Posted by syringachalet on January 6, 2003, at 1:35:12
In reply to Movies that feature Therapy/mental illness, posted by bluedog on January 5, 2003, at 10:34:51
bluedog,
I can remember being a 'resident' on a psych hospital unit that was a great deal like the ones on Cuckoos Nest. It was built originally as a TB sanitariam in the 1940s.
It was in the late 1970s and I saw several people in canvas restraint jackets from time to time and more than once saw a nurse give a patient a shot of thorazine through their pants into their thigh to calm them. They did ECT only on the medical unit because the laws had been changed and they had to sedate you to prevent fractures from the intended seizure that was common. Actually, by giving the sedation they also learned that it lowered the patient seizure threshold, and caused them to have a more prolonged episode and "helped the patient' to forget what had depressed him so much and clamed those that were aggressive or violent and were a danger to themselves or others.
It was not until the 1980s that it got more difficult for familys and others to have their 'crazy uncle or sister committed' indefinitely.
It took two 'designated examiners' one usually an MD, to have a involuntary committment. Most of the time it had to be based on the fact that you were a damger to yourself, to others or gravely disabled.(That last one was usually very difficult to prove.)Thanks to Ronald Regan we then had so many people leaving the hospitals and living initially in group homes and having active treatment in community mental health centers( a good thing)..to eventaully living on the streets...and thats where we are today...
I have never had a patient to my home. With the type of patients I deal with keeping that professional distance is one of the few things that keeps me safe and helps me help them as much as I do...
I think in a private practice clinic, the boundaries might be a little more relaxed;
I dont know.The majority of patients I deal with have little or no behaviorial boundaries. It is vital for me to keep some in my theraputic relationshp with them so by patterning behavior, they begin to develop a few boundaries of their own.
( For some the first time in their lives.)
Being able to doing this has helped many of them live safer, more calm daily lives.The art of discretion is not a common trait in most of the unfortunate souls that I care for.
It is a learned behavior. One of the new doc sympathically refered to some of them as "at the bottom of the food chain" or 'the forgotten people' when it comes to the availablitity of services.
Basically I work with those that noone else will... and I just hope that they can live their lives outside of institutional walls as long and as independently as their illness allows..
That is my greatest goal for them...to succeed at whatever level that might be...and know that someone does REALLY care.....
syringachalet
poster:syringachalet
thread:34562
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030104/msgs/34680.html