Robbins 1

Ashley Robbins

Miss Burke

Honors English 11

May 12, 2017

Annotated Bibliography: Mental Institutions

Bentall, Richard P. Doctoring the Mind: Why Psychiatric Treatments Fail. London: Penguin,

2010. Print.

By the late 1900s, many people thought the solution to mental illness had been found.

Since mental illness starts in the brain, the solution was believed to be biological.

That is, through drugs and even lobotomies, which are surgical operations on the brain.

This time period of biological success became known as the Prozac Age because prozac

was the main drug used to treat mental patients.

Richard Bentalls Doctoring the Mind calls into question how successful mental

healthcare services really are. He divides the information into three parts and

addresses the illusions of progress, the three myths of mental illnesses, and the

medicine for this madness. Bentall disects the science behind the current psychiatric

profession. The main purpose is to redefine the treatment of mentally ill patients for the

twenty-first century. The author argues passionately for the future of treatment for the

mentally ill. He believes that the focus should be more on the patient as an individual, rather

than treating them as a number or abstraction, which is what the biological services were doing.

The biological
 Robbins 2

successes came from various experiments on the lives of many people who were

struggling from madness. Therefore, treating a mentally ill person as a human

being would solve half the problem. Bentall expresses his honest perspective in this

book in order to engage and inform the reader of the many issues regarding the

treatment of people struggling with mental illness.

Chapters in this book could easily be incorporated in the curriculum for a psychiatric

practice and even a psychology class. The honest writing provides abundant

information on the issues of mental health treatment beginning in the late 1900s. The

efforts to improve the future of such treatments adds an interesting twist to the book

and its purpose. Students interested in these topics will find Bentalls work both

intriguing and amusing.

Dear, Michael J. Landscapes of Despair: From Deinstitutionalization to Homelessness.

Princeton Univ, 2016. Print.

To deinstitutionalize means to discharge or dismiss a patient from an institution. When

discussing deinstitutionalization under the topic of mental institutions, it is

referring to the many patients who were dismissed from mental hospitals with the

expectation that community care would help these vulnerable people.

Unfortunately, community treatment for the mentally ill did not meet the

expectations or meet these peoples needs. Many of these people became homeless or

lived in very poor, dangerous environments,

 Robbins 3

which did not help their conditions. Micael Dears book provides background

information on deinstitutionalization and explores its effects on the mentally ill

people and the community.

Dear takes a very formal and serious approach to his research and writing, and provides

the most intricate details on deinstitutionalization. To support his claims, he

includes statistics and facts to display the decline of residents in state and county

mental hospitals. This information is effective in many ways, one being to explain

how the community was impacted by deinstititutionalization. He found that the lack of care

and treatment for these service-dependent people worsened their conditions. For

example, the mistaken solution for mentally and physically disabled people

seemed to be prozac, or drugs. Because these vulnerable citizens lacked proper

nourishment and care, some became drug addicts which worsened their conditions.

Not only did the author gather information from the United States, but he also evaluated

Canadas struggle with the mentally ill people in the community to offer a

comparison. Landscapes of Despair offers a comprehensive analysis of

deinstitutionalization including the history of service dependency, the birth of

mental institutions, twentieth century consolidations, and the present crisis concerning

the nations most vulnerable citizens. This source is appropriate when talking about the

issues that emerged from deinstitutionalization and can help researches and students

in many ways. The reader is guaranteed to learn more about the constant back-and-forth

struggle with care in mental

Robbins 4
 institutions and the community, and how the United States handled the mentally ill in the

past.

Grob, Gerald N. Mad among Us: A History of the Care of America's Mentally Ill. New York:

Free, 2011. Print.

Mr. Gerald Grob recounts Americas various attempts to solve the lasting dilemma in

deciding what is best for the mentally ill and for society. Grob recalls that

Americans wanted to be humane toward the mentally ill, however have always

separated them from the rest of society. The book references all the way back to colonial

America. The purpose of this is to demonstrate how families accepted the

responsibility of taking care of mentally ill family members at first. In other words,

mental institutions did not exist at that time. As years passed, people began to think a

solution to this dilemma would be to lock up the mentally ill. As society grew larger and

more complex, the idea of mental hospitals came into play. These hospitals and

institutions acted as a more appropriate alternative to throwing the mental people

behind bars.

In this text, Grob includes the individuals who administered such hospitals and

demonstrated their success in providing human care and treatment. He also

addresses how the increasing pressure of patients caused the hospitals to decrease in

quality and treat patients poorly. Incorporated in the book are charts and graphs to

display these drastic transformations.

Robbins 5
 Chapters in this text could be used for multiple purposes. Several chapters address the

growth of the psychiatric profession, the change of the field during World War II,

and the use of controversial therapies, such as drugs. Criticism grew on therapy

and mental institutions in general. People argued that these places were inhumane,

which paved the way for the emptying of the institutions. After this, new policies

emerged which emphasized community care and treatment. Students

interested in or studying such events could reference Grobs book because it is a reliable and

engaging source. The text could enable them to expand their knowledge on the

history, development, and fall of mental institutions.

Keating, Frank, and David Robertson. "Fear, Black People and Mental Illness: A Vicious

Circle?" Health and Social Care in the Community 12.5 (2004): 439-47. Web.

In this journal entry, the authors take an interesting approach and explore the issues of

racism in mental treatment. Frank Keating and David Robertson discussed an

issue caused by prejudice and misconceptions. Throughout the entry, they referenced a

study that proved that black people feared mental health services. The study discussed

introduces a circle of fear hence the title of the journal entry. Not only

did black mental patients mistrust and fear mental health services, but the services felt the

same sense of fear or discomfort.

Robbins 6
 This circle of fear was caused by racism and misunderstandings. The black population

already struggled from racism and segregation, so black people who struggled

with disabilities had even more to worry about. They feared the treatment of these

mental health services because it was not sufficient and they were abused. Keating and

Robertson conclude that progress would only be made if these circles of

fear were broken and treatment of mentally ill black patients would be appropriately

adjusted.

This journal entry draws special attention to the influence of racism on the American

mental health system. Chapters in this text are very useful for students who are

researching the treatment of mentally ill patients, especially African

Americans. Students should find Keating and Robertsons style interesting because of

the evident creativity and reasoning in their writing. The article offers reliable

information from the studies for someone who is interested in or studying such

topics. The authors honest perspectives and informative approach allows the reader

to expand their knowledge on mental institutions and societys view on the

mentally ill, or mentally ill African Americans. This text could easily be used to provide

supporting evidence for someone who is looking to support their claim on the negative

influence of racism in mental health treatment.

Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Broadway Books, 2009.

Print.
 Robbins 7

Skloots book includes many scenes where the reader can learn about mental institutions

and societys attitude toward the disabled in that time period. Henrietta and Days

second child, Elsie, experienced delays in her development as a child, and

therefore was placed in a mental institution. The fact that she was not acknowledged as

having an official disability during her lifetime speaks volumes about societys stance

on disabled/black people. In todays world, Elsies disease would be classified under

syphilis, considering her mother and father were cousins.

Skloot revisits Elsies life to effectively characterize the mental institutions in the

mid-1900s. It is evident that mental institutions were rather busy at the time,

considering Crownsvilles mental hospital held 3,000 patients. However, the

attendance should not be mistaken for institutions treatment. Deborah, Henriettas daughter,

uncovered an old photo of Elsie at the mental institution in Crownsville that she was

admitted in to spend the rest of her life. The photo displayed two white hands gripping

Elsies face while she was trying to turn away. Skloot and Deborah concluded that Elsie

was most likely abused in the institution.

Chapters in this text provide specific examples and supporting evidence on the harsh and

abusive characteristics of mental institutions. Skloots work also exemplifies

societys tendency to look down on disabled people and people of different skin

color. Consider Elsie, who was both - she was thrown to the side, no one cared to

acknowledge or uncover what was actually wrong with her, and she was

abused throughout her life in the mental institution. Some of the scenes in this book

would be appropriate for generating

 Robbins 8

evidence in defending an innocent person living in an abusive mental institution.

Readers should find these examples in Skloots book interesting and useful when

learning about mental institutions and possibly society in the 1920s.