[spiritual_emergency]

A four-part series sponsored by the BBC on the history of psychiatry and institutionalized care. It is concerned, in particular, with the closing of asylums in the UK -- a move that was echoed across western culture over a span of 20-30 years.

Any potential viewers should be forewarned that scenes of electroshock, insulin coma therapy and brain surgery are included in the footage. Depending on the individual and their personal life experience, this could be highly distressing. View at your own discretion.

People should also be aware that this is not an "anti-psychiatry" film. It may even produce a feeling of gratitude among many that attitudes toward various forms of human distress and mental illness have changed over the years, within the body of psychiatry and the larger community. At the same time, it inspires hope for recovery and care within the community while drawing attention to the possible shortfalls of the same.

What I took from it was the dangers of rejecting the range of experience. In the earlier portions of the film, when institutionalized care was the norm, I was struck with how souless and cruel it seemed -- it was difficult to feel that anyone should have ever been in such a place.

In the later parts of the film however, as the asylums were being closed down, I could sense the jubilancy of some but also the sadness of others who were leaving a place behind that had offered a structure and perhaps the only kind of family and human kinship they might have known.

I was also reminded of my own child's experience. The worst hospital experience was found in a new modern building with an attitude that echoed the punitive, dismissive and controlling atmosphere seen in this documentary. The best hospital was one that resembled very much, an ancient institution set upon a sprawling landscape. Ironically, that place offered the most freedom, the most autonomy and the most understanding. The critical difference couldn't be found in the architecture, it was found in the attitude of the staff.

[costello]

Really interesting. Thanks.