According to The Charleston Gazette article Groups protest ‘lunatic asylum’ name, a pre-Civil War mental hospital in Weston, West Virginia has – after undergoing several name changes spanning the 19th and 20th centuries including “West Virginia Hospital for the Insane,” “Weston State Hospital,” and then simply “Weston Hospital” – gone back to using its maiden name of “Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.”

Unsurprisingly, many mental health groups in West Virginia are outraged. Folks from the Mountain State Direct Action Center, the West Virginia Mental Health Consumers Association, the West Virginia Mental Health Planning Council, and the West Virginia Americans with Disabilities Act Coalition have either already spoken out or are expected to in the near future.

What may be more surprising is that I – both a consumer, an advocate, and a ninja against stigma – am not at all outraged. I’m actually intrigued.

Lots of people are fascinated with mental health-related subjects. I’m one of them. Terribly fascinated. I don’t know why, really. Our brains, our thoughts, what makes our brains work the way they do, what makes us think the thoughts we think…all of it. I’m just terribly fascinated. It’s probably sick, really. So, when I read the article in its entirety and learned that the hospital’s new owner, Joe Jordan, and the facility’s historical consultant, Edward Gleason, have plans to develop “educational exhibits showcasing the ‘renaissance in psychiatry,’” I was, well, fascinated.

I want to learn more about the history of mental health. I want to be exposed to how mental illness used to be treated. I want to view the time line and appreciate how far we’ve come. Is that so wrong? No, I don’t think so.

Although Gleason stated -

“In America, we strive to present our history as it really was, blemishes and all,” Gleason wrote. “We are not the Soviet Union, which invented the past by altering names, places and events, to support what had been judged politically correct by contemporary powers.”

- Scott Miller, the director of the Mountain State Direct Action Center, says Gleason and Jordan are trying to “glorify” what was once a “living Hell.”

With what I know thus far, I certainly don’t think they’re trying to glorify anything. I think they’re trying to present history as it happened. (What’s the old saying? “Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it”?) Isn’t that why the Willard Suitcase Exhibit was created? To not only remember the patients for the people they were, but to also illustrate the “living Hell” mental health treatment used to be and help us appreciate how far it’s come?

Those of us with an ounce of class and intelligence don’t use words like “crazy,” “lunatic,” or “nut case” regarding mental health anymore; however, the class and intelligence we have now doesn’t erase history, and I’m all for any preserved relic of history that teaches us about the past and helps us learn and make better decisions in the future. (Of course, this isn’t to say that I’m for “Psycho Path,” the dirt bike race event held on hospital grounds. That’s just ignorant and I’ll of course be awarding an A.S.S. Award to whomever created it.)

Constant vigilance, my friends. We can keep sight in the fight against stigma without losing sight of what we’re fighting against.

For more information about the hospital, visit Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.

Image source.

Post from: Blisstree

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum Upsets Mental Health Advocates

This week’s Saturday Sanity includes Mental Health Notes updates as well as mental health-related news around the globe.

Enjoy!

• Last Sunday, I launched a new, hopefully permanent series here at Mental Health Notes called Brain Break. Unsurprisingly, the idea is to give our brains a break. Check out the announcement post and let me know what you think.
• This picture popped up just in time. I’ve been itching to hand out another A.S.S. Award.
• Back in January, NAMI’s CW Tillman shared his Race Across the West (RAW) adventures with us, and now he’s keeping us updated with his new Web site, CW’s Race for Awareness.
• Ken Jensen, a MySpace friend of mine, fellow BP survivor, and former Marine (I know, I know, once a Marine, always a Marine – my ex-husband was one, I get it) published some interesting thoughts about people with bipolar disorder and fulfilling dreams, as well as the potential dangers of settling for the status quo. Check it out: Bipolar amplifies the pain of dreams unfulfilled.
• With the help of some mice made manic (*sigh*), researches may be getting closer to better understand bipolar disorder and possible new treatments.
• California Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Mahoney has ordered the Corrections Standards Authority to, simply put, get their acts together when it comes to making sure juvenile correctional facilities are treating offenders properly – including in the mental health department.
• Scott over at Health and Men sheds some light on beneficial brews. Find out how they may help reduce stress and how some of the ingredients may even reduce your risk for Alzheimer’s.
• And, speaking of Alzheimer’s, Liz over at Alzheimer’s Notes fills us in on “Voices Remember,” an upcoming Broadway charity event in support of the disease. Well, not in support of the disease, per se, but in support of a cure for Alzheimer’s.

Image source.

Post from: Blisstree

Saturday Sanity: Brain Breaks, A.S.S. Awards, NAMI Updates, And A Former Marine