons.

There are the days when visitors come. The chance

to talk again with Betty. And George comes too.

And now, somehow, he doesn't seem quite as bad

as he did before.

It's not too long til the psychiatrist decides that

Fred can try it for a while at home. He talks

with Betty and with George. Helps them

to understand that they too have vital roles

to play in aiding Fred to adjust successfully

to the world outside.

Then the word's passed to the switchboard to call Fred in.

How well he looks.

A cigarette from the doctor.

And Fred's hand is steady.

Packing at last. A man can be proud of the

things he's created with his own two hands.

And a hospital can be proud too.

Proud to see a patient face the world as a man again.

Fred: So this is it. Today I'm going home.

Six months it's taken. If I'd come here sooner I might

have been out in three. But all I could think about

was fear. The way everyone was all against me.

How much I hated George. How wrong I was.

Or no, not wrong, sick. And now that I'm well again

I can't help feeling just a little sad. The way you

always do when you leave a place where you lived,

learned, and grown. But I am well and I know it.

I'm able to face the world again. My own hometown.

(laugh) Huh, I suppose there'll be some folks

who will stare and talk and sneer. But no matter

what they say or do, one thing I know- these people here,

this place and time, has given my life back to me.

(music)