Plants_Golf_Cooking t1_jcorilp wrote on March 18, 2023 at 12:10 PM

Reply to comment by Chippopotanuse in Man tries to throw disabled wife in to the Boston channel by Hoosac_Love

The facilities we had were not Bedlam. They were closed largely because of cost, not because they were bad places.

monicarperkins t1_jcp88z9 wrote on March 18, 2023 at 2:34 PM

Have you known anyone that was in one of those facilities before they shut down? Because I do. I've interviewed several of them, and put together a documentary for training purposes when I was managing group homes for DD adults. They were, in fact, VERY bad places. Look up the documentary Titicut Follies. A reporter snuck a belt camera into Bridgewater State (the psych side, not the prison side). Very eye opening.

Plants_Golf_Cooking t1_jcp99sm wrote on March 18, 2023 at 2:42 PM

I will check it out. I will also argue that the act of closing them down was far more detrimental to both those in need of care and the community at large, considering now the people that needed those facilities are likely either in prison or on the streets.

monicarperkins t1_jcp8q0q wrote on March 18, 2023 at 2:38 PM

Monson state hospital had a partially buried old bunker they would put people that weren't behaving. It was horrific.

Edit spelling of monson

Plants_Golf_Cooking t1_jcp9bqo wrote on March 18, 2023 at 2:42 PM

So they needed reform, not elimination.

Jew-betcha t1_jcqywvu wrote on March 18, 2023 at 9:52 PM

Mental health facilities literally still exist, just not called asylums anymore bc asylums historically were horrific and unethical, and the term "asylum" cannot ever be divorced from brutality in the public consciousness. I know this because I've been a patient in a mental health unit before. They still have some major problems with human rights abuses, but up until covid hit there were some pretty drastic improvements, (after covid, at least at the unit I'm familiar with, they took away most of what made it bearable & got rid of all the trained counselors in favor of nurses who don't give a shit) and it's nowhere near as bad as the forced lobotomies and direct physical & mental abuse you seem to want to return to.