Perched atop a hill overlooking a small college town in Ohio (United States), Athens State Hospital-now known as The Ridges-has an imposing presence that the banners for the art gallery in the central building do little to diminish. While a fraction of the building is currently in use by Ohio State University, the majority of the aging Kirkbride hospital has been left to the peaceful solitude of its own decay. The hallways and rooms, still peppered with fragments of the past, are rife with uncharted mold and bacteria; the walls have become intricate murals of the eroding lead paint that dusts the floor and poisons the air. [Here the Fictionized Creep Show Atmosphere is being established...already Matthew the Big Fat Poop Head tried to make a PROSIQUILLOY of QUASI POETIC fancy words..CREATE the FALE IDEA that MENTAL HOSPITALS are and WAS "POISON. DEATH, BAD places!] The unique architecture of this campus has been spared due to the use of several of its buildings by local businesses, which maintain the properties of the abandoned ones. In many senses, Athens State Hospital is an anomaly. It has been incredibly well preserved and protected from thieves and vandals, and reminders of its history are still intact. Most state hospitals, such as Byberry State Hospital in Philadelphia, have been completely left to the elements and are easily accessible to anyone who cares to research them and risk getting caught by the meagre security forces that guard them. Such sites are frequently seen as a problem to the communities they are part of, due in part to the fact that an entire subculture of self-titled urban explorers has developed, populated by people ranging from those with a deep and abiding respect for the sites to those who look at them as opportune sites for graffiti and vandalism. While these sites are extremely toxic, the dangers are often invisible to those who enter. Asbestos and lead particles in the air do not affect one's health immediately and rotting floors often give no signal of their structural weakness until it is too late. Furthermore, these sites are on prime locations for development, yet their historical significance is undeniable, and often the cleanup of hazardous materials makes costs prohibitive. Asylums were intended to be self-sufficient and the majority of the food would be grown by patients in fields and greenhouses like this one. While now famous for the of abuses and horrors that  took place inside, most state hospitals were initially beautiful, idyllic campuses founded in the late 1800s, largely in response to the tremendous need for mental health care for Public awareness of the need for adequate and full-time care for the mentally ill was higher than ever, and reformers like Dorothea Dix (1802-1887) and Thomas Kirkbride (1809-1883) helped promote what would become an unparalleled movement to create asylums funded by state and local governments to tend to the needs of the mentally ill. 

Such facilities were founded on the curative principles of healing through humane treatment, labour and the natural beauty of the sprawling campuses on which the hospitals were built, and were intended to be self-sustaining. As such, the food was grown and the grounds maintained by patients, and by all accounts the treatment provided was a vast improvement on the universally  care afforded to the mentally ill prior to this era. But such times were not destined to last. After the turn of the century, state hospitals became warehouses for an increasing number of people who society deemed undesirable, including criminals, the poor, homosexuals, those with unorthodox religious views, unwanted children, the elderly, syphilitics, alcoholics and anyone else who was inconvenient to those around them. During this period, it was frighteningly easy to commit a wife who was no longer wanted, children who misbehaved or aging parents whose care was too cumbersome. 



 As populations swelled past the capacity for which the asylums had been designed, the level of care plummeted, and with such diverse populations being cared for in the same wards, consistent treatment was impossible. Cuts in funding during wartime and the depression forced many patients to sleep on floors or in hallways.

 BUT NOW THEY SLEEP ON SKID ROW CONCRETE SIDEWALKS and HAVE GASOLINE THROWN ON THEM and BURNED FOR "THRILLS!" LOOK AT THE ARTICLES ABOUT THE TEEN AGERS "THRILL KILLING HOMELESS" LEARNED IN "VIDEO ROLE PLAY VIOLENT GAMES!"

Treatment reached critical proportions during the Second World War, when funding and supplies were unavailable and the majority of able-bodied staff were involved in the war effort. The care for patients also became unimaginably nightmarish: there were wards full of malnourished, unclothed and filthy patients, who were forced to eat rotten food and sleep in quarters that were falling apart, often fatally exposing them to the elements.  With staffing ratios at unthinkable levels (at times 1 staff member to 200 patients) and facilities crammed to nearly double their intended capacities, abuse by staff also became incredibly problematic. Patients were severely beaten, raped, prostituted, denied medical care and otherwise mistreated to levels that are beyond comprehension. ] One cannot help but think when looking at pictures from this period that the patients are nearly indistinguishable from Holocaust survivors. [I FEAR THE PHOTOS YOU SPEAK OF ARE ACTUALLY DELIBERATELY SELECTED TO FURTHER THE AGENDA THAT THE MOST VILE MONSTERS RAN THE MENTAL HOSPITALS, if you Think This, you are a DANGEROUS IDIOT, but if you CAN NOT SEE that AMERICA TODAY TREATS SANE AND INSANE ALIKE FAR WORSE than the People You Describe, TODAY, EVERY DAY, in the WORLD'S LARGEST PRISON INDUSTRY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX since THE ROMAN EMPIRE! WE CURRENTLY HAVE A PRISON POPULATION OVER TWICE THE NUMBER OF FARMERS ENGAGED IN PRODUCING THE FOOD WE EAT! Think about that!] As the peeling paint etches intricate patterns in the walls and doors of this asylum, its toxic dust coats the floor and floats in the air.


  In his book, Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and The Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill, Robert Whitaker makes a compelling argument for how the Holocaust and the treatment of the mentally ill in this period both were founded on the same principles of eugenics and the cleansing of "undesirables" from society: the stated goal of the concentration camps was the extermination of Germany's upper-echelon groups deemed detrimental to society, while the same, if unstated, goal in the United States mental health system was attained through forced sterilization and lethal neglect. The halls of the Athens State Hospital are remarkably well preserved and unmarred by vandalism and theft. As the war ended, several major fictional and grossly emotional exposés brought thefalse idea that abysmal treatment of the mentally ill to light. A photo essay, entitled "Bedlam 1946", in Life Magazine and Albert Deutsch's 1948 publication, The Shame of the States (Mental Illness and Social Policy: the American Experience), helped raise public awareness of the plight of the inmates in a couple of psychiatric hospitals. While this served to ameliorate the situation somewhat, most of the measures taken to remedy the problems were short-lived. 
Overcrowding and insufficient care continued to be problematic, although less so than during the years of the Second World War, and abuse of patients was never found to be true. There is simply no way to encompass all the cruelties heaped on the patients;[ but you will make up a load of lies to create your fictional pulp trash propaganda any way, it's the way of the liars] most are familiar with Electric Shock Treatments, which gained popularity as they produced manageable patients, albeit those whose cognitive functioning had been permanently impaired. A particularly barbaric variation of this treatment was performed at Athens State Hospital by Dr. Walter Freeman (1895-1972), who made use of neither anesthetics nor an operating room, and whose careless technique shocked even other doctors and nurses familiar with the procedure. Another common form of treatment was hydrotherapy in which a patient was placed in a tub, which would be filled with either scalding or freezing water, and a sheet was zipped around the neck so only the head was sticking out. Depending on the temperament of the staff, the patient might be left in such a state for days without even a pause to use the bathroom. As the hospitals' intent was less to cure than to warehouse patients, the purpose of the treatments was less to produce any measurable improvement in their condition than to subdue them, making them convenient for the staff. Left to its own, nature often playfully mimics architectural details, using dazzling complimentary patterns. During the late 1960s and 1970s, the advent of the "chemical straight jacket" Thorazine changed the face of mental health care. Neuroleptics like Thorazine produce a myriad of intensely uncomfortable, frightening side effects and were in fact later identified by Soviet political dissidents as one of the worst tortures they were subjected to in the "psychiatric centres" where they were confined.  They produced docile and compliant patients however, and their use was far-reaching and indiscriminate in the American mental health system. As their use became more widespread and the push for - and newly formed patients' rights associations, the focus of hospitalization shifted from containing patients for the remainder of their natural lives to bringing their behaviorisms to manageable levels that would allow community integration. While this policy was in many ways beneficial, the treatment at  to be an inhumane and dehumanizing process. [ ============================This book, entitled The Shoe Leather Treatment, referring to the common "treatment" of kicking patients until they were compliant or too injured to resist, former patient Bill Thomas relates that after years in state hospitals, a brief stay in prison after an escape attempt seemed an immeasurable improvement in his quality of life.] ==============================


Vandalism has severely damaged the buildings of the hospital in Maryland. Doors are broken, windows smashed and graffiti covers nearly every wall. Coupled with the push to reintegrate patients into society, this flagrant abuse and neglect finally led to the closure of many asylums. Even this process was messy, however. Under President Ronald Reagan's policies, which often led to dumping clients out of hospitals with inadequate aftercare, the homeless populations soared. When the closure of Byberry State Hospital was initiated in 1986, three hundread patients drowned in the Schuylkill River before the Pennsylvania Governor decided to slow down the process to a manageable level. This process continues to this day and the problematic nature of providing care for the mentally ill continues to haunt us. Harrisburg State Hospital in Pennsylvania recently shut down, forcing communities and mental health providers to scramble to find alternatives for patients with higher treatment needs. Many patients now in communities may require assistance for the rest of their lives in dealing with mundane chores most take for granted, such as buying groceries and paying bills, because they were never exposed to these problems during their hospitalization. 

[AND NOW, IN THE 21 ST CENTURY, THE PATIENTS ARE BEING FORECLOSED OUT OF THEIR BOARD AND CARE FACILITIES...the STREETS in OKLAHOMA was FILLED WITH WANDERING FREEZING HOMELESS CRAZY MENTAL PATIENTS this month DURING THE BLIZZARDS of 2011! 

THE "JESUS HOUSE' the ONLY PROVIDER of CARE for the OBNOXIOUS MENTALLY ILL INSANE HOMELESS, MULTIPLIED DUE TO BANKRUPT and FORECLOSURES upon MENTAL HEALTH HALF WAY HOUSES, the TELEVISION MEDIA in conjunction with the OTHER TWO BIG "CHARITIES" in OKLAHOMA CITY launched a SMEAR & ATTACK MEDIA "EXPOSEE' NEWS ATTACK" on the Jesus House, IN ORDER TO MAXIMIZE THE DONATIONS away from the MENTALLY ILL at the Jesus House" to the BIG CORPORATE "RESCUE-MISSION, INC" and "SALVATION ARMY. INC" who CAPITALIZES by ONLY HOUSING HEALTHY WORK AGE AND EMPLOYABLE PEOPLE, who go through FULL TIME WORK either ON CAMPUS or in LABOR-READY OUT SOURCE JOBS and PAY THE "MISSIONS" 90% of the INCOME for the "SALVATION & LOVE of the "CORPORATE "JESUS" and are KICKED OUT QUICKLY with NO REFUND OF MONIES for ANY INFRACTION!!!] 
 
As the peeling paint etches intricate patterns in the walls and doors of this asylum, its toxic dust coats the floor and floats in the air. [and your asinine liues float like noxious ordors and flies above a pile of Bull Manure...] In his book, Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and The Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill, Robert Whitaker makes a compelling argument for how the Holocaust and the treatment of the mentally ill in this period both were founded on the same principles of eugenics and the cleansing of "undesirables" from society: the stated goal of the concentration camps was the extermination of Germany's upper-echelon groups deemed detrimental to society, while the same, if unstated, goal in the United States mental health system was attained through forced sterilization and lethal neglect. The halls of the Athens State Hospital are remarkably well preserved and unmarred by vandalism and theft. As the war ended, several major fictional and grossly emotional exposés brought thefalse idea that abysmal treatment of the mentally ill to light. A photo essay, entitled "Bedlam 1946", in Life Magazine and Albert Deutsch's 1948 publication, The Shame of the States (Mental Illness and Social Policy: the American Experience), helped raise public awareness of the plight of the inmates in a couple of psychiatric hospitals. While this served to ameliorate the situation somewhat, most of the measures taken to remedy the problems were short-lived. Overcrowding and insufficient care continued to be problematic, although less so than during the years of the Second World War, and abuse of patients was never found to be true. There is simply no way to encompass all the cruelties heaped on the patients;[ but you will make up a load of lies to create your fictional pulp trash propaganda any way, it's the way of the liars] most are familiar with Electric Shock Treatments, which gained popularity as they produced manageable patients, albeit those whose cognitive functioning had been permanently impaired.[Darn Right! I HAD 134 ECT Treatments in 1969-1971. It didn't kill me, & I AM HERE "EYE WITNESS" to TELL TRUTH!] A particularly barbaric variation of this treatment was performed at Athens State Hospital by Dr. Walter Freeman (1895-1972), who made use of neither anesthetics nor an operating room, and whose careless technique shocked even other doctors and nurses familiar with the procedure. Another common form of treatment was hydrotherapy in which a patient was placed in a tub, which would be filled with either scalding or freezing water, and a sheet was zipped around the neck so only the head was sticking out. Depending on the temperament of the staff, the patient might be left in such a state for days without even a pause to use the bathroom. As the hospitals' intent was less to cure than to warehouse patients, the purpose of the treatments was less to produce any measurable improvement in their condition than to subdue them, making them convenient for the staff. Left to its own, nature often playfully mimics architectural details, using dazzling complimentary patterns. During the late 1960s and 1970s, the advent of the "chemical straight jacket" Thorazine changed the face of mental health care. Neuroleptics like Thorazine produce a myriad of intensely uncomfortable, frightening side effects and were in fact later identified by Soviet political dissidents as one of the worst tortures they were subjected to in the "psychiatric centres" where they were confined. ] They produced docile and compliant patients however, and their use was far-reaching and indiscriminate in the American mental health system. As their use became more widespread and the push for un-institutionalization was spearheaded by President Nixon and newly formed patients' rights associations, the focus of hospitalization shifted from containing patients for the remainder of their natural lives to bringing their behaviours to manageable levels that would allow community integration. While this policy was in many ways beneficial, the treatment at homeless shelters to be an inhumane and dehumanizing process. [ ======================================================= [In his book, entitled The Shoe Leather Treatment, referring to the common "treatment" of kicking patients until they were compliant or too injured to resist, former patient Bill Thomas relates that after years in state hospitals, a brief stay in prison after an escape attempt seemed an immeasurable improvement in his quality of life.] ============================= Vandalism has severely damaged the buildings of the hospital in Maryland. Doors are broken, windows smashed and graffiti covers nearly every wall. Coupled with the push to reintegrate patients into society, this flagrant abuse and neglect finally led to the closure of many asylums. Even this process was messy, however. Under President Ronald Reagan's policies, which often led to dumping clients out of hospitals with inadequate aftercare, the homeless populations soared. When the closure of Byberry State Hospital was initiated in 1986, three hundread patients drowned in the Schuylkill River before the Pennsylvania Governor decided to slow down the process to a manageable level. This process continues to this day and the problematic nature of providing care for the mentally ill continues to haunt us. Harrisburg State Hospital in Pennsylvania recently shut down, forcing communities and mental health providers to scramble to find alternatives for patients with higher treatment needs. Many patients now in communities may require assistance for the rest of their lives in dealing with mundane chores most take for granted, such as buying groceries and paying bills, because they were never exposed to these problems during their hospitalization. 


 A pile of discarded shoe coverings lies at the foot of the basement staircase in Athens State Hospital. The ever-present issue of what to do with state hospital facilities is also difficult. In many cases, the land and buildings will be almost immediately reclaimed, sold to developers or used as state agency offices. Several facilities, such as Danvers State Hospital in New York, are being converted into high-priced apartment buildings, although some ex-patients and mental health workers view this as a move only slightly more tasteful than making apartments out of Auschwitz. Other facilities like Dixmont have been completely demolished by large companies, which see the sites as development gold mines and have no problems bulldozing unmarked gravestones in patient cemeteries to make way for their projects. Some, such as Pilgrim State Hospital in New York, were partially used, abandoned and demolished. Countless more sites have been completely abandoned, standing until the roofs collapse under the weight of years of water damage or until they are burned by arsonists. Almost none are protected historic sites that visitors can enter to learn about their checkered past. The wings of a Kirkbride hospital are designed to house progressively psychotic patients, so that the further one gets from the centre (and exit), the more difficult it is to escape. Two examples stand out, however, as thoughtful ideas for reintegration of the properties into the communities. The state hospital in Fairview, Connecticut, has been turned into a public park-the buildings are well secured and the grounds well kept-where during the day one finds community members jogging, picnicking or walking their dogs. Ironically, by being open to the public, theft and vandalism have taken significantly less of a toll on the buildings compared to other state hospitals whose grounds are off-limits. The theatre of this asylum is in poor condition, yet large, old projectors in the booth still rest relatively unscathed. Athens State Hospital is a fantastic example of proper maintenance of an historic site. The university uses portions of many of the buildings and as such the grounds are well-maintained, beautiful and secure. It has an excellent section on its website dedicated to the history of the facility; the wings of the old Kirkbride hospital are in better condition than nearly any other state hospital in the country. Also unlike many other asylums, Athens State Hospital sits securely on a hill overlooking the small college town. While entering it requires a respirator and permission from the faculty, its rich and multilayered past remains intact for now, serving as a poignant reminder and an epitaph to the many shattered lives that passed through its doors. Reply to this post Reply Poster: abandonedamerica.us Date: Jan 31, 2011 2:37pm Forum: texts Subject: Re: Albert Deutsch, CRAZYIER then NOT, NOW more MEANEY The Shame of the States 362.2 D48S HC MorpheusOne, Please read the notes I wrote at the bottom. Boxcaro added their own opinions (hint: they're in all caps) into my text. Matthew Murray Reply to this post Reply [edit] Poster: boxcaro Date: Jun 29, 2013 9:42pm Forum: texts Subject: Re: Albert Deutsch, CRAZYIER then NOT, NOW more MEANEY The Shame of the States 362.2 D48S HC NOTICE: Matthew Murry actually TOOK ANOTHER'S ARTICLE and PUT HIS NAME ON IT! This is THE REASON He Cannot OBTAIN the Text from AMAYZONE! HE WAS NOT THE WRITER! HE STOLE IT! Reply to this post Reply Poster: elijahradioprophet Date: Mar 26, 2011 2:22pm Forum: texts Subject: Re: DID YOU SAY YOU WERE A PLAGERIST? The rise and fall of state hospital State school was dumping ground Robert Mielke, shown here during a stroll around the grounds of the Northampton State Hospital, said he struggled when patients occasionally asked why they were hospitalized. "Today, I'd probably have an answer," he says. Mielke worked in many different jobs at the now-closed hospital. CAROL LOLLIS Photo By THEO EMERY Staff Writer NORTHAMPTON - Re Or Search All APPI Journals d * Articles by Lynn, D. J. Psychiatr Serv 53:1189, September 2002 © 2002 American Psychiatric Association Book Reviews Gracefully Insane: The Rise and Fall of America's Premier Mental Hospital by Alex Beam; New York, PublicAffairs, 2001, 273, $26 David J. Lynn, M.D. Albert Deutsch "Madness in the Streets" How Psychiatry and the Law Abandoned the Mentally Ill Rael Jean Isaac Virginia C. Armat ISBN : 0-02-915381-6 Reply to this post Reply [edit] Poster: boxcaro Date: Jun 29, 2013 9:42pm Forum: texts Subject: Re: Albert Deutsch, CRAZYIER then NOT, NOW more MEANEY The Shame of the States 362.2 D48S HC NOTICE: Matthew Murry actually TOOK ANOTHER'S ARTICLE and PUT HIS NAME ON IT! This is THE REASON He Cannot OBTAIN the Text from AMAYZONE! HE WAS NOT THE WIRITER! HE STOLE IT! Reply to this post Reply Poster: micah6vs8 Date: Jan 22, 2011 5:33pm Forum: texts Subject: Re: Albert Deutsch, CRAZYIER then NOT, NOW more MEANEY The Shame of the States 362.2 D48S HC So the solution to de-institutionalization is to put the mentally ill on the streets or in prison where 90%+ of them are currently? No doubt crimes, abuses and indignities stained the prior system mightily, but what has replaced it is far worse. We need to reconsider how we as a society treat the mentally ill (I'm talking clinical diagnosis, not having a bad week). Societies are judged by how they help and care for the weakest among them. We are failing. It reminds me of this ending. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0Z0bu-swko 


 Re: Put Schizophrenica On Skid Row! Thank You Who SUpport a Old Man in Telling Truth. http://medically-brain-damaged.blogspot.com/ History of Ypsalinti State Hospital, Michigan, where Milton Wrote the Three Christs of Ypslanti in 1953 

 
 http://medically-brain-damaged.blogspot.com/ History of Ypsalinti State Hospital, Michigan, where Milton Wrote the Three Christs of Ypslanti in 1953 [or there abouts] 




Home→Collections→Books o The Madness of Deinstitutionalization : OUT OF BEDLAM; The Truth About Deinstitutionalization By Ann Braden Johnson (Basic Books: $22.95; 296 pp.; 0-465-05427) : MADNESS IN THE STREETS; How Psychiatry and the Law Abandoned the Mentally Ill By Rael Jean Isaac and Virginia C. Armat e Free Press: $24.95; 414 pp.; 0-02-915380-8) September 09, 1990|E. Fuller Torrey | The most recent book by Torrey, a research psychiatrist in Bethesda, Md., is "Nowhere to Go: The Tragic Odyssey of the Homeless Mentally Ill" (Harper & Row). and The deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill that accelerated during the early years of the Reagan Administration--one of the more dramatic social experiments of 20th-Century America--is widely viewed as an abysmal failure. Many of the former denizens of state mental hospitals, liberated in theory but evicted in fact, have found their new homes either in jail or on the streets. For example, Boston's public shelter, the Pine Street Inn, has become Massachusetts' largest "institution" for the mentally ill. Almost half of its 1,000 nightly residents suffer from schizophrenia or manic-depressive illness. The largest "institution" for the mentally ill in California is the Los Angeles County Jail, where an estimated 15% of its 24,000 inmates are diagnosed with these same diseases. Not since the 1820s have so many mentally ill individuals been forced to reside in public shelters (then called "almshouses") or jails in the United States. Well intentioned though it may have been, deinstitutionalization has been a bad trip down a rabbit hole. "Out of Bedlam" and "Madness in the Streets" describe this bad trip and explain how we happened to embark on it. "Out of Bedlam" is the work of Ann Braden Johnson, a New York social worker who has spent many years working in the public sector with seriously mentally ill individuals. Johnson's tone is impressively warm and empathic: "Chronic mental patients are both more realistic about their condition and more graceful in failure than the rest of us, for their forced detachment from the normal world the rest of us inhabit has given them the wisdom that comes with tolerance of the inevitable." Johnson also excels at showing how New York's disjointed, illogical health-care bureaucracy manages to ensnare many patients each day. Getting someone approved for Medicaid, she writes, is like "having a root canal, a mortgage closing or a tax audit." Her derision of administrators who never see patients is both palpable and accurate: "Administration can be a refuge, a chance to dictate and control without having to expose the limits of one's own skills and abilities." Her descriptions of the nursing-home industry, finally, are poignant reminders that some businesses have profited handsomely from deinstitutionalization, at the patient's expense.