TORTURE, PAIN, SILENCE, ISOLATION, SUFFERING, SECRECY, POWER, INTOLERANCE, LACK OF UNDERSTANDING, UNQUALIFIED STAFF, NO MOTIVATION OR STIMULATION, LACK OF FUNDING. IT ALL ADDS UP TO THE SAME OLD STORIES ECHOED FROM THE ARCHIVES OF OUR CARING PAST= ABUSE NEGLECT AND NO CARE! SINCE THE FILMING OF THIS DOCUMENTARY WE HAVE LEARNED THAT SOME OF THESE PATIENTS WERE PLACED BACK WITH THEIR FAMILIES AND GIVEN SUPPORT TO THE FAMILIES WHICH MAKES ME ASK THE QUESTION .....WHY?
WHY Didn't THE FAMILIES HAVE THIS SUPPORT TO BEGIN WITH???
DIDN'T POLITICIANS SUCH AS ENOCH POWELL STIPULATE THE END TO INSTITUTIONS OF ABUSE,
DIDN'T THE PRIVATISATION OF THATCHERISM FINALLY SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF SYSTEMATIC ABUSE AND NEGLECT IN THE CARING SECTOR?
OBVIOUSLY NOT!
For me personally this particular can of worms was opened a long time ago and the only way to surmise how far we have actually come is to take a brief look back at the horrific conditions the disabled and mentally challenged were subjected to back then when Enoch Powell took a personal interest in the plight of the voiceless society which existed out of public reach sight and sound.
this documentary shows how system abuse was not only encouraged but also praised though medical (experiments,) in many cases were of very little benefit to patients. Many patients also talk about how they had little control of their own destiny, quality of life inside the institutions were nothing to admire. What frightens me further more was the fact that lots of these people suffered minor illness which needed no hospitalisation and they merely had no idea why they were there. When the outside world got to finally see what went on, there was a cry of outrage for change! Which led us to the situation of smaller private run what i refer to as(mini institutions) for the very challenging cases that cannot live independently within their communities.
Going even further back... When we think about the Frankenstein type of barbaric treatment with extreme restraints, both for children elderly and all alike. Those of whom proved most difficult or dangerous, often turned out to be the most disturbed and extreme cases which should have had the most help and attention. Instead during this period were left to rot denied a life even equal to that of an animal!
During the mid-eighteen hundreds, a movement to reform the mental asylums began to permeate throughout society as popular belief began to change about the mentally ill. Those who suffered from madness were no longer suffering because God deemed them ill, but because of a disease of the brain, one that could be studied and eventually cured. Thus, reform began. Patients started being fed well, were given clothing and shoes, and were removed from their chains. Thus, this humanitarian treatment and change in the very perception of mental illness fuelled scientific development.
During the mid-eighteen hundreds, a movement to reform the mental asylums began to permeate throughout society as popular belief began to change about the mentally ill. Those who suffered from madness were no longer suffering because God deemed them ill, but because of a disease of the brain, one that could be studied and eventually cured. Thus, reform began. Patients started being fed well, were given clothing and shoes, and were removed from their chains. Thus, this humanitarian treatment and change in the very perception of mental illness fuelled scientific development.
Before the mid-eighteen hundreds, common belief was that those who suffered from mental illness suffered because they had a "disease of the soul" (Goldberg, 24). Their madness supposedly stemmed from an evil within, and they thus were treated as animals. Patients in these early asylums were kept in cages, given small amounts of often unclean food, had little or no clothing, wore no shoes, and slept in dirt. Because the patients could often live many years in such conditions, the caretakers became more confident that these human beings were in actuality closer to animals and thus deserving of such abuse (Ussher, 65).
How difficult it is to look back at how the weakest members of our society when were systematicaly abused and neglected.
Doomed and stripped of what moral dignity theyd clung on to. The helpless were left locked in silence at the mercy of do gooders and no gooders. After all the unjust theyve suffered you'd think we'd be bending over back wards to put things right!!
From the footage seen in documented films we cannot deny the past yet when faced with their plight today theres a constant reminder of how we are still failing!!!
april last year these headlines read in the guardian april 2011..... (another headline confirming what a mess we really are in)..............
Unison warned that budget cuts would compromise staff and patient safety.
Three patients have died within the last 12 months on the same locked psychiatric ward, following repeated warnings from unions that budget cuts would put staff and patients at risk.
Tower Hamlets Centre for Mental Health is a £35m, purpose-built, 119-bed unit for seriously ill psychiatric patients. The building is only four years old, yet before it was opened Unison warned that the design would require extra nursing staff to ensure safety, as every patient has their own room.
SHAME ON US ALL!!!!!!
EVEN WITH STATE OF THE ART EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES WE STILL CANT GET IT RIGHT!!
IS IT SIMPLY THAT WE DONT CARE!!!!!
WHILE WE FILL OUR COUNTRY WITH A SWELLING POPULATION OF FOREIGN INFLUENCE AND ALLOW THE WEAKEST OF OUR SOCIETY TO ROT IN HELL AS FAR AS MOST ARE CONCERNED.
I BELIEVE THE UNITED KINGDOM HAS LOST HER WAY WE TALK ABOUT COMMUNITY WHEN THE REAL TRUTH IS IF YOU HAVE NO FAMILY AND ARE UNABLE TO FEND FOR YOURSELF.............THERE IS NO CARE FOR YOU!
CONCLUSION UK DOES NOT CARE ENOUGH!! SHAME ON OUR LEADERS AND LOCAL MPs!! YOU KEEP FAILING TO ADDRESS THE CURRENT ISSUES AND FAIL TO MAKE IT A PRIORITY!
AS THE CARE SYSTEM SLIPS BACKWARD TOWARD THE DARK AGES MORE DISABLED AND MENTALLY CHALLENGED PATIENTS ARE LEFT SUFFERING NEGLECTED, SOME BACK ON STREETS FENDING BEST THEY CAN, IN CONSTANT DANGER AND AT HIGH RISK. WHILE YOU ALL SIT NEXT TO YOUR COSY FIRES IN COMFORT GALORE REMEMBER.........
IT IS TIME FOR CHANGE WE ARE THE ONLY VOICES OF THE MUTE,
THE EARS OF THE DEAF,
THE LEGS OF THE CRIPPLED,
THE MINDS OF THE MEDICATED.
LETS SHOW THEM WE DO CARE!
FIGHT TO MOVE FORWARD!
Tower Hamlets Centre for Mental Health is a £35m, purpose-built, 119-bed unit for seriously ill psychiatric patients. The building is only four years old, yet before it was opened Unison warned that the design would require extra nursing staff to ensure safety, as every patient has their own room.
SHAME ON US ALL!!!!!!
EVEN WITH STATE OF THE ART EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES WE STILL CANT GET IT RIGHT!!
IS IT SIMPLY THAT WE DONT CARE!!!!!
WHILE WE FILL OUR COUNTRY WITH A SWELLING POPULATION OF FOREIGN INFLUENCE AND ALLOW THE WEAKEST OF OUR SOCIETY TO ROT IN HELL AS FAR AS MOST ARE CONCERNED.
I BELIEVE THE UNITED KINGDOM HAS LOST HER WAY WE TALK ABOUT COMMUNITY WHEN THE REAL TRUTH IS IF YOU HAVE NO FAMILY AND ARE UNABLE TO FEND FOR YOURSELF.............THERE IS NO CARE FOR YOU!
CONCLUSION UK DOES NOT CARE ENOUGH!! SHAME ON OUR LEADERS AND LOCAL MPs!! YOU KEEP FAILING TO ADDRESS THE CURRENT ISSUES AND FAIL TO MAKE IT A PRIORITY!
AS THE CARE SYSTEM SLIPS BACKWARD TOWARD THE DARK AGES MORE DISABLED AND MENTALLY CHALLENGED PATIENTS ARE LEFT SUFFERING NEGLECTED, SOME BACK ON STREETS FENDING BEST THEY CAN, IN CONSTANT DANGER AND AT HIGH RISK. WHILE YOU ALL SIT NEXT TO YOUR COSY FIRES IN COMFORT GALORE REMEMBER.........
IT IS TIME FOR CHANGE WE ARE THE ONLY VOICES OF THE MUTE,
THE EARS OF THE DEAF,
THE LEGS OF THE CRIPPLED,
THE MINDS OF THE MEDICATED.
LETS SHOW THEM WE DO CARE!
FIGHT TO MOVE FORWARD!