"The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic" is a group of case studies. Willard Psychiatric Center in New York closed in 1995, after over 100 years in operation. A large collection of patient belongings, mostly in the still-packed suitcases they had brought with them, was found in an attic.
The authors of this book chose ten of these patients to research, as a representative sample of the half-million patients Willard had treated.
Being a mental patient myself, and a history buff, I was eager to see what the book had to say. I expected to walk away with a "Thank God we don't get that treatment anymore" but I was sadly wrong. On one hand, the book details treatments that are mercifully no longer in use and issues that would be today dealt with on an outpatient basis. On the other hand, I identified very strongly with the plights of these people.
One of them was a nun, unsure if she'd been defrocked after her Mother Superior was, who simply wanted answers. Her pleas were ignored by the local diocese and she was committed because she could not cope with life outside the Church. Had the hospital pushed the diocese for her answers or taught her coping techniques, she could have been 'cured' (in my opinion) within a year. As it was, the poor woman regressed to childhood and even created her own reality.
Too many of the ten reminded me of my own history. Not the 'causes' of their problems, but the way in which the world treated them and, in effect, drove them into further madness. The first signs were ignored or resulted in punishment. When the patients asked for help, they were hypochondriacs or even just jonesing for attention.(Which begs the question, how bad is it if we must go to those lengths for a little attention?)
One of them was a veteran who was getting the run-around from the military about his pension. They wanted him to see a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist told him not to come in until he had the man's records. From what I can tell, he simply lost his temper in public and was institutionalized. He died at Willard, some forty years later.
These are similar to many of the problems I faced. From early childhood, I went to those who were supposed to help me and they did not. My mother blamed me for being molested. School Faculty did nothing about bullying or about signs that I was, at best, neglected at home. When I lashed out in anger, I was punished. When as an adult, I went to the boss or even the UFCW, I had an attitude problem. Even after I was diagnosed depressive, this was the pattern.
Like many of the patients in the book, I eventually found a place were I felt safe and could function. Unlike them, I have the freedom to come and go as I please. Society has come a long way towards how we treat the mentally ill, but I'm sad to say it seems not much progress in being made in the area of prevention. Still we 'mind our own business' or brush aside what we see as trivial concerns. Still we let the seeds of mental illness take root and grow. Worse, we fertilize them with propaganda and empty promises.
I recommend "The Lives They Left Behind" for no other reason than this: It serves as a guide. It will show the reader what they should NOT do when someone comes to them for help. Like forest fires, I honestly believe that you can prevent madness. If you can't prevent it, you can at least keep it from reaching catastrophic proportions.
