Mental institutions, psych wards, asylums, mental health hospitals. These places go by many names but they all are the same. Historically these places were notorious for mistreating it’s patients, treating them in a similar manner to how a tyrannical regime treats political prisoners. Yet very little awareness has been spread to educate the masses on the horrible events that happened there and worst of all, most of the people who ran these places got away with their evil deeds. Note: There is no doubt that present day mental institutions have come a long way but they still have a long way to go. I know not all mental institutions harm or cause discomfort to their patients and I’m not “anti psychiatry” and I’m not trying to vilify all psych wards. I’m just saying that there are mental institutions that need a makeover.
1.) What is a re-education camp? It’s a type of notorious camp used by the Communists of Vietnam to indoctrinate their ideology into people through forced labor along with other inhumane ways. It’s a brainwashing system that forces people to suppress their critical thinking and accept and support things they don’t want to support.
2.)Old woes: Due to how the horrible mistreatment that use to happen in mental institutions doesn’t receive much awareness, many people are rather ignorant when it comes to the subject of mental institutions, they assume that “it only happens in movies”. That couldn’t be any further from the truth. Staff of early mental institutions use to beat, torture, berate and experiment on those who were institutionalized.
3.)You think abuse doesn’t happen in psych wards anymore? Think again. A lot of people like to believe that “things have changed for the better”. While there certainly have been improvements, such as no more inhumane experiments. There is still physical and verbal abuse that goes on. Just look at this disgusting behavior which happened recently. Fortunately those responsible got arrested but one has to wonder how often do things like this go unreported. Some nurses even admit that they mistreated the patients under their care. Want more proof? Look at this video of a different incident.
4.) Corruption: Perhaps the biggest issue is how susceptible the psychiatric field is to corruption. Even today there are former psych ward patients who have come forward talking about the many ways the mental health field tried to ruin their lives. From people being misdiagnosed, exploited for money, being wrongly detained etc. This list explains ways psych ward patients may experience abuse/corruption.
5.)Afflicted until proven otherwise: One of the main reasons why some psychologists and psychiatrists have some what of a notorious reputation is because of their close minded attitude towards their clients/patients. They will automatically dismiss their patients claims and concerns by saying “it’s just in your head.” This kind of attitude can be a major problem for patients who have had issues with stalkers or other legitimate issues. The following video is a 12 minute episode of an online series called “Mortal Kombat: legacy” in which the character “Raiden” accidentally ends up in a psych ward where the shrink refuses to believe his claims even after he manages to overpower most of the shrink’s orderlies with his superhuman abilities.
6.) Forced conformity: Technically speaking, harmless deviance is respected nowadays as part of a person’s personality traits. And any kind of attempts to force a person to suppress their deviant behavior or way of thinking is considered discrimination. But unfortunately there are certain mental health professionals, specifically those at mental institutions who try to force their clients/patients to conform to the norms.
8.) Mental illness is stigmatized: Alright, let’s address the elephant in the room which is how people with mental health issues face a lot of social stigma. Any little mental health issue that a person has will cause people to fear that person even if it’s not something serious because of how ignorant the masses are on mental health. Many people are quick to label all mental illnesses as “insanity” or “dangerous”. If most people actually educated themselves on mental illness and stood up for the rights of mental health patients, then perhaps the staff of mental health institutions would have been on a short leash by now through reforms implemented by human rights organizations.
9.) Some psych ward staff = present day Stasi and Gestapo: Some orderlies/nurses and Security that run psych wards are notorious for abusing their power by treating the patients under their care as prisoners rather than people who need help. They are known for using intimidation tactics to impose their will upon the patients in their care.
10.) stripping parts of a person’s identity: Technically speaking, psych wards nowadays are supposed to allow to allow a patient to bring in their own items(clothes, electronics etc) but unfortunately some psych wards are still ran the old fashion way in which patients are forced to wear a pair of scrubs and bring nothing else. This kind of policy forces a person to repress who they are.
11.)Censorship: Of course, aside from patients having parts of their identity being metaphorically stripped from them, patients are also censored and restricted in what they can say or do. Any suspicious behavior shown by a patient may cause the patient to suffer a punishment, such as a prolonged stay.
12.)A patient’s rights: Fortunately, psychiatric patients have rights which are very similar in all western countries. A patient has the right to refuse mental health treatment, a patient has the right to keep their own personal items that are allowed in the ward, a patient has the right confidentiality, a patient has the right to keep in contact with family, early release etc. list of psychiatric patient rights.
13.)The infamous 72 hour hold: One of the most frightening things about mental institutions is that they can hold a person against their will for 72 hours if that person shows “signs of being a danger to him/herself or others”. This involuntary commitment can be a problem if the person being held against their will is being wrongly detained. A person who is wrongly held against their will should have the right to sue the psych ward and reparations should be paid to the person from both the judge who ordered the 72 hour confinement and from the psych ward itself.
14.) People are starting to show more sympathy to psych ward patients: Fortunately more and more people are indeed starting to actually care about how mental health patients get treated. The Citizens commission on human rights(CCHR) although a controversial movement is a movement that advocates human rights for psychiatric patients world wide. The Mental Health America(MHA) also advocates better treatment of psychiatric patients although not as popular as the CCHR.
15.)Not every mental illness requires hospitalization: In fact, most mental illnesses don’t require hospitalization. Just because someone acts, differently or says unusual things, doesn’t mean that a person should be dumped in a psych ward.
16.) The ideal psych ward staff: So you may be wondering, “what is the ideal psych ward staff supposed to be like?” Well, they have to be compassionate, patient, responsible, selfless, understanding and morally just. An ideal psych ward staff member treats his or her patients as if they are their own children. An example of the ideal psych ward shrink is the fictional Dr. Krzysztof Oliwa from the video game “Wolfenstein: the new order”. Even though he only gets around 2 minutes of screen time, he is depicted as a caring, friendly, nurturing psychiatrist who legitimately wants to help his patients. He gives them birthday parties, celebrates holidays with them and seems to treat them like family. He even goes the extra mile of trying to protect them from harm which ultimately leads to his demise.
Even though I know not every psych ward is a place of nightmares, I still never plan on being admitted to one.
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