Title: The shame of the States /
Authors: Deutsch, Albert, 1905-1961
Publisher: Harcourt, Brace,
Year: 1948
Subjects: Mentally ill Care United States; Psychiatric hospitals United States; Mental Disorders
Abstract: Expose on the deplorable conditions in state mental hospitals, including overcrowding, understaffing, inadequate budgets, lack of adequate treatment facilities, etc. It consists mostly of pieces written for the New York newspaper PM and its successor the Star, as well as some less journalistic content, written from 1940-1948.
Contents: Pt. 1. What mental illness means to us. Who are the insane -- Your stake in state mental hospitals -- Evolution of the state care system -- Pt. 2. I cover the state institutions. Byberry - Philadelphia's Bedlum -- Cleveland - "a hell for the sick" -- New York's isle of despair -- California - the "pride" of Napa Valley -- "Juniper hill on the Hudson" -- Georgia - no better than the north -- Euthanasia through neglect -- Pt. 3. A tale of two city "psychos." Bellevue "psycho" - famous and forlorn -- Detroit's psychopathic belt-line -- Pt. 4. Mental defectives and their families. Remarkable case history -- Deformed minds, broken hearts -- Village of the feeble-minded -- Pt. 5. Whay it needn't be. Scapegoat or system -- Skyscraper asylum - a study in contrasts -- Brooklyn: a place where patients get a break -- Pt. 6. Toward the light. New crusade starts rolling -- Federal government lends a hand -- Toward the ideal state mental hospital.