The Forest Haven Asylum (1925 - 1991) 

You will own nothing and you will be happy. Who said that?

Thank you so much for watching this video and having taken the time to share your thoughts up on it - and I couldn't have summed it up better myself. The mentally ill and disabled are quite possibly the largest and most enduring minority within our modern-day culture that has always been and continues to be systematically discriminated against. And one of the unsung tragedies of this is that every other minority within our country has substantial numbers of people within it that suffer from mental illnesses and disabilities. Because of this, mental illness and disability should be one of the greatest crossroads within our country in which all of the other minorities come together to work upon in unison...and yet it just never seems to happen at all. And per the sheer number of the mentally ill and disabled within our country, our voice and our lobby should be one of the strongest and most powerful at the national level of our government, as well as all of the lesser state and regional levels, too...and yet this, too, never seems to happen. We are ignored, disregarded, misunderstood, and portrayed as second-class citizens. It is time for our voice to be heard, our needs to be recognized, and our history to be both taught and remembered...and I guess that this is much of what I'm seeking to do in these videos and this platform. And please free to follow A Tourist in the Land of Reason over on Facebook for updates and sneak previews of new videos as well as other pertinent bits and pieces. I would very much enjoy seeing you there :-) facebook.com/ATouristInTheLandOfReason

Absolutely

Thank you so much for having viewed this video and for taking the time to comment upon it and share your own thoughts and experiences. I can particularly relate to your comment here, too, because of how much my own family has had to struggle with my own symptoms over the years. I've actually written two books on mental illness that I'm now working on getting published, and one of them is geared toward helping the families understand the mentally ill children in their midst and perhaps enabling to live with and help them better, as well as seeking to help those children themselves.

im so glad that these guys point out the sad fact that groups homes were, and still, are not better than large institutions. in all my 20 years working in social services, and working as an advocate as well during those times, i never saw a ''good'' group home, clients are still treated badly, they are abused, they are disrespected, they are neglected, the bare min. is still done for them, their civil and human rights are not respected or put into account at all, extortion and exploitation, theft of funds, belongings, is a huge problem. while me and some others would indeed report and consistently, strongly, push and verbalize what is going on, things were always brushed off, and swept under the rug, all the while being told, '''oh yes that is a problem, that is unacceptable we will be looking into that''' and so forth... these institutions closing was unfortunately a happy ending, it was being transferred from one horror to the next, in DC / Maryland and all other state and county programs throughout the country as well.

Thank you so much for having both taken the time to watch this video and comment and share your thoughts on it afterward. All of these videos share various commonalities, and each one had its individual strengths. This video does much to cover what actually happened at the close of the institutional age and how the problems and tragedies that plagued the mentally ill and disabled were not actually solved or even alleviated in the era of deinstitutionalization. And as today the majority of the mentally ill and mentally handicapped are now being warehoused in our nation's prison system or are homeless, so many of the old trends and tragedies still continue to haunt our nation. Our nation needs to know and understand the tragic history of the mentally ill so that they can properly understand that, really, not very much has changed at all for most of them. And the mentally ill themselves need both a compass and a star to set and guide their course by, and to a large extent, our history can provide much of what we need in such ways. Sometimes we must understand where we have been in order to truly understand where we are and where we truly need to go from here. And please free to follow A Tourist in the Land of Reason over on Facebook for updates and sneak previews of new videos as well as other pertinent bits and pieces. I would very much enjoy seeing you there :-) facebook.com/ATouristInTheLandOfReason

I think that one of the greatest tragedies regarding the mentally ill and mentally disabled today is that we simply don't understand and have a proper concept of regarding how far we've come and what we've managed to survive...because these things aren't being taught anywhere and nobody is sharing them in ways that allow the public at large to learn and appreciate them. One of the tragedies of this is that since the mentally ill and disabled are largely unaware of our own past and all of the tragedies and triumphs there, we lack the knowledge and the mindset to properly address and meet all of the trials and challenges that still remain before us. Our past should provide an unquenchable momentum toward meeting the present and the future...and yet, without knowledge regarding our past, much of that momentum becomes denied to us and we're unable to meet the present and the future anywhere near as strongly as we might be able to do otherwise. These are some of the issues and challenges that I'm seeking to address in these videos, and I'm very pleased to have you along for the ride and thank you very much for your continued interest and support. And please free to follow A Tourist in the Land of Reason over on Facebook for updates and sneak previews of new videos as well as other pertinent bits and pieces. I would very much enjoy seeing you there :-) facebook.com/ATouristInTheLandOfReason

I believe that most people when institutionalization gave way to deinstitutionalization that a magic wand was waved, and everything was finally made automatically better...and that's just not the case at all. One of this video's strengths is that it shows that, to a large degree, the mentally ill and disabled suffered just as much - and in some ways more - after the old institutions were closed and alternate, more "enlightened" means of dealing with them were sought and applied. And while it's true that a small percentage of the mentally ill and disabled have come to benefit from the community-based model that has come to be the norm, the majority of them are now being warehoused in our nation's prison system or have simply become homeless. And for all of those hundreds of thousands of people, very little in their lives and treatment have changed at all. As a mentally ill person myself who has had to spend time in 5 different psychiatric facilities in 3 different states, perhaps my view and understanding of such things is a little bit different than most. Our society, and we as people within it, continue to have the power to change things and make them better, though, and I have not given up hope. Indeed, looking forward, I find reason to be guardedly optimistic. So thank you very much for your kindness, support, and continued interest as we all seek to make this journey into a better future together - it means more to me than you'll ever know 🙂 And please free to follow A Tourist in the Land of Reason over on Facebook for updates and sneak previews of new videos as well as other pertinent bits and pieces. I would very much enjoy seeing you there :-) facebook.com/ATouristInTheLandOfReason

im so glad that these guys point out the sad fact that groups homes were, and still, are not better than large institutions. in all my 20 years working in social services, and working as an advocate as well during those times, i never saw a ''good'' group home, clients are still treated badly, they are abused, they are disrespected, they are neglected, the bare min. is still done for them, their civil and human rights are not respected or put into account at all, extortion and exploitation, theft of funds, belongings, is a huge problem. while me and some others would indeed report and consistently, strongly, push and verbalize what is going on, things were always brushed off, and swept under the rug, all the while being told, '''oh yes that is a problem, that is unacceptable we will be looking into that''' and so forth... these institutions closing was unfortunately a happy ending, it was being transferred from one horror to the next, in DC / Maryland and all other state and county programs throughout the country as well.

Thank you so much for both having taken the time to watch the video and to also share your thoughts on it. Thank you for your kind words about it, too - these things mean more to me than you know. We, the mentally ill, are our own people, and, as such, we have our own history. This history does need to be taught and remembered, too. Otherwise, it will only be perpetually repeated, and we'll never be able to escape from it and rise above it. Please feel free to follow A Tourist in the Land of Reason over on Facebook for updates and sneak previews of new videos as well as other pertinent bits and pieces. I would very much enjoy seeing you there :-) facebook.com/ATouristInTheLandOfReason

Thank you so much for having watched the video and for having taken the time to respond and share your own personal history and experiences regarding its content. - it all means more to me than I know how to say. The content of your comment tells me that you get the purpose behind the video, too. The current state of our country's mental health care system is NOT being praised, nor is the progress that we've made. Because as good as the progress might be in some ways, it continues to be well out of the reach of the overwhelming majority of today's mentally ill and mentally disabled. We still have so much work to do...and hopefully by developing and fostering a better understanding of the past, we'll also start finding it within ourselves to continue moving forward, and doing so in the most needful of ways.

@@atouristinthelandofreason5284 you're very welcome ! oh yeah, exactly, amen to that.

@@atouristinthelandofreason5284 the images of suitcases and footlockers at places like this have always been so painful , because number 1: this was EXACTLY the same as the Nazis did to the Jews, gypsies, disabled , ill, and others they deemed as, '' lesser beings'' they were told they would be allowed to bring some essentials, and a few prized possessions / personal treasures that could be fit in suitcases or footlockers and they could have that with them.... but behold; once they got to a camp, or institution, it was taken from them, the last bit of ''pride of place, pride of self and sense of ownership of what was ''yours and your own'' was stripped away. never to be seen again; it is mental and psychological abuse.

Yes, this one was particularly sobering to me, too. They were literally and knowingly killing people on a gradual basis here. And while their end goal might not have been to kill their patients, the ways in which they were gradually killing them did so on a continual basis, nonetheless. Congress passed a law, and the Federal judicial system sought to take action against it...and it still didn't stop. The courts ordered the facility to close specifically to stop it, and the facility remained open, and the practices continued within it unabated. We want to gladly think that those days are behind us and we're doing much better now, but for the majority of the mentally ill and disabled - who are now being warehoused within our nation's prison system or are homeless - nothing has changed at all. Indeed, many of the atrocities that the mentally ill are now being made to systematically suffer in our nation's prison system are even greater than those that were committed at Forest Haven...but, just as was the case at Forest Haven, nobody knows because nobody cares. Atrocities continue to be committed against the mentally ill and handicapped simply because those who are committing them know that they can get away with it. Studying the past with open eyes gives us the ability to properly address the present and fix the future, however, and as I continue to produce these videos, I find more and more reason to feel hopeful in such areas and ways. And please free to follow A Tourist in the Land of Reason over on Facebook for updates and sneak previews of new videos as well as other pertinent bits and pieces. I would very much enjoy seeing you there :-) facebook.com/ATouristInTheLandOfReason

@@atouristinthelandofreason5284 I already do, thanks, and I worked for the DMH in Ma at most of the hospitals at one time or another and these problems are widespread as you said

Thank you so much for having taken the time to watch this video and to comment upon it - these things mean more than you know, and they accomplish more than you might realize. 🙂

Yes...I actually work hard toward finding what I hope is both fitting and respectful music for the backing tracks on all these videos. For the most part, our society has already demeaned the people within these videos far too much, and it is my desire to make positive tools that might be useful toward all of the progress that we still need to make regarding our treatment of today's mentally ill and mentally disabled. A little haunting, a little bit reflective, conducive toward learning, and able to foster both action and reaction...I've come to have A LOT of respect for the producers that take it upon themselves to make these royalty-free backing tracks. 🙂

Wouldn't it be nice if we had a national advocacy group called "Mentally Ill and Handicapped Lives Matter?" A movement that spawns marches and protests, receives news coverage and interest at the national level, and which captures the eyes of lawmakers and demands their attention? I have faith that our day will come in such ways...but I also know that it can't come soon enough. And please free to follow A Tourist in the Land of Reason over on Facebook for updates and sneak previews of new videos as well as other pertinent bits and pieces. I would very much enjoy seeing you there :-) facebook.com/ATouristInTheLandOfReason