Editing Rockland State Hospital
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| alt = Rockland State Hospital | | alt = Rockland State Hospital | ||
| caption = | | caption = | ||
− | | established = | + | | established = |
| construction_began = 1927 | | construction_began = 1927 | ||
| construction_ended = | | construction_ended = | ||
− | | opened = | + | | opened = 1928 |
| closed = | | closed = | ||
| demolished = | | demolished = | ||
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| architect(s) = | | architect(s) = | ||
| location = Orangeburg, NY | | location = Orangeburg, NY | ||
− | | architecture_style = | + | | architecture_style = |
| peak_patient_population = | | peak_patient_population = | ||
| alternate_names =<br> | | alternate_names =<br> | ||
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"Much of the staff was drafted during World War II and replaced with nonqualified workers," Sara Fisher, a junior studying psychology at Marymount, said. "Beds were placed in day rooms; infections spread, and there was just one psychologist to care for each 300 patients." | "Much of the staff was drafted during World War II and replaced with nonqualified workers," Sara Fisher, a junior studying psychology at Marymount, said. "Beds were placed in day rooms; infections spread, and there was just one psychologist to care for each 300 patients." | ||
− | By 1959, the peak year for admittance, Rockland had more than 9,000 residents (including a staff of 2,000). The students, some of whom plan to pursue careers in mental health, studied the history of treating mental illness through archival research and first-hand interviews. At Rockland, insulin shock therapy was begun in 1937, followed by electroshock treatment and lobotomies. The students appeared visibly affected by seeing and handling some of the surgical instruments, all used, their teachers told them, not out of cruelty but as part of what was then considered state-of-the-art treatment. | + | By 1959, the peak year for admittance, Rockland had more than 9,000 residents (including a staff of 2,000). The students, some of whom plan to pursue careers in mental health, studied the history of treating mental illness through archival research and first-hand interviews. At Rockland, insulin shock therapy was begun in 1937, followed by electroshock treatment and lobotomies. The students appeared visibly affected by seeing and handling some of the surgical instruments, all used, their teachers told them, not out of cruelty but as part of what was then considered state-of-the-art treatment. Other therapy used was a seclusion rooms with a single frosted glass window, a single bed, and a toilet, with a split door with a food service door at the center. Generally three days was the duration given to uncontrollable patients. According to an interviewed patient interned in the early 1940's ice sheet baths were given as punishment for unruly, or uncooperative patients, as well as isolation punishments. |
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− | Other therapy used was seclusion rooms with a single frosted glass window, a single bed, and a toilet, with a split door with a food service door at the center. Generally three days was the duration given to uncontrollable patients. According to an interviewed patient interned in the early 1940's | ||
"In the early years there was very little anesthetic used," Loraine Milosevic, a Marymount junior, said. "They didn't even have teeth clamps to prevent those patients getting lobotomies from biting their tongues." The students learned about treatments for schizophrenia and other mental illnesses, ranging from hydrotherapy ( placing a patient into freezing water in a bathtub to calm the person) to repainting the institution's walls to affect the patient's psyche. (Pink, it turned out, is the most soothing color and today is found in almost all hospitals.) | "In the early years there was very little anesthetic used," Loraine Milosevic, a Marymount junior, said. "They didn't even have teeth clamps to prevent those patients getting lobotomies from biting their tongues." The students learned about treatments for schizophrenia and other mental illnesses, ranging from hydrotherapy ( placing a patient into freezing water in a bathtub to calm the person) to repainting the institution's walls to affect the patient's psyche. (Pink, it turned out, is the most soothing color and today is found in almost all hospitals.) |