Reaction Paper: (3 pages) Please respond to 2 of 3 of the questions incorporating this week’s materials. Use citations to support your assertions in the body of the assignment (author and page number), plus a reference page at the end. Pay attention to grammar and spelling. In responding indicate which question you are responding to, and restate each part of the question as you answer so it is clear where each response begins and ends.
*I am looking for students to go beyond just restating the information. I would like to see a critical analysis of the ideas put forth in the week’s materials*
1) Examine the life of those being detained at the St. Lawrence Asylum. What degree of control does the institution exert on the lives of those being detained as early on they would have all been involuntary patients? Is this helpful in their treatment? What were conditions like inside , range of treatments provided, conduct of the staff, admissions and discharge policies, and potential exploitation of those detained? Does the institution engage in a system of peonage (servitude) to maintain the operation of the facility or do the rehabilitative aspects of the work outweigh the negatives? Reforms you might suggest while still allowing for rehabilitative work experiences to take place?
2) Why was Virginia in the “Snake Pit”admitted to the psychiatric facility? Discuss the treatments provided for Virginia in the asylum where the “Snake Pit” takes place (which is actually Rockland Psychiatric Center in Westchester,NY)? Were these voluntary treatments that included informed consent? What were the interactions like between staff and patients at the asylum where the “Snake Pit” took place, and were they conducive for recovery? In the film version they depict a discharge process where the patient was interviewed by a psychiatrist in front of the entire clinical team to determine readiness for discharge, might there be a better way to go about determining this? Where did the title for her book and the later movie come from?
3) What led Clifford Beers to jump from a 4th floor window? Given that he was well educated, and came from a well to do, intact family what might that suggest regarding the causes of his mental health issues? What role did family supports play in his eventual recovery? Why might that have been important? What abuses did he witness and endure in the various hospitals where he was a patient? How were his reports of abuse received? What type of action did he take, upon his release, to try and ensure that this would not continue with others? Was he successful? In todays times, what diagnosis do you think he might be given?
Assigned Readings:
Beers, Clifford ‘A Mind that Found Itself’ Clifford Beers.pdf
Ray, Andrea ‘Revisiting the St. Lawrence Asylum’AndreaRay.pdf
Ward, Mary Jane ‘The Snake Pit’ (The narration by the character, Virginia still holds up today, but the introduction written over 35 years ago by Peterson is very outdated as he appears to be somewhat on the fence regarding the use of such practices as lobotomy, wet baths, and the intense use of ECT (as it was employed back then.) FYI: the star of the film “The Snake Pit’ ,Olivia de Havilland ,just recently died at age 103.The Snake Pit.pdf
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