(Knowing the dark side of institutionalization)
Author: Kavya Suresh
Editor: Jasmeen Kaur, Arnab Ghosh
“No person who lives with mental illness should be exiled from dignity and, indeed, from hope. What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor and more unashamed conversations.”
In the world of psychology and through popular media we all know that asylums were the primary form of care for individuals with serious mental illnesses throughout the 19th and early 20th century. While horrifying mental health practices and so-called “cures” may be traced back to prehistoric times, the mid-1700s mark the beginning of the asylum age, which marks a period of some of the most brutal and insensitive forms of mental health treatments. Asylums themselves were notorious warehouses for the mentally ill during this time. The first objective of mental institutions was not therapy or cure, but rather the forced separation of convicts from society (Lieberman, 2015). The mentally ill were regarded as social outcasts or moral misfits who were being punished by God for some heinous act and not fit to be seen by or live among the other members of society.
While far from perfect, the psychiatric branch of modern medicine currently does a good deal of benefit for a great many people. But, things weren't always like this, and thankfully, we've come a long way from some of the most remorseless customs of the preceding century. However, it is still an alarming fact that many Indian psychiatric institutions remain hidden prisons for the forgotten and downtrodden and shunned by society. One of the darkest chapters in India's chequered record of enforcing human rights and ensuring good healthcare for everyone is the violation of human rights, inhumane care, and forced rehabilitation of those with mental illnesses. People suffering from mental disorders in mental health facilities are routinely exposed to a multitude of varying degrees of inhuman treatment, which is especially repugnant in view of recent medical developments in the field.
Psychiatric hospitals and de addiction centres are usually the last resort for those suffering from mental illnesses, a last respite, but it's not surprising that these facilities aren't always the secure haven they should be. There are countless horror stories concerning mental health patients who have been placed in abusive or predatory conditions, such as being kept in dark, wet, and cramped cells, being sprayed with insecticides to eliminate body lice, and being forced to sleep next to toilets. Asylums also depended heavily on mechanical bindings, such as straitjackets, metal shackles, waistcoats, and leather wristlets, often for hours or days at a time, a practice that was popular many years ago and has not yet completely vanished. Doctors claimed that the shackles kept patients safe, but as asylums became overcrowded, the use of physical restraints became more of an acceptable control measure. Patients in certain hospitals are denied the most basic necessities, such as clothing, beds, clean toilets, and regular bathing. As it is in other institutions, corruption is common in the acquisition and management of food and other consumables, and the food given is nutritionally deficient and poorly prepared. Asylums were no doubt the “ideal” laboratories for psychiatric experimentation. The use of medications that lead to the development of other symptoms that are used as an excuse to prolong the stay of patients is also not an uncommon occurrence.