I worked in a mental hospital in the early seventies and I can honestly say it was one of the best times of my life. The patients. Staff, everyone was always happy. It was great.
In my small county there were 2 large mental hospitals, one was for psychiatrist patients the other was for those mentally handicapped, the largest one the psychiatric hospital had a huge amount of land, they grew all their vegetables and had a pig farm as well, those deemed capable of working were employed to work in the grounds, there were many locked wards for the more unstable a c dangerous patients. When Thatcher started closing these hospitals many were put into the community and were unable to take proper care off themselves and short term wards in other hospitals couldn't take them, many suffered abuse by people who took advantage of them. Worse was the closure of the other hospital, many of the patients who were put into the community had severe learning difficulties and every day these ex patients went to the hospital walking outside the wall, its some times kinder to have some of these people in institutions because alone they cannot cope with the rigours of daily life
I have been through a period of mental illness and what folk don`t generally realise is that it can happen in much the same way as getting measles say. The normal reaction is "your not right in the head" and then being written off as a loony, it`s not like that.
It was all very well Thatcher moving people out into the community in the 80s. The lack of funding to support and monitor people was almost as cruel as the institutions. People were abandoned. Stop taking meds. Self medicated with alcohol and drugs. Homelessness etc. Terrible way to abandon those in need of care.
This footage is heartbreaking. The way mental health was managed in those days was awful. I am so thankful for the breakthroughs and changes to the management of the illnesses that we have these days!
I was an inpatient for 6 months in the 1960s. A large psychiatric hospital in Lincoln was where I was sent after a total breakdown. Apparently for the first month I never communicated and was totally 'inward' despite trying various medications; so the next step was ECT (electric shock treatment) - which worked! It jolted me back to awareness of my surroundings and I started to engage with the professionals - although I took an instant dislike for the main psychiatrist and refused to talk to him? Slowly I was introduced to activities during the day, like boxing up spring bulbs or making cuddly toys, which occupied my mind and stopped me thinking about 'me' all the time. We were moved from ward to ward as we started to get better and my husband was even allowed to take me into town when he visited. It is easy to disparage 'those days' but they never sent you home unless they thought you were well enough to cope. Many years later I managed a supported accommodation house run by a wonderful charity and had some residents with severe mental health issues. The difference, to me, was staggering. Pills were the only answer to everything - and were increased each time there was a setback! Psychiatrist was seen once a month if they were lucky and their CPN (community psychiatric nurse) visited only if they were made aware of a problem. Actually being admitted into a psychiatric facility was impossible unless they thought you were either about to kill yourself or someone else - and even that you had to tell them. The lucky ones who were taken onto a ward were released within weeks at the most but usually days. Nothing is set up to get you well enough to come off the medication and there are no therapy activities at all. I actually feel lucky that my mental health issue happened back then! This film seems to be only about elderly patients - probably some suffering from dementia or those sectioned by family many many years before because they had sex before marriage! I was 21 years old when I was a patient.
Sadly we have gone completely the other way now. There has been good progress in terms of treatments for anxiety and depression etc - although it all depends where you live and waiting lists. However with severe mental illness is still pretty terrible, you wont go to hospital unless you literally are about to kill yourself or are severely psychotic in hospital you’ll just get given drugs until ‘stable’ then discharged. Community teams are so underfunded its hard for them to keep up with everyone who needs it. Some people do have good experiences - but lack of money and staff mean you often get left. Its OK if you have a family and care and have money and you are able to learn yourself to manage your own mental health, what you need to do to stay well etc. But many people cant do this, don’t have the resources or are too poorly to do it - so they get lost and forgotten. This is where something like this would help - places where people can learn that despite problems they can live a good life and get on, and learn many skills that its OK. But hospitals and day centres are filled with the most poorly people. I work for a mental health recovery and I see daily people who have been very ill go onto recover and live brilliant lives, often better than before they got ill. But they need the space and time to learn to heal, learn the tools and skills they need - this is what is lacking today. Medication can be helpful but that is just one piece of the pie other things are just as important.
The ONLY thing I can think of I cannot agree with Ronald Reagan about was his policy of defunding Mental facilities, which flooded the Country with Mentally ill Patients which may have precipitated the Homeless crisis here in the U.S..
It didn’t happen with Reagan. The left really has destroyed history. This began in about 1962. All of the doctors tried valiantly to educate the public about what this would lead to. Homelessness. Government scooped that money up right away. Now they want money to fight what they created
Oh, I can disagree with many things that Reagan did, but defunding mental facilities was among his worst. What was needed was a variety of mental health services. Some people could function by living in a group home with support services. One of the Scandanavian countries set up a small facility for dementia patients. Besides living quarters, it has a restaurant and a store. Residents are not medicated and use the restaurant and make purchases at the store. They actually do not pay for these because their government pension goes into the funding of the facilities. Residents move about so much more that those who live in places where they are kept medicated and do not move about. You have failed to count the loss of affordable housing in the United States as a major factor in homelessness. Some of the homeless still work, but can't afford an apartment anymore. There are seniors in California who are working and living in vans. At night, they park in church parking lots where they are welcome. All homeless are not mentally ill. My strongest opposition to Ronald Reagan as California governor was his siding with the growers to break the unionizing efforts of the UFW.
Horrible. As a mental health nurse I'm saddened. But with psychotropic medication and care in the community policies, we've come some way but there's still more to do.
I worked in a mental hospital in the early seventies and I can honestly say it was one of the best times of my life. The patients. Staff, everyone was always happy. It was great.
In my small county there were 2 large mental hospitals, one was for psychiatrist patients the other was for those mentally handicapped, the largest one the psychiatric hospital had a huge amount of land, they grew all their vegetables and had a pig farm as well, those deemed capable of working were employed to work in the grounds, there were many locked wards for the more unstable a c dangerous patients. When Thatcher started closing these hospitals many were put into the community and were unable to take proper care off themselves and short term wards in other hospitals couldn't take them, many suffered abuse by people who took advantage of them. Worse was the closure of the other hospital, many of the patients who were put into the community had severe learning difficulties and every day these ex patients went to the hospital walking outside the wall, its some times kinder to have some of these people in institutions because alone they cannot cope with the rigours of daily life
Thank you for the old film here-most interesting it is too. Well done!!
I have been through a period of mental illness and what folk don`t generally realise is that it can happen in much the same way as getting measles say. The normal reaction is "your not right in the head" and then being written off as a loony, it`s not like that.
This was absolutely fascinating to watch. Thank you for sharing it.
These "patients" from history look better than "normals" walking the streets today. Tik tok!
I call It Thick Tok?
It was all very well Thatcher moving people out into the community in the 80s. The lack of funding to support and monitor people was almost as cruel as the institutions. People were abandoned. Stop taking meds. Self medicated with alcohol and drugs. Homelessness etc. Terrible way to abandon those in need of care.
This footage is heartbreaking. The way mental health was managed in those days was awful. I am so thankful for the breakthroughs and changes to the management of the illnesses that we have these days!
I assure you it’s pretty much the same
It’s still hell today
I was an inpatient for 6 months in the 1960s. A large psychiatric hospital in Lincoln was where I was sent after a total breakdown. Apparently for the first month I never communicated and was totally 'inward' despite trying various medications; so the next step was ECT (electric shock treatment) - which worked! It jolted me back to awareness of my surroundings and I started to engage with the professionals - although I took an instant dislike for the main psychiatrist and refused to talk to him? Slowly I was introduced to activities during the day, like boxing up spring bulbs or making cuddly toys, which occupied my mind and stopped me thinking about 'me' all the time. We were moved from ward to ward as we started to get better and my husband was even allowed to take me into town when he visited. It is easy to disparage 'those days' but they never sent you home unless they thought you were well enough to cope. Many years later I managed a supported accommodation house run by a wonderful charity and had some residents with severe mental health issues. The difference, to me, was staggering. Pills were the only answer to everything - and were increased each time there was a setback! Psychiatrist was seen once a month if they were lucky and their CPN (community psychiatric nurse) visited only if they were made aware of a problem. Actually being admitted into a psychiatric facility was impossible unless they thought you were either about to kill yourself or someone else - and even that you had to tell them. The lucky ones who were taken onto a ward were released within weeks at the most but usually days. Nothing is set up to get you well enough to come off the medication and there are no therapy activities at all. I actually feel lucky that my mental health issue happened back then! This film seems to be only about elderly patients - probably some suffering from dementia or those sectioned by family many many years before because they had sex before marriage! I was 21 years old when I was a patient.
Sadly we have gone completely the other way now. There has been good progress in terms of treatments for anxiety and depression etc - although it all depends where you live and waiting lists. However with severe mental illness is still pretty terrible, you wont go to hospital unless you literally are about to kill yourself or are severely psychotic in hospital you’ll just get given drugs until ‘stable’ then discharged. Community teams are so underfunded its hard for them to keep up with everyone who needs it. Some people do have good experiences - but lack of money and staff mean you often get left. Its OK if you have a family and care and have money and you are able to learn yourself to manage your own mental health, what you need to do to stay well etc. But many people cant do this, don’t have the resources or are too poorly to do it - so they get lost and forgotten. This is where something like this would help - places where people can learn that despite problems they can live a good life and get on, and learn many skills that its OK. But hospitals and day centres are filled with the most poorly people. I work for a mental health recovery and I see daily people who have been very ill go onto recover and live brilliant lives, often better than before they got ill. But they need the space and time to learn to heal, learn the tools and skills they need - this is what is lacking today. Medication can be helpful but that is just one piece of the pie other things are just as important.
@@SadeWorldwide ... if not worse!
I think my nana was there I remember going to see her happy days
Institutionalized "I cut all their hair short".
My great aunt, Gertrude Harrison spent about 30 years in Mapperley. Cruel life
Was it any better than other typical mental hospitals?
@@EchosNarcissis I wouldn't know. I wasn't a patient
The ONLY thing I can think of I cannot agree with Ronald Reagan about was his policy of defunding Mental facilities, which flooded the Country with Mentally ill Patients which may have precipitated the Homeless crisis here in the U.S..
We had the same devolution in Australia. Now they live with "scraps from our table"and often alone. The "wonders" of modern medicine
It didn’t happen with Reagan. The left really has destroyed history. This began in about 1962. All of the doctors tried valiantly to educate the public about what this would lead to. Homelessness. Government scooped that money up right away. Now they want money to fight what they created
same here in Canada; it happened around the 80 s the so called desinstitutionalisation and yes, we see the results today......
Oh, I can disagree with many things that Reagan did, but defunding mental facilities was among his worst. What was needed was a variety of mental health services. Some people could function by living in a group home with support services. One of the Scandanavian countries set up a small facility for dementia patients. Besides living quarters, it has a restaurant and a store. Residents are not medicated and use the restaurant and make purchases at the store. They actually do not pay for these because their government pension goes into the funding of the facilities. Residents move about so much more that those who live in places where they are kept medicated and do not move about. You have failed to count the loss of affordable housing in the United States as a major factor in homelessness. Some of the homeless still work, but can't afford an apartment anymore. There are seniors in California who are working and living in vans. At night, they park in church parking lots where they are welcome. All homeless are not mentally ill. My strongest opposition to Ronald Reagan as California governor was his siding with the growers to break the unionizing efforts of the UFW.
Yeap , thay closed the mental hospitals and built more prison's...why?... because prison's are cheaper!!!.🤔💕🇺🇸
My mama used to work here,i used to go sometimes on a satuday.
Cruel. Archaic, Callous. Cold.Uncaring. Demeaning.
They're Coming to Take me Away, Ha-ha!
ua-cam.com/video/C0rgeQ0QD-o/v-deo.html
By today's standards, yes....but the attitudes were quite forward for the times
Shame I can't find anything like this for Coppice Hospital! Very little on it from what I can find.
Tx: 21 April 1969
Horrible. As a mental health nurse I'm saddened. But with psychotropic medication and care in the community policies, we've come some way but there's still more to do.
Where is this hospital located @ ?
Now closed as a hospital it is now the Headquarters for Nottinghamshire Healthcare Mental Health Trust located in Mapperley, Nottingham, NG3 6AA.
Why didn’t the doctors have to wear ridiculous hats?
It was for the patient’s,I believe
The rooms are cold,drop ceiling? Totally disreguarded by......
Note much has changed has it
Mapperley Hospital in Nottingham has been closed down for several years. As far as I know the building is derelict.
" CURED " 😠 😡 👿 😤