Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 23, 1956)
o o o o o o o o O The Medical Roundup oniultant In Medlclna. Mao clinic Cmerltnt Prof mo r of Medicine. Mavo Foundation LI m Our Neglect of the Mentally Disturbed 0I keep getting letters from fer-rsons who say, "I wish you would auit harping on mental t r o u bles and here dity. My family is shot fullof irsanity. alcoholism and I e p i lepsy, and so I just don't veant to hear a word about j such troubles. So talkabout muscular dys trophy, cfln9 multiple sclerosis if you want to, Cut leave mental diseS.ie alone." As M..e Gorman of the Na tional Mental Health Committee of Washington, D.C., said the other day, his is the attitude of jrjst laymen, and I am asham ed to say, of most physicians today. None of us wartt"anything t rig iSith the greatest medical rjS problem th ate faces "the- country. ; I can practice It) yeers without '. sPeing a ca-eof muscular Systro- Ph? ormultiple sclerosis, bul j ev-i-ry rfay I see men and woran '. v(go are mentally upset and in" I need f0psychiatwc helps'. As Mr. i j)rm;i recently pointed out so forciolyo every other hospital ' bed inothe lSd is Occupied by insane perom, andfor every j mentally disturbed patient in a' - hospital there are 29 outside 2yiartJ of diem a tribje prob ; lem to their relatives. G t Ev(y week a fiumber of moth 5 ers wjh a menfnlly disturbed son j ask ft.e what to do. Jhe lad is J S8t insane enough, or in.sane i enough al the tiroe to be corn i mitti: but he is trnemployable; perhaps he (is traveling about. 'charging things to his parents ; arrapidly using up their me ; ger swings. What can the mother T do? To Owhom csm she, appeal? Urw can sh ge her son into a r-grnfSI hospital when he "see- no need for being treated? I Where can shefind a psychiatrist T(5 il'iig tfstrugfe with the prob . lerrAf hostile and impecunious ' man who will not admit that he iCill? I am sorry to say I do rtot ; know the answers. I May BS Well Upset- , . I Let us saj that we talk the nriQ?ito ing to the nearest slate hospital? Will he be hsppy" ; there? "o. H$0may wll be so J upse?) by the conditiois in an ', antiquated and badly over-crowd ed institution that he will be worse. As Mr. Gorman says, the conditions in many of our state hospitals are a disgrace to our civilization. Will the man get good treat ment? He may or he may not, depending on the generosity or the niggardliness of the legisla ture in that particular state. As my good friend, the medical su perintendent of the mental hos pital in a poor state used to sav to me, sadly, "How can I hope to do anything for my patients when there are several hundred of them and I have only one assistant?" And if the lad goes into a hospital and comes out well will he be able to find a job? Read Mrs. Hackett's book "The Cliffs Edge (McGraw Hill) and learn that the man who has just been discharged from mental hospital cannot get a job even as a laborer no one will have him. Thank God for the few kind men who today are trying to combat this situation! Finally, if a child becomes so mentally disturbed that the par ents cannot handle him, where can he be taken? In many states, nowhere. According to Mr. Gor man, in this country there are only 30 residential treatment centers which can take care of only 2.000 children a year. They have 10 times as many applicants as they can accept. The Child Welfare League estimates that there are 50.000 emotionally dis turbed children for whom we Americans have made no provi sion. In our schools we have one psychiatrist for every 50,000 children. Fundi for Clinics A while ago the father of a criminally psychotic boy wrote me "No one will take him until he kills some child, and this I expect him to do any day." It is good to hear that the Pennsyl vania legislature recently appro priated over a million dollars for psychiatric clinics for children. Mr. Gorman keeps pointing out that our laws and our meth ods for handling the mentally disturbed are antiquated. Other countries have shown that many of the mentally disturbed can be cared for humanely in homes. Canada has shown that many disturbed persons can be taken care of in either "day" or "night" hospitals. The man may be in a hospital during the day, getting treatment, and at night he re turns to his home. Or. he works all day and stays in the hospital at night If many general hospitals had a division in which disturbed persons could be helped, these persons would not get the ter rible stigma of having been in an "Insane Asylum." As I see it, there is a tremendous need for part-pay centers to which puzzled relatives of a mentally upset person could go for infor mation and for advice as to the best way to handle and care for their loved one. Perhaps there could be persons not police men with a police wagon but kindly, well - trained men who could come to a home in an Sunday, December 23, 1956 MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL.TRIBUNE THREE ordinary car and try to talk the patient into going with them for a few weeks of expert treat ment in one wing of a general hospital. As Mr. Gorman says, this ter rible problem cannot be solved until the public and the medical profession take some interest in it. So far we doctors have paid no attention to the situation; we have never visited a mental hos pital, and, like most people, we have not wanted ever to hear i a word about the care of the mentally upset. . Dr. Alvarez hopes his readers will understand that it would be impossible for him to answer re quests for information or to at tempt to diagnose-by mail. (Released by The Register and Tribune Syndicate, 1956) GIVE BEAUTIFUL . ...... . . .. ?v LIVING GIFTS POINSETTUS All Sizes .... All r'rfcj6o T Potted 1 Camellias - Cycleman a- Azaleas -Dish Garden Plants" and Dish Gardenso o Cut flowers Carnations, Roses, Mums, Poinsetti-j Colorful Plants Sift Wrapped and Delivered on Your Data MARSHALL HUBSEBY & FLORIST 12th & Newtown (Open Sundays & Holidays) Ph. 3-1657 ON THE MfND Tennis star Artirsen is shown-at ' home in Hayward, Calif, after release from the hos pital. He was ioiured in an accident sa hfs motoi scgoter Nov. 10 and was paralyzed. He Wist the power of speech taut hts been able tospe; with difficulty the past few days. He is still paralyzed on one side and may have to return to hos pital for iurther neurosurgery. . USE FUEL . FftOM TIMBER Fione 2-8086 For The Ideal Fireplace Fuel O WISHING ALL A VERY MERRY" CHRISTMAS . TlXlBER Products Company S UVf K TTEH N !UE HER THE GIFT M HOUR OF FREE 365 DAYS A YEAR! GIVE HER A G-E MOBILE MAID AUTOMATIC DISHWASHER- Needs No Costly Installation! M o o ROLLS RIGHT WMX THE CHRISTIWAS TRpi o o mmmmmwmmmmmmmmmmmwmmmmmwmmmmmmmmmmmmwmwmmmmmmmwmwmmmmmmmwmmmwmmmmf START PAYMENTS III WCH i. i o a HEEDS 110 INSTALLATION 1 Roll Mobile-Maid over to your sink . , . snap handy faucet connection onto your faucet ... and it's all ready to do your complete dishwashing job. o o 4 Just-brush off loose food to prepare dishes Mobile-Maid. NO PRE-RINSING REQUIRED. Load all dishes and utensils on the new, easy to load adjustable racks. Easily accessible, they require no moving or sliding to take your full load . . . and can be adjusted to hold your tallest glasses, largest plates. When Mobile-Maid does your dishwashing, every thing is sparkling clean hygenically clean wash ed in water far hotter than hands can stand. 4 xftiL - King-Size Capacity holds glasses, dishes, silver yes, and pans, too! pots Completely Automatic pre-rtnses, washes, rinses, dries. Ideal for Apartments, Bungalows, Rented Homes, Every Home. ONE YEAR PARTS AND LABOR WARRANTY DISHWASHER REGULAR $199.95 is) EASY TERMS HOrt CO. WRITTEN MONEY BACK GUARANTEE! IF AFTER TWO WEEKS YOU ARE NOT FULLY SATISFIED WITH YOUR G-E DISH WASHER - - - YOU CAN RETURN IT FOR A FULL REFUND OF ALL MONEY PAID. : MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU - --AND TO YOURS appliance co7 a 1 O ID O o o
