Argus-Leader from Sioux Falls, South Dakota • Page 19

ZQQt state Argus Leader, sioux i-ans, 5.D. Sunday, May 8, Former patients say system is dehumanizing Wkis Kir- By ANN GRAUVOGL Leader Staff Patients and families re- "Viewed the mental health care system Jpurday during a daylong seminar tag about the unspeakable will be a starting point for reform. Linda said she asked to be admitted to a private mental unit last fall. Visitation was limited to Vi hours durine the week and time on week- hrinnc wan i nugusiana wjuege. And their review' wasn't a good' ends, and days were structured with therapies.

Linda said. Occupational patients who have been in and 6ut of state and private mental wards said they had been dehumanized, hu-miliated and stripped of their rights uviiuuii ruy vuaia reaularlv priced at wnen mey were aaraiuea to tne nosoi- i i ii i I $127.00 the institution, where her stay began with a strip search by a male attendant and an order for medications: "I asked what it was, and they said it was none of my business. I asked what it would do me: They said, Fou'll find out. After about a week, was as close to catatonic as I ever want to get. I'd sit in a chair that wasn't a rocking chair, and I would rock.

I was sitting in that chair, and it was like it was someone else sitting there." Linda said she was given medication that she told attendants would give her seizures, then locked in isolation for misbehaving. She said she was locked in isolation again after throwing her glasses across the floor in anger: "When they finally came to get me out, I was huddled behind the door like a rabbit that was hunted. That's not like me. That's not my personality." Linda and the other patients said they learned to be agreeable, venting their frustrations in jogging or sanding a wooden block. of the things I discovered when I was in there: You don't tell people how you are.

They don't want to hear," Linda said. iney tautea aooui strip searches, searches, medication and a lack support. said they would never return under any circumstances. Four women who had watched their husbands and sons go through the mental health system said they felt alone with their problems. No one ever told them what to expect, they therapy, which was like camp arts and crafts, was at 11 a.m.

Group therapy was scheduled after lunch to get emotions out. Music therapy was next. Linda said her first day in music therapy the patients sang "Deck the pumpkin patch with lots of pumpkins, fa, la, la, la, la. "You can get very comfortable up there," she said. "You don't have to make any decisions for yourself." But Linda said she didn't want to get comfortable: "After admission I was angry at people controlling me and telling me I was unble to do all these things I'd been doing.

It's real lasting impression. I felt dehumanized." Sally said she was committed to a state hospital 10 years ago when she faced criminal charges, which she would not disclose, in Aberdeen. She said she spent almost nine months in i I a i 1 I sam. no one toio tnem now to cope. The seminar was sponsored by the Mental Health Association of the Empire.

Most of the speakers -requested that only their first names be used to protect their families, i Their stories are about the side of the mental health system that is rarely ly discussed. They said they hope talk- Treatment must change, patient advocate says only a few ways to get well? The mental health system is failing vtoo often, a representative for the j' -r mentally ill says. 'c Bill Johnson, who has worked as a patient advocate for 13 years, said the must change to bring treat- ment out of the hospitals and guaran-K tee patients' rights. Johnson, director of the community-based advocacy programs for the Mental Health Asso-! of Minnesota, spoke Saturday at a daylong seminar on mental "We have to open up the process and allow people to go to different kinds of healers. We've got to knock off the professional garbage and the claims that they make because they fail all totf often." Johnson said he's scared of a system that prescribes multiple lobo-tomys, hundreds of shock treatments and drugs that can threaten mental health.

"I think that a human being has a right as a human being. If we cannot help them at least they should not have to come out of the system worse than when they went in. Available in petite, and-! Regular length, Sizes 4-20 Johnson said. His suggestions include: The needs and wishes of the consumers the mental health patients must be listened to. "They, know more about this business than just about anyone else in this world." Patients must have a freedom of choice about their treatment.

Meaningful, community-based alternatives to state hospitals must be developed and funded. A national bill of rights for mental health patients should be developed and enforced. Involuntary commitment should be re-examined and allowed only in extreme cases. Money should provided for adequate support groups for all members of society, especially the families of the mentally ill. Insurance companies should be required to provide adequate and meaningful psychiatric coverage.

Ann Grauvogl -health at Augustana College. "All of us know what we want to (. believe about mental health," von said. "The problem is we don't who we should believe." l-i While professionals tell the public i what works and what they can cure, Johnson said treatment is not 0t0 rUn All Spring CM 0 Uri Accessories Use Your Favorite Charge Card sometimes it "Sometimes it helps "I have taken a couple of drugs that are given to people. I couldn't believe it," he said.

Johnson said he had taken Thorazine, a drug commonly -prescribed for patients in psychiatric wards, and 20 minutes later he was having halucinations. The system must be reformed, CCKTS This ETC. Downtown 336-3995 remains the important The Empire 335-8871 issue facing psychiatry and mental jKtiealth today. If there are indeed ways to get sick; why are there rv jx Businesswoman: uun i mini Dems to pro-labor policies ifr Businesswoman Norma Brick says Democrats in the business world touldn't feel they have to hide their party affiliation, and Republicans (7 The 83's 84's are here! 25" Color Console Early American Dark Oak Styling 134 Channel Electronic Tuning System LED Channel 0 ric sm. Number Display Auto Color pi ll.il"9 J) Picture Control Casters I jUT shouldn't be viewed as the only party for business.

People tend to assume that Republicans automatically are more sympathetic to the needs of business and Democrats are viewed only as the pro-labor party, she told Sioux Falls Democrats at a meeting Friday. "These generalities cause some major problems," she said. "I think we should all be working for the common cause for the business community." says she once was told that she had two strikes against her when she -iiiwon a major advertising account: She was a McGovern Democrat, and she a woman. Jack Rentschler, a Republican businessman who also was invited to address the Democratic Forum, which meets weekly, said that although he didn't like them, policies of Democrat administrations had prevailed during some of his best business years. "I have the feeling that the Democratic Party is more interested in money away from me and redistributing it," Rentschler said.

Saying he was half jesting, half serious, Rentschler told Democrats, "There are many, fi'fflany times I think if we had a moderate, non-military minded dictator for a period of about six years, I think we could make more progress." jmo'the two speakers were talking about the Democratic Party and how it relates to business. Rentschler has business interests that include a restaurant and truckstop that bears his name; Brick is an owner of Sight Communications, an advertising and public relations agency. rfsio rib li -si Hi CO CO i LLI LU CO i LU Model J2538MD Martm Cd President Martin Homes THERE'S NO BUSINESS LUKE SMALL ALL! Full 25" Diagonal Color Television Deluxe Remote Control Adjustable Shelves Spacious Equipment and DisplayCurio Areas Retractable Lower Shelf for Turntable Royal Oak Finish BUSINESS 95 $2,499 Model J2539MM 1 1 till I 25" Component Color i TV Monitor a 1 wmwAotcj i CO LU Model HV729 Sf81 Etogance So.TouSh So" State ST Channel Tuning System Timer Tape -f2 'Cue, Review. StopT CO U7 CO "JILTOiXd ll 17 nWlt $POO 95 rourc oaiua ujm. 'tasking a juggling act far sixteen hours a day.

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