(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)