We Need Asylums—by Any Other Name
Psychiatric hospitals were effective in getting patients to be able to live in their communities. By Readers Aug. 4, 2023 10:40 am ET From ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ (1975) Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images A letter (July 29) responding to “It’s Time to Bring Back Asylums” (Review, July 22) equates “asylums” to “horrible places. . ., the locus for unspeakable abuse and neglect.” So long as we refer to inpatient psychiatric-treatment facilities as asylums, that is the “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” image most people will see. In reality, psychiatric hospitals and facilities, where I worked as a nurse in the 1960s and 1970s, were respectful of patients’ needs and effective in getting them able to live in the community. It often took close to a month for medications to resolve the worst psychoses, so that treatment c
From ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ (1975)
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
A letter (July 29) responding to “It’s Time to Bring Back Asylums” (Review, July 22) equates “asylums” to “horrible places. . ., the locus for unspeakable abuse and neglect.” So long as we refer to inpatient psychiatric-treatment facilities as asylums, that is the “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” image most people will see. In reality, psychiatric hospitals and facilities, where I worked as a nurse in the 1960s and 1970s, were respectful of patients’ needs and effective in getting them able to live in the community.
It often took close to a month for medications to resolve the worst psychoses, so that treatment could begin and patients could, usually after another month, return to a functional state that allowed them to return home. We need to be realistic about the time it takes and the space needed for treatment. Bring back psychiatric hospitals, but don’t call them asylums.
Rosemary Carmody
Tucson, Ariz.
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