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asylum, bipolar, book, hospital, mental health, mental hospital, mental illness, photography, psychiatry, psychology, schizophrenia
A couple of years ago I was doing research on the history of the treatment of schizophrenia, and I ran across a book about suitcases that they found in an attic in a closed down psychiatric hospital. In the book, The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic, the authors go through many of the suitcases (I think they found 400) and try to piece together the people’s lives who owned the suitcases. Many of the people’s lives that the authors were able to find information on entered the hospital and died there. Often times while I was reading the book I thought to myself, “This person doesn’t sound like someone who is mentally ill.” The people who owned the suitcases had been admitted to the hospital sometime between 1910 and 1960, so you can imagine that what was considered “mental illness” changed a great deal in those fifty years.
I found the book to be interesting and sad. Interesting, because the people’s stories are often interesting, and sad because many of their lives seemed forgotten, and not wasted, because a life is never wasted, but interrupted in a way that their skills, talents, dreams could never be realized. Many of the people were buried on the hospital grounds.
Here is a link on Amazon to the book:
There is a photographer, Jon Crispin, who is photographing all of the suitcases. You can see pictures of his work, and some of the cases, here:
So very sad. I watched a documentary where Geraldo Rivera did an exposé on a sanitarium/asylum back in the seventies. Many of the patients were not mentally ill but had cerebral palsy etc… His reporting was instrumental in closing the doors of that institute for good. There was rampant abuse and neglect. A few patients actually left and led productive lives. Yes, a lot has changed for the better but there is so much more to do in the field of mental health care. Thank you for the posts regarding these very personal and informative issues. God bless you!
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Yes, we have a long way to go! Thanks for your comments.
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The items in many of the suitcases touched my heart…powerful.
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I love the photography, but the book and the stories are even better. Ummm, better in a heartbreaking kind of way.
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I’ll make sure to order the book. I’ve been thinking about those photographs all morning.
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This is a fascinating project! I am so glad the photographer is handling these belongings-and by extension their owners-with such respect.
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It’s so moving seeing those cases and picture the life they all lived and how it all was interupted. Thank you for sharing!
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Good find. Thanks for sharing it
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Reblogged this on Evan J. Zimmer, MD's Blog Page.
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I’m so going to read this!
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It is very interesting and sad. I still have it and flip through it every once in a while.
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