I'm not sure how to talk about this, but i think many women in the past also kept quiet about what was happening in their homes because of the added trauma of the 'treatment' they might possibly have to endure by professionals. At 18 i entered the psychiatric nursing program,when i graduated, i did not feel i was in anyway equipped for the job. The words which come so easy today were not even in the vocabulary then. Our text books did not include such things as rape victim, assault, incest. The patient population was around 4,000. In long term areas for 90 patients, there was a charge, 2nd, two students and an aide, in short term areas it would be the same staff for 30. Be admitted more than twice, you went to a higher populated building. No female doctors around, the buildings were massive. A woman entering the short term building could expect a visit with doctor once a week, and could talk to a student (18 to 20 years old) possibly for 20 min a couple of times a week. ECT and phenobarbs were primary cure alls. When we are hurting, we need love, laughter even. If anything these people couldn't have been more isolated, alone and scared. And the stigma of having been 'in the mental hospital' would follow them for life.

How sad and awful.

My wonderful aunt was put in a mental hospital many years ago because she was having a break down. They gave her those awful shock treatments. She forgot important events like the birth of her children, etc. It was a very bad time for her. Breaks my heart that she went through that.

norma, your post reminds me of how far the mental health profession has come. Thank God. You make some very good points. How long did you work as a psychiatric nurse? What a calling.

Your aunt has my empathy Dotsie, if she's still alive please give her a hug from me. I remember one patient who had been c/o pain in the groin area, the doctor (???) put half the electrode (? i cant remember the right word) any way put it on her pubic bone and gave her a shot of electricity, then turned to us, smiled and quietly said 'that'll keep her from complaining about that'.

A small incident, but maybe it explains some of a patient's situation in those hell holes.

Oh God, some of those in power at that time.... and the top god's there were always male.

To answer your question.. because i was pregnant i got married right after grad. That's 1965 eh, people did not have 'children out of wedlock' then. It was groundbreaking then, to say i was even pregnant before i was married. The norm then was to have 'premature babies' who surprise, surprise were 8 plus pounds.

I did not renew my licence when the time came 5 years later. I had enough on my plate by then. And besides, i had come to the firm belief that the 'experts' knew ...... all.

Having had the ticket though did open doors to in other situations. Thanks for asking Dotsie.

It was my aunt. She passed away last year but we talked about it before she died.

That doctor should have been castrated for doing that to that poor woman. Makes my blood boil. Talk about abuse!

i'm sorry Dianne, i seen the D's and didn't look closer, my apologizes, the subject is so sensitive to me, and gets my blood up, so i blur out many things.

I can not blame staff though in general though,

a) money wasn't available to hire more staff

b)birth control pills had just arrived and the debate was still going on 'whether they would break up families, cause a lowering of morality etc,' Unplanned, undesired pregnancies kept women in abusive situations, which undoubtedly led to many 'nervous breakdowns' as the diagnosis was so often called.

In so many ways the world is getting better.
I think the birth control pill did more to change society then any other invention.

Again, my apologizes Dianne, if your aunt made it back, (long term areas had patients who had been in 30 and more years) if your aunt made it back, you've got excellent genes in your body).

Norma, you ought to read my book. I write about being in a psych ward twice. I am a victim of incest. As a teen I acted out in alternate bouts of rebellion and withdrawal. At 15 my mother/step f put me in a psych ward for 3 months (until insurance ran out.) At 21 I admitted myself rather than sit on the train tracks. (stayed until insurance ran out) I write about how the psych nurse, was the only caring person around. However, no one ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever broached the subjects of incest. I was treated for anxiety and depression, and never for the undlerlying cause, which, by the way, seemed to be MY fault, and not my fathers or my brothers fault, as they went on to live their own lives. I was treated with Haldohl, which CAUSED psychotic reactions. I am only too thankful that I avoided ECT because the psych model was moving away from that treatment. However, truth serum was still being used a plenty. The psych nurses that facilitated the group therapies and the psych aides that facilitated the social/recreational activities were real people and angels on earth to be working in those hell holes.

Hi Lynnie ...i can only begin to imagine how horrified, how terrified you must have been when someone was being so evil to you. I mean before you ended up in the psyc. ward...

There is evil and no other words can descripe it. And you were just a child when somebody began betraying and terrifying you, that means the evil is ten thousand times worse! How you made it through Lynnie, i dont know how but you have a special courage and strength.

We are soo fortunate to be living today, when there are tremendous changes in understanding.
Your book will help heal many many people.
and i imagine it also helped heal you while you wrote it. Even though the writing would have been so painful.

I will never forget standing at the window looking down into the night fog with a patient who was the same age as myself. She had been admitted for a second attempt at suicide. But i couldn't see why that was an unreasonable thing to want to do in her situation.

Why wasn't her father in here instead of her i meekly asked the 'doctor' during the conference session. Students were not suppose to question
anything then, much less the psychiatrist. His reply Lynnie, was that she must have enjoyed it, as she didn't try leaving home.

The world has come a long long long way since then. I could say thank God, but i dont, i say thanks to so many courageous people like yourself who have the strength to keep speaking up
and who will continue to make this world a safer place. Good on you Lynnie, good on you for coming back!!!

I believe every one ever born enters this world from a place of absolute love and understanding, and we know about love before we enter cells.
But if we get too much hurt for too long, we can do evil things. Who ever hurt you wasn't born
expecting to hurt anyone, but it sure happens.

I wish i could send you ten thousand whatevers to help you know you are so precious.

She must have enjoyed it? What rock did that doctor crawl out from under? The nerve and the mindset. Man oh man...

These things used to boggle my mind as well Dianne, how could an individual think this way?

Now i realize it was whole groups of society that thought and believed utterly outrageous things,
and many still do. But it is changing. Too slow though.

How could a massive number of people believe women were less intelligent then men, or that strapping kids in school would solve a behavior problem or that certain races shouldn't have the same rights as others, or that certain weapons should ever be developed, produced and used?

How can some people today believe a torment forever in an afterlife is justified for whatever evil behavior?

Now i realize the doctor was an idiot, with power unfortunatedly that still is not uncommon.

You know how the peck system works, boss yells at employee, he comes home yells at wife and down the ladder it goes. We all have power over something, even if it is just an ant in front of us.