Gracefully Insane (pgs 91-143)

Summary
Next there is mention of a former patient by the name of Horace Frink. He suffered through moments of depression for thirteen years and he also had "toxic headaches". The only way that they could go away was if he had long periods to do nothing but relax. However, he wasn't able to do that. He was sleeping only a few hours a night and was often giddy. Horace said that he was a very talkative and happy person, but there were times where he experienced "a sense of unreslity and an inability to form mental pictures" (Beam 96). There was also concern that he was a homosexual, though promiscuous, but disguising it, for he was having sexual relations with another woman who he said was queer like a man. He eventually married this woman, but things don't work out and she tries divorcing him. As a result he became suicidal, tyring to kill himself first by overdosing and then stabbing his artery in the bend of his elbow. He was then sent to McLean hospital and was released five months later in good condition, able to go to his divorce meetings. But later he died of heart disease at the age of fifty-three.

McLean was having financial problems. It wasn't so much that they didn't have enough money to keep running. but that people were not putting money in its rightful place. Money seemed to be the main goal. In fact, the cost in the McLean hospital was rising because of their greed. A guy named Wood said that the amount of people who did their job for the purpose of helping their patients was decreasing each year. He said that "no longer does the feeling of satisfaction in a job well-done and the helping of others serve as a goal" (Beam 120). Money was the only thing on their minds. McLean needed help from these wicked minds. Alfred Stanton was hired to assist them because he had brains and morals. He also believed that psychotherapy could successfully be applied to even the worst cases of schizophrenia. Stanton also worked with men who believed the theory that mental illness did not stem from one's traumatic childhood, but rather from damaged interpersonal relationships. Stanton's hand in the McLean hospital changed the way they cared for their patients. Electroshock therapy or insulin shock therapy was not his approved way of helping people. He also felt that the best way to cure someone is to cure them without drugs, unless their situation was severely bad. Stanton also instituted a work-up, which required a long report from patients about their history. He believed that if you had enough history on the patient, it would be a lot easier to understand their psychodynamic diagnosis. However, this lengthy process drained on both the patients and the employees.

It was also noted that since Scanton was in charge of McLean hospital, the number of suicides had increased. It was increasing in that hospital more than the average hospital. Even when the staff would do five minute check-ups on the patients, they somehow managed to kill themselves. People found it rather ironic that the man who wrote a book about mental illness could not successfully run a hospital that specializes in that area.

Quote
"I heard really wild stories about McLean, about people running across the campus in the nude...and that was a disaster for the hospital...There was not a lot going on except that people were being entertained" (Beam 120).

Reaction
This quote is speaking of the mixed reputation that McLean was experiencing at this time. Not only were people greedy, but there were also patients that were running around naked throughout the campus. Now, at this time McLean seemed as if it was in the most help its ever needed. That's when Alfred Stanton came along. However, it seems as if he made things worse because now a lot of people were commiting suicide. The book doesn't really explain why, but I think one thing that factored into it was the process that it took patients to get help. One patient said that you were constantly getting tested and they were trying to figure out what therapy and treatment you need. It would be at least a month until they finally gave you the help that you needed. I think after awhile people just got sick of waiting for the help, probably feeling like they would never get it, and just decided to end it all and kill themselves. I have mixed feelings about Stanton because he seems to have a lot of knowledge about mental illnesses considering he wrote a whole book about it, but dealing with them personally he can't succeed in.