Mental Hospital

by University of Oklahoma · 1953

▶ Play as a picture story

A University of Oklahoma Production. Produced for the Oklahoma State Department of Health in cooperation with the State of Oklahoma Department of Mental Health. Distributed by International Film Bureau. Director: Layton Mabrey. Scriptwriter: Dwight V. Swain. Coordinator: Jim Bragg. Photographer: Wayne Rock. G.F. Mathews, M.D., Commissioner, State Department of Health. Charles F. Obermann, M.D., Director, Department of Mental Health. Psychiatric Consultants: Charles A. Smith, M.D., A.A. Hellams, M.D. "Recognizable personages appearing in this film are not patients in a mental institution." (According to Dwight Swain, patients were played by producers, crew and friends, since actual patients weren't legally competent to sign talent releases.) Filmed in and around Central State Hospital, Norman, Oklahoma. Jack Stevenson's article on Swain and Hockman appears in Brutarian (Vol. 1, No. 1). Documents the case of a mental patient who is treated for schizophrenia (paranoid type) at the Oklahoma State Hospital. Summarizes the treatment of a patient from admission to the hospital to the time of discharge. Explains the methods used in the treatment of mental diseases and stresses the value of occupational therapy in rehabilitating patients and the need for an atmosphere of calm and security. TITLE CARD: Recognizable personages appearing in this film are not patients in a mental institution. PARANOIA / DEPRESSION / INSTITUTIONALIZATION: Man's voice over as he is driven down a gray, snowy road. HE IS VERY PARANOID. He leans his head against the rear window. There's a close up of his eyes, then hands, then mouth. Men in dark, tweed jackets lead him into the hospital. MEDICAL ABUSE: Nurses examine Joe. He has blood taken from his arms, a chest x-ray, and a spinal tap. PARANOIA: Joe talks to an Oklahoman psychiatrist (with a southern accent). He says, "They're turning my wife, you know, Peg, against me. They're taking up all of her time." Joe rings his hands. The psychiatrist replies, "Why do you think they're doing you this way?" Joe answers, "Well, I've been working on this for years. They don't know it but I'm on to them." PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING: The narrator describes various treatments for psychological disorders, and we view these methods in action (which look somewhat barbarous to today's viewers). First there's insulin shot therapy in which a patient receives a shot (camera pans down to twitching feet), then electric shock, hydrotherapy, and cold pack therapy.