
Report from Manteno (Mental illness)

( Francis Rigney / New York Public Library )
Producer Bob Park and reporter Donald Herbert visit a mental health institution in Manteno, Illinois. They interview patients, therapists, administrators, and public health officials to describe the inner workings of the one of the largest psychiatric hospitals in the United States, Manteno State Hospital. This is part one of two (the other is 150112).
Produced by the Chicago Industrial Health Association.
The episode begins with Don Herbert interviewing a young woman, who is revealed to be a patient at a psychiatric hospital in Manteno, IL.
Bob Park describes the state of Manteno State Hospital, which 50 years earlier would have had straight jackets and padded cells, but now allow patients to walk around freely.
Herbert interviews a male patient undergoing therapy in water tub about how he found himself in the institution and how his treatment has been going. The therapist describes the treatment the patient is undergoing - a safer version of a long, relaxing, warm bath. This is the first step of many that will lead the patient back to sanity.
Commercial Break from Johnson and Johnson.
Park discusses what happens when a patient first enters Manteno. He then describes electroshock therapy and the happiness and relaxation (and disorientation and amnesia) that follows, and then insulin treatment which has similar results. Park then describes carbon dioxide treatment, which was new at the time. Herbert interviews a patient undergoing carbon dioxide treatment and her therapist. She then undergoes the treatment, which has immediate effects.
Park discusses the need for additional therapy on top of carbon dioxide or insulin treatment. They then interview the director of the institution, who talks about the terms under which a patient might be allowed to leave. It depends on both the state of the patient and the environment to which is to be released.
Park talks about patients who are worse off, unable to interact socially. Herbert interviews a therapist who is attending to the "acutely disturbed," the most violent. Herbert interviews one of these acutely disturbed patients, who claims to be both Austrian minister of War and a university president, among other things.
Another commercial break.
Park discusses some of the methods of treatment we've heard about: electro-shock, insulin, and carbon dioxide treatments, which have a direct effect on the nervous system, as well as "wet pack" and water tub treatments, which aim to relax the patients.
Herbert interviews a therapist about the role of play and "rhythm bands" in Manteno's therapeutic efforts, which is the subject of the next episode (150112). They preview that episode. Park reviews statistics about mental hospitals - costs, over-population, and more.
Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection
WNYC archives id: 150114
Municipal archives id: LT1971
This is a machine-generated transcript. Text is unformatted and may contain errors.
And now it's your life a program that can only be as real as like itself Good afternoon this is Ben park you and I are walking the streets of an unfamiliar town it's like a model city with Country Club buildings pleasant walks and beautiful lawn there are many people walking around a woman in a brightly colored dress comes along the walk towards us we stop to talk with her she's carrying a folded newspaper apparently is a conversation piece don't under that paper leave it just as it is and that magazine I want to show you something unless someone doesn't like I was exercising you see I believe in exercising and that's the way of. The Sound of God and I have a feeling that the other evening be here let's bear. This night these magazines are going to St cripple sorry I was doing that day you know the car the bicycle or like a great voice leading sort of on his neck with his legs up more like what I do yes I know a hundred times I've done that for about twenty years and I've actually I for about twenty years and I use it every morning fifteen minutes every morning about nine o'clock when I still do it but they brought me was that they come out fold their arms and say What are you doing what are you doing because I'm exercising trying to keep myself and show you all one of the things you know I'll tell you why it doesn't it would terrify but Gypsy I've had that I've been as a done been doing this writing if I had been doing this writing I would have thought of it so much that I probably would have gone insane from it what kind of writing is that why write what's going on over here and what's going address and now yesterday when Dr Bao I gave him some writing one day they had four planes come over there when I was sitting opposite writing the day after I'd given Dr me some writing by telling my life was terribly in danger here and I was frightened and the next day four planes came directly from the north and then him right started toward his office and they came right straight at me and I knew that they really were threatening Dr develop Well I got a bit unfair in the talk years ago if I had been working that was why I worked willingly because I worked so that I wouldn't lose. A hundred years ago fifty years ago or even less you wouldn't have been able to talk to her walking about the law she would have been in a cage perhaps or a padded cell she is of course one of those people legally termed insane but who medicine calls mentally ill today you and I are together as men to no state hospital mental Well no I for the first of two broadcasts entitled report from men Tino to special programs today and next Sunday featured by it your life as a special report which actually takes you inside the walls of the largest mental hospital in Illinois one of the largest in the world there are no actors on this program the people you hear are the sick the mentally sick from all over Illinois together with the medical personnel who are treating them now here's Tony Parish it's your life is brought to you in transcription by Johnson and Johnson makers of Band-Aid adhesive bandages Red Cross adhesive tape another first aid product serving the medical profession in the homes of America since eighteen eighty six all the facts contained in these real life programs are reviewed for their authenticity by a board about standing medical authorities here again as your producer Bam park to continue with part one of the report from M.K. Now what do you think of a mental hospital does it make you turn aside your thoughts to somewhere else do you think of rows of cells or large wards where the patients are screaming and fighting we can't be blamed for our concepts of mental hospitals because it's only been in the past few years that the facts have changed it was only a few years ago that the straightjacket in the padded cell were our only treatment methods for the mentally ill those were the cruel times years ago you could pay a nickel to take a less feed and watch the man act crazy the one who was lashed to a script there wasn't much hope they were locked up and kept out of the way. Today the whole hospital is a treatment center and patients are coming back home recovering. Now you and I are Atlanta you know one of the first things we see as we glance quickly around at all the wards is that there are no straightjackets at all no one is locked up we turn into a special therapy room there are rows of large tubs here the doctor says the man in his first one suffers from hallucinations and delusions he's excited and disturbed is the kind of man who would formally have been in a straitjacket broke windows. And wide to break windows because they had an impulse strong impulse to make Windows have any idea why I. Was in the car right now it's. The ones where the men on the wards you know. And I think I was kind of excited and. You know how many were you a regular target probably six or eight and many more now. At one time. Let alone members. Of many as they actually brought them back and. I think those hires twenty. One coming what you doing in this strange looking bathtub Tell me about this what it is all about well as well as you know. I want you to know where you got into the tub nervous how do you feel right now no I feel OK. You still feel like you want to break windows now learn on how long you stay in the top three hours how do you do when you get out all right when to break any windows I don't feel like they can with anything for how long. The rest of the day and tomorrow morning when you get up you're going to kill a big one of again well but there were probably won't. Usually get it in post in the morning before you come down here when the doctors call hydrotherapy. Before the hydrazine are being. Done to tell you something vital. Like Candace arrangement that he's in. This canvas is made so that it is suspended from each side of the tub the patient lies in the canvas he is floating in water but at the same time. There is no effort doesn't have to keep his head above water he is perfectly relaxed if we have disturbed patients who are placed in the tub spiting we can. Wrap this campus around the patient and restrain the patient until the therapy takes effect what kind of disturbances on the how to use the acne what happens when they get into the top. Disturbed disturbance varies. With certain types of patients we will find that they are very tense rigid. That they are responding to Alyssa nations are delusions that they're fearful they have terrific feelings of guilt and there is a general physical tension. Resulting from their mental condition the hydrotherapy gives them a physical relaxation through the action of the warm and continuous flow of the water in the tub I just just like when. A person who's not mentally ill gets into t'other home for instance in the water fairly heartless laid back and relaxed the action is very simple and from the fact. Clay identical. To the man we just talked to here. He wants to break windows and piers like it usually in the morning you notice that he says it in a feels like breaking windows whenever. He has had a difficult. Experience of any current fragrantly and a morning he will be disturbed because of a. Dream or a restless night that he has experience. Prior to his awakening but now his daily tub bath gets him in shape for further treatment it relaxes him so that he's in touch with the real world from there the doctors can take hold make him understand why he's been out of touch some day he won't need to break windows any more some day he won't have to depend on his dream world but he'll be able to live in the real world in just a moment we're going to barge in on the director of the hospital maybe someone in your family has been mentally ill maybe someone will be maybe you know someone who's had to go to a state hospital you probably do is this the kind of place you'd like in that the well bring him back to normal life normal living in short does it still deserve the old name of insane asylum or not House or is it really a hospital just like any other we'll find those answers in just a moment but now an important message from Johnson and Johnson the people who make these programs possible here Tony Perry. Emergencies don't wait that's right friends we all know about a first aid emergency call for immediate attention because even a tiny scratch can become serious if not created early. Yet a recent survey shows that one out of three homes is not adequately prepared with the necessary first they'd product. Why not check your medicine cabinet and make sure it's well stocked and make sure those products bear the most trusted name Johnson and Johnson by instance Band-Aid he said bandages one of the famous Johnson and Johnson products their preferred in eight out of ten homes where he said damages are you they come to you one hundred percent stero each one individually wrapped in a convenient easy to open the wrapper looking for the name bam they made only by Johnson and Johnson the law just manufacturers of first aid products in the world and remember emergencies don't wait be prepared with a well stocked medicine cabinet. Back to your producer Bam Park who continues with part one of a report from Montana what happens to someone to anyone to you or me if we have to go to a hospital that's a mental hospital if it's meant Tino the patient first gets a physical examination and a mental examination he's tested for his intelligence level in this particular mental state he's also given chest X. rays a blood count and other special tests just as in any hospital but because this is a mental hospital there special work being done a social worker is investigating the patient's background this background material together with everything else known about the patient is reviewed by the entire hospital staff or by the clinical director it's decided just what the patient's trouble really is and enough line of treatment is laid down treatment. What do they mean by treatment in a mental hospital today well it's going see we witness an electric treatment the patient gets onto a table to electrodes or contacts are placed on his forehead and a charge of electricity are sent through the patient quivers and then begins to move around slightly after a few moments he wakes up at first he doesn't remember where yes then it all comes back to him but there's something added much of the depression is gone and there is happiness and relaxation in its place we see insulin therapy liquid insulin solution is injected into one of the patient's veins he goes into a deep sleep after he comes out of the sleep you see the same result as with the electric therapy now we go to a room where they are going to give a new type of treatment carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide gas is breathed by the patients what happens you'll watch it happen the doctor says about this patient to not talk much seems in general just to sit still now she's responding exceedingly well to the carbon dioxide if you could talk. Do you remember how you felt before you began the carbon dioxide treatment. Now I believe how they. Undoubtedly. Want you number that impression. I don't mean about the treatment I mean how did you yourself do things to talk to the other girls. Around moving around a man trainer. I can have an exact place and you don't I mean I guess I. Don't think any Remember to. Tell you the truth. Is she was slow. Felt guilty and in general look as depressed.. As She does now how I think I can show you all right here I think of him. Slowly taking your shoes out. I don't see any. Going on. Doctor turned on the singing the finasteride faced thing Question one thing getting rather deep lake took me with her just looked fastest growing up and down and she takes the carbon dioxide thing doctor explained earlier that by this time she was unconscious she was. Nothing. Like the tremor and looking like. She continues it's like tremors. Oh wow. This deep breathing is that an attempt to get oxygen you know the reaction you know she has enough action but carbon dioxide acts as a respiratory stimulant Oh I see you when you know you usage of an artificial respirators to make a person start bringing. Just marks you know that would you please I like how you feel kid. And I think. In her video they are and they're right. Now. With the way to get OK in. Your. Story of the day slipped a few into she's very quickly. Recommend. Yes. If. You feel happy you know. Yeah. Keep praying and you see she had been on insulin treatment we took her off carbon dioxide and put our New Zealand since the carbon dioxide indicated that there was a good basic result to be gotten and uninstall and she had been recovering gradually and steadily so that. This treatment that she has had no has been to demonstrate you were a change of mood that does occur with the carbon dioxide. And because the carbon dioxide is lifted the veil the doctor can see that she has a rich full personality underneath that sick sad state of mind before the treatment she was vague and slow all of the thoughts were deep inside her she didn't think she amounted to anything but carbon dioxide treatment brought out her real self so that you could see how she will be when she no longer needs treatments to keep her that way following any of these treatments electric insulin and carbon dioxide lasting recovery depends upon psychotherapy the doctor talks with the patients and helps them understand their own problems the patients do this in groups or singly Now you go to talk to the director of the hospital supposing a patient has been here for some time she's been under treatment for some time you want on her but ask At what point the patient allowed to leave the hospital the patient is permitted to leave the institution on consideration of two different factors first of all upon the progress which he has made and the. Ability which he has demonstrated to act as a member of the group and secondly upon the social services evaluation of the situation into which is going to return then supposing that he is well recovered and his home situation is such that he can go back into it you simply discharge and that's the end of it was he was first given his first year usually given a conditional release. For a period varying from a month to a year and during that length of time. The institution maintains contact with him throughout patient clinics and through visits to his home. By the social worker and by a psychiatrist. When it's apparent that his improvement or recovery is permanent and stable. He is then given and a complete discharge. Well now wait a minute we're doing report on men Tino in two parts remember because we find that it's not so cut and dried as this might sound treatment is easy for some patients hard for others somewhat difficult Some are simple let's go back a step there are some patients who are just quiet or depressed they go much further than that patients who live in a world completely apart who can't talk coherently or destructive potential danger to others and to themselves you turn into another room now a different kind of rule than Herbert says it's awfully dark in here with only two little green bulbs in the middle of the room and then in the next time over here on this side is done purposely or did you ever try to sleep with a bright light shining in your face and that's what you're trying to get these men to do after you put the call back Mr sleep on the line exactly. In a very quiet there's no definite no voices were heard coming in the door for just a moment everybody talks about the soft voice the same reason yes and strangely enough even our patients. While they're in packs become so accustomed to the quiet of the room that when the doctor goes through and they wish to speak to him they will call to him and of course Perk who are these patients when they come to these patients are all. Residents of the cutely disturbed word petition I mean these men who are there in the pack now completely relaxed are the most disturbed by that I mean the most violent the most violent you might say if you want to use that term in the institution those men right down there you know it's amazing because they're so completely relaxed now well that is the result of the treatment are you working towards a cure for this particular mental illness or is this a temporary things that you can handle and better. It is a it is both it is a temporary thing so that we can handle them better but at the same time it is to quiet them in order to that we may stablish contact with the patient to determine their the nature of their conflicts their problems and to help them find the answers that will eventually. A cure or are remission of their illness. Now this patient just brought in some something about. This patient is a man and. He is quite talkative. He's resisted but. Is someone destructive and he has quite grandiose delusions and I talk to him. Already. Oh you it's a pleasure to talk to. You commander I don't speak French and you don't speak when I don't post any but as a spine I think that's very that. Thing you can tell you did did you tell me what is all about don't have to I sent for you and I'm glad of your organization I made those years ago come you don't need a pat down town I told you not the same day a quick and quicker death can amount seventy five hundred sixty. Five times one hundred sixty fraud that's the other twenty eight isn't it three times three and it's run eight that's three times three hundred is nine twenty eight fifty six and twenty eight eighty four you're very good with figures take us and ahead of the taking university or the university I missed Abramoff the. Company list that they tell you in concert and Sunday has my life as a day what and what. See Come along now what language is that Spanish than Espanol senior nine. Said I should have strong winds that France yearn. Vienna after proceed on to lead the talk it's been a brawl Mr Minister case minister in Vienna case Minister younger generation let me that means wrong most of what Minister why I mean if I'm wrong on of the country I just mean is there right here when I came the minister of peace. Dr. I usually not doing this because he knows we are recording this no. I don't I was head home alone is that I have you hang around because you don't like it no I'm like I was too expensive that's my cup for one hundred years on the dance I love you all the time I call the other side and talk like there's talk as much all the time continuously. It sounds difficult doesn't it what do you do with him he's another one of those who might have been in a straitjacket a few years ago but today there are treatments in just a moment we ask another question of the director of mental state hospital and we get a strong clue as to the fascinating story we're going to hear in next week's program but right now here again is Tony parish with a message from the people who bring you this program Johnson and Johnson. If crystal ball gazing good Tell us when emergencies were going to arise such as minor accidents and injuries would save us a lot of worry but accidents drive without warning and that's when we find that emergencies don't wait yes we all know the importance of being prepared yet a recent survey showed that one out of three homes was not adequately prepared with necessary first aid product don't let this happen to you keep your medicine cabinet well stocked and make sure those products by the most trusted name Johnson and Johnson Red Cross adhesive tape is one of those supplies you will certainly want to have yes the Red Cross on the box means made by Johnson and Johnson so you know it's one hundred percent sterile and on excelled in staking properties in fact wherever it he's of tape is used seven out of ten prefer Red Cross no connection whatever with the American National Red Cross remember emergencies don't wait so be prepared with Johnson and Johnson first aid supplies now again back to Ben park in part one a report from Manteno just a few moments ago you heard a seriously disturbed mental patient. Years ago he might have been committed to the state hospital and simply left there to be taken care of one way or another until he died now already we've seen some of the methods the hospital uses to get through the dreamworld you've heard about electric and insulin and carbon dioxide treatments which directly affect the brain and stimulate you've heard about the wetback and water tub treatments which relax the patients how else are they getting at the problem of mental illness and I get set for a surprise because what you hear next sounds like child's play but maybe that's what's needed now a patient who is quite withdrawn and out of contact may be able to do very little else except to catch a brawl when it's thrown to him this is an almost automatic response since no one will permit a soft playground type of ball to him if it's thrown at him he automatically cuts is it and can be can possibly be coaxed to throw it back. The next stage maybe to teach him to pass the ball around in a circle and from that he made the sign to play a simple percussion type of instrument in a rebel band and again performed as part of the group in the in the rhythm band you may introduce similar folk songs and things of that sort and from the folk songs he may graduate to a group doing simple folk dancing or circle dancing and from Circle games he may go on to participate in volleyball basketball. And various other real life situations. That's the idea to get back to real life get back to working and mixing with other people working at a new and challenging job or becoming reacquainted with an old unfriendly job we see patients playing and working doing the things that will bring them as much in contact with real life as they're able to grasp and push them out into real life as much as possible without scaring them back into that dream world maybe that sounds mysterious Well it is kind of mysterious but then mysteries have clues and mysteries can be solved next week on part two of report from men Tino we're looking in on a mystery we're in a big game room men and women together are playing a game you hear Don Herbert describing. Oh Mary has the bomb and just threw out her eyes wide open swinging her hand. There Mary definitely saw the ball from her hands kind of and watched the man in the center to see where it was going to be and through there she got down to score zero She leaned forward to going on I mean when she closed her eyes tight and she spoke to. You know time or the ball right in front of her man next to one of them had to touch informative Mary's eyes and. Next week we're going to see the thrilling story of how play in the work used as a treatment combined with the other kinds of treatment you've heard about today all help to bring about cure for the mentally ill and I hear something to think about did you know that fifty percent of all hospital patients are mental hospital patients that there are forty four thousand mental patients in Illinois that are state institutions are fifty percent overcrowded at the present time that we're spending two dollars and fifteen cents a day for each mental patient whereas we spend thirteen dollars and twenty three cents a day on patients in general hospital. The human story behind these facts will be told on next week's program POC to report from and Tino if he were alive is produced by the Chicago industrial Health Association in cooperation with Chicago's leading health and medical agencies all the programs are reviewed by a board a prominent doctor down her but is heard as the on the spot interview or it's your life is brought to you in transcription by Johnson and Johnson makers of Red Cross cotton preferred in seven out of ten homes webs open cotton as you look for the blue box with the red cross on it no connection whatever with the American National Red Cross remember emergencies don't wait so be prepared with Johnson and Johnson and first aid private Now this is Tony Perry reminding you to mock your calendar for next Sunday at three thirty when it's your life presents pop to report from and. When you realize how closely related are all the parts of modern living that they how much we depend each of us on one another you can readily understand why each week at this time we say it's your life.