Children of Darkness: The MOST disturbing mental illness documentary (EXTENDED)

all right you know one more time one more time one more time and then you go back in your room there are over seven million mentally ill and emotionally disturbed children in America this program is about some of those children and the institutions they live in Children Of Darkness next are non-fiction television this program is made possible by a grant from the Independent documentary fund which is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts the Ford Foundation The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and public television stations with additional funding from The Following his name is Brian along with 16 other mentally ill children he's on a bus trip to the zoo Brian believes that somebody is following him what's followed us a truck's power I took from us I got back there driving me crazy oh God oh oh God I dropped it supplies come on [ __ ] dog my dad I didn't kill you Brian suffers from Mania and schizophrenia he's been this way since he was four years old Brian lives here at Eastern State School and Hospital in Trevose Pennsylvania 160 children live with him they're psychotic schizophrenic they suffer from organic brain damage and autism some are hyperactive some totally withdrawn some are suicidal Jerry's parents are alive but because of his Muscular Dystrophy and emotional problems they didn't want him my parents were ashamed to go out because of me they were saying to take me out you know let's say it's always a Rashi but the same in the upside tomorrow's his two-year anniversary and his parents just more or less dropped him off here and said you got them see you later and took off when my mom brought me here I seen it and I've seen her since that day since that day she brought me in here I have not seen him it was three days after they took off from Las Vegas and just left him left me here and I didn't know for six months because I was trying to come at home and got somebody else moved into a house and six months later then that means a letter saying they were at Las Vegas and then you closed it went for cats twenty dollars I guess it's about time that I say something to the fact that they don't want me no more and they never will and that it's time for me to get out here and make a nice for myself can you do it yes I think I can I'll see if I can many of the children at Eastern are chronically mentally ill they'll never see what we see hear what we hear think in ways we do how much sleep you got in there son Brian mcanally has lived at the hospital for the last four years oh it's me I only can swim that's what I want away yeah praise the Lord Jesus praise the Lord thank our bodies right thank you thank you everybody for coming thank you praise the Lord once you lay down please I want you to lay down okay don't get me sweaters I just want you to lay down lay down mark because I think you need to relax okay a little bit upset okay okay hi doctor do you know what's going on with him what's the matter with him not really it's Brian is it's kind of scary I suppose it's falling down probably has a very psychotic young man and a lot like I said he was doing really really well until about a month or so ago and he started just regressing going completely the opposite way it's like he's coming on glued he's elucidating a lot more it really has no sense of what reality really is uh the other night he was in his room crying and I smacked on his door opened up said Brian what are you crying about he's like I hit my head and I said yeah he said I was looking out the window and the sun hit me in the head and he was like really upset all night about you know looking out the window getting hit in the hell with the Sun he's having a really rough time this morning we have a van right all right if you're good and if you feel better maybe we'll take you out on the van ride okay all right you're gonna stay back home no you don't have any money Brian subscribe that's it come on lay down on your back come on fine no you're not going to Simply sure getting all worked up [Music] right right [Applause] [Music] [Music] ow okay I know it's dangerous okay doc that's all right all right that's good very good oh I feel good now thank you thank you okay sit down I'll call you 10. I'll be back in a couple minutes thank you thank you Mr Don it's it's perfect I yeah what the hell does it all mean I mean you're here tackling kids holding them to bed sticking needles in them is that is that uh Psychotherapy what's going on it's the best we got I'm serious it's it's the best that we have I mean there are other institutions that you know maybe a little bit better they may be a little bit more staff but I've worked in enough institutions to know that this is you know it's the best system we got and nobody's come up with a better system yet is everything that's going on upsetting you Brian yeah the walls are cracking the walls are cracking oh my God Raphael walk with the group please eastern state is the largest children's State Psychiatric Hospital in America this year's budget is for 13 and a half million dollars that's 84 000 per year per child for this each one gets food medication and a place to sleep for those who could benefit from it there is almost no one-to-one or any other form of psychotherapy the major therapy at Eastern is drugs almost every child there gets some form of psychotropic medication I like to go swimming medication that alters the brain's chemistry in an attempt to control psychotic behavior leagues he is mildly [ __ ] unplanned friends with abandoned by his mother it's never never seen father is very much involved very loving he's coming very concerned as to what his future will be Brian all right Brian I look forward to every Sunday for Brian it's my day Sunday is my day Sunday's the day Jim mcanally and his son have spent together for the past four years it's today Brian gets to go home most Sundays Linda Nixon comes along too she grew up next door to Brian and he likes to think of her as his girlfriend Mr mcanally lost his leg in an automobile accident when he was 19. now he's 70 years old and has had two serious Strokes when Brian's illness became too much for him to handle Jim had to give him up to the hospital but for the first 14 years of Brian's life Jim raised him in this house in East Philadelphia during the Depression Jim earned a living selling bananas oranges and strawberries from a horse-drawn Wagon on the Streets of Philadelphia they called him the huckster Brian sit down a minute all right come on I'm going to do the huckster for you okay all sounds are tomatoes New Way potatoes hard heads or lettuce fresh cabbage string beans bananas three pounds per quarter be right there lady yeah remember footstate your leg off yeah I remember that too so how for take your leg off yeah I was laying on the couch taking a nap yeah what's going to happen to Brian when I die I don't know what's going to happen who's going to go take Brian out on Sunday or Saturday who's going to bring him home for the holidays and show him the love and care that I showing maybe that's one of the reasons I shower him with affection now try to give him everything that I possibly can now none when I'm gone he won't get it yeah and it's taken care of financially he won't want but he will want love and affection he will want love and affection where is he going to get it where is he going to get it it's like afraid there's nothing wrong in my eyes hi Grandpa nothing at all he's just a normal person to me see other people think he's you know there's something wrong with him but in my eyes there's nothing wrong with Brian Doug wants to go on camera too many people tease Brian now too many people do and I don't like it so I stick off for him what can I do I take a lot of Brian a lot I really do I think a lot of Brian a peaceful and happy life for Brian that's all I can ask for the channels he said to take care of him watch over him and uh that he doesn't have any heartaches more than he has now one day if he's lucky Brian may go to a group home for the mentally ill but there are just five in all of Pennsylvania with just 45 young people living in them so it's more likely that when Brian's too old for Eastern he'll be sent to an adult Institution the hardest part of my day is Sunday when I take him back to school home to an empty house when Brian could be with me when Brian should be with me and I have everything in Brian's room as if he's with me every day when I go past that bed I can picture Brian and when I'm going to bed at night I can picture Brian and it hurts it hurts that's what I pray for him yeah where you're right now Brian what do you know where you're at now School that's right am I going to be good for Dad yeah right all right let's go Ryan come on let's Wonder and uh very few seconds with Dad okay I love you dad I love you too I love you a lot okay good night right I'm gonna walk him over Jim all right honey this is the hardest part of the day just bring it back here no no I won't see him till next week there's no Brian in the bed upstairs I can't tell you anymore man so that's time y'all cause it's off the wall you're clean out the showers too abuses the shower and you're just being irresponsible if you want to act like a baby you can't screamed at if you want actors more like a mature adolescent you get talked to [Music] one of the things that we do here is we don't [ __ ] kids we don't tell kids that this is some kind of Utopia that everything is going to work out for you that when you leave here everything's going to be roses we don't tell them that out there is a nice place either because it's not the name of the place is a land it's a private Residential Treatment Center for out of control teenagers what you're watching is called a haircut if you break one of the rules or your attitude isn't right you get yelled at it's unacceptable why can't people understand me for me the teenagers who come here are not mentally ill psychiatric hospitals don't work for them they're alcoholics drug addicts and drug pushers they're teenagers who have victimized others and themselves I just you know I've treated myself like scum I was call me I sold myself to men who I didn't even know didn't even care you know they didn't care about me it's one of what they wanted and it's like a piece of meat in other people want the kids at Elan are almost all white from upper middle class and wealthy homes their parents pay more than twenty thousand dollars a year to send them here for treatment these are children who have acted out often violently against their parents Mike turned around and gave his mother the finger and said [ __ ] you um I looked at Mike and I I don't recall what I said but it probably was something like don't you dare talk to your mother like that and he turned around and swung at me you got to think about how you'd feel if you had a 16 year old kid who is six foot one who's who's come to the conclusion that he's going to do whatever he wants to do when I brought Mike here today you know I just cried and I know in the people in school knew that he was coming up here to stay you know that if he doesn't change he's going to get arrested you know that sooner or later he's going to steal something to get money the phone rings it 10 o'clock at night three o'clock in the morning you're shaking you're wondering what's this call going to mean is it the police and that's the fear that we live in or a Raider to a practiced example wait a crack I love him so much I wouldn't want to lose them I don't want that camera because I cry all the time I'm sorry but I can't help it first let that do it day in day out life at Elan is constant confrontation unrelenting pressure your feelings your negative attitudes are broken down dissected torn apart the idea is to change your behavior Elan residents are taught to obey Authority they're made to work at menial jobs to do what they're told to do other Eland residents enforced the rules they record the names the actions of everyone in every room continuously Eddie Land There is no privacy incoming mail is opened outgoing mail is read and censored telephone calls are monitored every conversation is subject to eavesdropping and informing a drink and I will right now in therapy your problems your Hang-Ups are all laid bare I want a drink I was I just when I feel like that it's like there's nothing holding me back I'm so out of control that I can't stand it and it's and it's like I get really mad you know I think because I know exactly what I'm doing but I still want it you know I don't give I don't care about anything else but that before I came to a lawn about six months before I had like three suicide attempts in a row and uh it was in the back of my mind that you know if I drink again and if I go as far as I've gone before I'm not going to be living anymore Diane comes from a prominent Tucson family she was a straight A student and won a scholarship to the University of Arizona but drinking and drugs became problems she couldn't control we're talking about attempting suicide but eating 15 pills of ant abuse and then going out and having a glass of scotch we're talking about waking up in the morning and just because you don't have booze drinking shaving lotion just to get alcohol out of it okay we're talking about going into convulsions and going into seizures and going into blackouts that you almost never came out of I was at the point where I was pretty wasted one night and I went out and I got a butcher knife and you know started stabbing myself in my stomach which partly because I wanted my father to you know come and say it's okay Diana you know you're gonna be all right you know you're very sick little girl we'll take you to the hospital and you know sew you up and uh I just wanted to know that he loved me because I felt like he didn't I felt like nobody did you have to make the decision whether or not it's worth it for you to live you have got to do it for yourself I want you to think about the times that you could never sit somebody down and split your guts out and I want you to say I'm lonely and it hurts me hold hands and think about that I mean let's get in touch with what you are when I say no drop your hands and you all say nothing no no no no no no no Eddie land you succeed and survive if you accept the program if you don't there are punishments they're usually called learning experiences residents are made to wear signs for days sometimes weeks bluntly spelling out their problems and failures if their behavior is deemed infantile they're made to wear diapers over their clothes and to carry rattles if they become hostile or act out they're put into a ring there they have to physically fight one a land resident after another until they're beaten and give in to the group we weren't permitted to film the ring and a lot more at Elan we weren't supposed to film The Boys you're looking at now when they refuse to participate in the Elan program they were put in this dumpster filled with garbage they've been living in it for two weeks the boy outside the dumpster is guarding them if they escape he'll be put inside many a land residents have tried to escape but they've all failed when they've managed to get off the grounds crackers are set out after them when they caught this 15 year old boy he was put in a rabbit suit and leg shackles why did they put you in Chains and in a rabbit suit because I ran away when they put them on me they told me not they were going to be on me you know until I left but you know I had it's been two weeks so far what does it do okay it humiliates them and it restricts his movement he's run away from here four times okay he's run away from every place he's been before at least 17 or 18 times I won't run away again I told him that I told him we'll run away again but if they were going to put me in jail you know you know they put me in jail they wouldn't you know I'd have to maybe walk around with shackles on this boy's been in and out of juvenile detention centers for years and faced charges of breaking and entering and assault for him it was either Elan or jail the kid has no idea what prison is like somebody has got to introduce to him some realistic concepts of what's ahead of him and he's gonna hit jail if he doesn't change what's going to happen to him he's five foot six he's got bright orange hair and blue eyes how long is it going to last in jail I'm not a dog I'm not a I'm not even a person anymore you know this is supposed to be America you know I saw rights of the human being to walk around come on I can't even do that with these things on those things stay on him he decides how long they stay on him not me he makes that decision if he came up to his director tomorrow and said I want to get back involved I want to change okay I want to participate I want to try again they would come off like that okay if he wants to act like a criminal he'll be treated like a criminal it's that basic now if that is robbing him of his dignity and robbing him of his freedom then yes I'm guilty of it Elan claims its graduates are now leading happy productive lives that they're staying in school going to college and working the drug use is way down and criminal involvement cut by more than half but parents of some former residence dispute these claims when Rhode Island parents complained the state investigated and found that of 117 former Elan residents from that State 70 had been arrested and that one is serving a life sentence for murder in South Carolina nevertheless this year parents from more than 22 States and eight foreign countries will send 200 of their children to Elan for treatment you did it anyway yo you just wanted to man now you don't really care in the United States today 5 million acutely mentally ill children need treatment of a very different kind half a million are psychotic two million schizophrenic one in five suffers from depression they need immediate psychiatric help usually in hospitals for most Americans private psychiatric hospitalization isn't possible the cost for one child can be as much as a hundred and twenty thousand dollars a year medical insurance doesn't come close to paying for it for poor middle class even well-to-do families with children in need of long-term care after savings run out there's usually just one place left to go the state hospital in our country twenty thousand children are admitted to them every year oh [Music] these young men are autistic they came to Sagamore Children's Center in New York when they were five or six now they're 17 18 some are 22 years old many have lived at this state hospital for more than 14 years Joe romagna teaches autistic children at Sagamore he's been doing it for the last 12 years good many of the children in Joe's class get some form of psychotropic medication the drugs Howard Getz control his epileptic seizures but their side effects can put him to sleep let me see anybody any uh he is there he is all right come on let me give you some work they make my pay out but I can't have you sleeping here I can't have you sleep with me that's too easy that's too easy thank you all right Howie let's try this buddy excuse me ma'am why don't you wash your face oh this is gonna hurt look out with a shot oh what I hope for them is that they can be happy and be taken care of uh all the time I don't have hope for all of them they will be like you and me I don't think that's I don't think that's possible at this point you take a kid who's 18 19 years old hasn't learned yet to speak uh can't write his name yet uh you know I don't I have hope that they're going to be totally normal I can't say that I always felt that way when these kids were seven and eight I used to think so a specific kid I would say yeah this kid is gonna he'll make it he'll be you know he'll straighten out he'll be a lot better off than this but you know 12 years later I see a kid almost the same as he was you know he's gotten a little bigger you know he shaves now or somebody shaves him you know but he's not totally uh he's not not a hell of a lot better than he used to be autism as far as researchers know may be caused by brain damage organic brain disease or by genetic factors one hypothesis is that autistic children inherit a lack of resistance to a virus that destroys part of their brains a child can be born with Autism or it can take as long as three years to appear but early on there's usually a feeling a recognition that something is not right with your child spell these Lisa to me spell now put your pencil down a minute how'd you spell Lisa for me don't write it spell it how do you spell Lisa what that is you start with oh good now what's next aha then what okay no that's a different word look at the wrong word spell Lisa for me oh good uh yes what's after I listen l i s good what's next a good girl very nice Lisa okay what's the next word we have so much effort for so little a lot of people say that a lot of people say that the it's not a little to me it's not a little it's not a little kid you know music kid and uh you know it deserves a chance to be here like everybody else he deserves a chance to get better you know to enjoy himself what are you doing now the kids need need to have somebody close to them and it's important to me uh while I'm doing what I'm doing that I'm close to the kids too come on uh they are a lot of them very special to me the kids some some more than now this is the ones I no longer you know I feel very close to them I have no plans to do anything but this for the rest of my life I mean I'm certainly comfortable doing this I I I get good feeling to work with these kids and uh I think I'm doing something for them and I I think they appreciate me you know why do we send you to school for eign 100 000 children in America have autism most of them live a normal lifespan they grow up they grow old but they usually don't get better and they can get much worse [Music] the boy's name is Billy Calhoun he was admitted to sagamore's autistic unit when he was seven now he's 20. Billy was transferred to the Sagamore infirmary after he became self-abusive he's lived here in restraints for the past two and a half years for this one we haven't found an answer yet and we've been working very hard at it he's uh beaten himself in every part of his body he's throwing himself into the ground into the floor uh torn at his body with his hands he's rubbed himself against objects to the to raw skin he's beaten his head to the point of detaching his retina not once but twice anyway that that I could think of that he could abuse himself and injure himself he's done it why is this child why did God create it and that's all I've always wondered you know what does it mean it has to have a meaning everything has a meaning what is his meaning why is Billy here I don't know three times a day Billy Calhoun is made to walk so his muscles don't deteriorate the rest of the time he's kept tied up during those walks he's watched carefully because of his previous violence towards the staff doctors at Sagamore have tried drugs and special diets to try to help him but so far nothing has worked now they're considering more radical treatment including aversive shock therapy a device is applied to the body which produces a very intense painful reaction I've been told that it's it's like it's a type of pain which you don't know it's not like sticking your hand in a socket the idea would be to stop his self-destructive Behavior using pain as a punishment and if Billy's condition doesn't improve Sagamore doctors say they'll reluctantly consider a lobotomy lobotomy to my knowledge is irreversible and destroys part of the organism but I suppose that if it came down to the point where there absolutely were no other alternatives then I can see where that that could be a consideration if it meant keeping him alive he's coping I guess but don't let it get any worse where he's miserable all the time if he's not going to get any better fine but if he gets sick as bad sickness make it a sickness that would take him as opposed to a lingering any more pain in this business there's no guarantees of success why not God we're the hospital we're trying to do the very best we can what about making him better I can't do it I can't do it now I'd like to find a way will would many years ago there was a member of our family that has handicapped children and she went to church and that's the priest why me and she said the priest said to her don't you know God looks all over the world to give these problems to and he never gives them to anyone who can't handle them that was very satisfying to me I thought okay there's my answer I didn't ask for this we never knew that we had handicapping conditions in the family and they're showing up in these generations and I figured okay if that's what you gave me I guess you figure I can handle it so it's just the way we've lived it more than half of the children you've seen in this film will retain their illnesses into adult life and most of them will be sent to adult institutions for parents what looms ahead is frightening a realization that their children may never get well that their lives may be spent in institutions and there are other fears fears that come from giving up control of your child's life and replacing that life in the hands of strangers in the United States more than 500 mental patients including teenagers and children die each year in hospitals for reasons that are questionable or unexplained three of those deaths all involving young people and all under strikingly similar circumstances took place at South Beach Psychiatric Center in New York August 13 1979 Anthony ruggieri a severely depressed young man was sent to South Beach by his parents within 10 days Anthony ruggieri was dead October 10 1980 nineteen-year-old Judy singer arrives at South Beach she dies six days later at South Beach both Judy and Anthony were tied down in straight jackets both of them were placed in seclusion rooms both were given massive amounts of psychotropic drugs according to South Beach Records Anthony's order was for more than eight times a maximum daily recommended dose the doctor who ordered Anthony's medication and who supervised Judy singer's treatment just before her death was Dr Jonathan Kane chief of service for the South Beach Intensive Care Unit on that unit South Beach patients told us that not only were drugs and straight jackets used to control patients patients were also made to wear football helmets as a punishment if they talk too much sometimes for days One South Beach patient who was on the Intensive Care Unit with Judy singer remember seeing her tied to a pole just before her death she let us tape her voice in an isolated part of the hospital grounds on a windy day he was crying for help for help for help they didn't do nothing he said she had to go to the bed when she want to go to bed and they wouldn't let her go and he had he did right there you know in a pan it's terrible she wanted to get out of the sleigh jacket they said sit still Lord are they going to put that we're gonna put the helmet on your head you know the football helmet it's not treatment it sounds more like torture to put them in the middle of a room time to a post and let them defecate on the floor that's not treatment I don't care what one's behavioral philosophy is clinical Medical Practice Dr Paul casadante is clinical assistant professor of Psychiatry and teaches at the New York University Medical School what it shows is as I say at best a carelessness what it shows at worst is a perverse inconsideration of all of the good principles of medical practice that we all were taught he wanted to get out of it she was you know struggling and and she she slided down on the floor you know so he started crying you have to take her out of the straitjack and I said because she can't sit there she's turning blue but they won't let me 11 months after Judy singer's death on his unit Dr Jonathan Kane was reassigned to treat patients in another part of the hospital two years after Anthony ruggieri's death and 10 months after Judy singers seventeen-year-old Andrew Zamora was admitted to South Beach he was agitated withdrawn suspicious his diagnosis acute paranoid disorder at home Andrew painted he kept to himself he wrote poetry and listened to music but Andrew had problems connecting with people he didn't seem to know how to fit in and he believed people were going to hurt him Andrew had been to South Beach before and he was afraid to go back afraid of the drugs he was given the spasms they caused in his arms and legs he was afraid of being put in a straight jacket but as he became more agitated his parents reluctantly decided to admit him for the two days that followed the zamoras were not allowed to speak to their son they were not allowed to visit him they were told nothing about his treatment on the third day August 17th at 5 PM Dr Jonathan Kane who was the on-call psychiatrist for emergencies that day went to a phone at South Beach and dialed the Zamora's home number I received a call from the hospital they were sending a police car down to me it was an emergency situation and I got hysterical and I said what sort of emergency situation and Dr Kane refused to tell me he said I want you to come down to the hospital and I'll explain it to you then we got there and as soon as I got in he said I guess as you expected Andrew is dead I said as I expected I couldn't believe it I said how could my healthy child be dead I said you gave him something he shouldn't have received what did you give him he says I don't know I'll have to look up the medication according to South Beach Records along with other drugs Andrew is injected with Thorazine his mother had won the South Beach staff he'd been given it before and that its side effects were devastating but he was injected with it anyway following that he began biting his tongue and moaning but hospital records show the staff believed he was faking a reaction to the drug and a canvas bed net was thrown over him and tied down to the corners of his bed I hate this thing to happen to my song a healthy child full of life and I'd bring it then him then then two days before and now he's dead we asked South Beach for an explanation three young people enter the hospital and within a few days each of them is dead but Dr Lucy Ray Sarkis director of South Beach wouldn't answer our questions the chief of the Intensive Care Unit Dr Jonathan Kane refused to be interviewed the commissioner of mental health for New York State denied our request to film conditions at the hospital and Sarah Connell Regional director for New York City told us quote we don't have anything to say about South Beach and we're not going to but there were people who worked there who did want to talk about South Beach people got medicated to the point that they became zombies I remember seeing people drooling from the mount people unable to control urinary until they got to the bathroom or defecation totally lost control of those muscles I just questioned a lot of things going on I mean under the name of mental health I felt the people who were labeled patients were used as experiments they were like guinea pigs on August 17th Andrew Zamora was injected three times with Sorrento a powerful psychotropic drug one of sorrental side effects is to disrupt the body's ability to cool itself Andrew was in a room where the air conditioner was turned off the windows were sealed shut Andrew was kept tied down as the heat in the heavy canvas bed net became unbearable just imagine what it's like that you're sweating that the heat is building up inside of that canvas bag that there's very little means of your perspiring other than through your head uh imagine what it's like to be struggling against that I'm angry a Man Group because I think my son suffered it hurts me I can't stand to think that somebody would treat somebody else like that a good portion of the Thomas seems potential sources of aggravation for me there's nobody I'm dealing with my love and just to be sure that I don't feel any sort of attachment like that I just go to the opposite extreme I still have a hard time seeing the people I'm dealing with as as people Andrew had no control over his tremors now the muscle spasms his eyes rolled back in his head and now the staff had second thoughts about him faking a reaction to the drugs so they gave him more medication to try to control the side effects by that time though drugged and tied down what had happened to Anthony ruggieri and Judy singer before was happening now to Andrew Zamora and at 4 45 pm he was dead if I said they killed him would I be wrong that indicates to me a deliberate attempt on the part of the staff if I said they let him die would I be wrong that you would not be wrong I tried for eight years putting a report about that place and I just quit because it fell on deaf ear no one wanted to hear it we have had patience hang themselves in a six foot closet two of them they just walked inside the closet tied something around their neck put it on the hook and just sat down and hung themselves to death where was the staff I hope that God has Andrew with him and at peace I have this feeling when I was at mass today it was such a beautiful mess that he was at peace and he was with God I I believe that there has to be a better world in this life because I think there's too much suffering and pain in this life and after we die there has to be a better world and I'd like to believe I'd have some peace in my lives if I could believe that Andrew is happy now and is in a better world than he left the most thing I can love in my life is my soul very much I didn't even as I am suffering now because then I'm blaming myself or he's dead and I love him very much very much I can even I don't have the words to express the love of my my son the most important thing in my life today is to communicate with my son and I wanted him to tell me Daddy you're right you was a nice man you you're not guilty of my death but now when I don't have my song God you help me help me talk to him help me talk to him and telling him all the wrongs I did to him that I feel sorry you know he cannot hear me when I looking at him this you know I talk to him he cannot talk to me and now I want you to be between him and me and telling me what he feel about me in the year and a half since Andrew Zamora died there have been 62 more patient deaths at South Beach New York state is currently investigating 14 of those deaths which they consider questionable and unexplained Dr Jonathan Kane chief of service of the South Beach Intensive Care Unit resigned three months after Andrew died what I think this should serve to show is that without careful clinical supervision without well-trained people without people who are interested and concerned with their work that incidents like this can happen we need people to take a more active interest in the mental health system and not just the Patient Advocates who get up there with cardboard posters and protest all treatment and who throw rocks at the gates of the state hospitals but rather people to take an active interest in Staffing the hospitals and improving the quality of care and not just hoping that things will get better because hope will not do it no matter how deep are you going to stay alive or are you going to die that's a tough question to answer because I don't know sometimes I feel like killing myself all the time so I'm happy and I want to live forever Denise ran away from Eastern State Hospital just before her 18th birthday neither Hospital officials or friends know where she is or what's happened to her it's time for me to get out here and make a life for myself which I plan to do when I leave can you do it yes I think I can I'll see if I can Jerry did leave Eastern State and is now living by himself in a small Pennsylvania town so far he's been unable to find a job but he's determined to stay out of the hospital and to make it on his own I'm going to do the huckster for you okay all sounds out Tomatoes New Way potatoes hard heads or whether it's fresh cabbage string beans bananas three pounds per quarter be right there lady yeah yeah I remember that too Brian mcanally is now 18 years old old enough to be sent to an adult psychiatric hospital but recently he's been accepted by a new group home now under construction in Philadelphia when Brian moves in he'll live just four blocks away from his father's home [Music] oh after 18 months at Elan Diane graduated in the summer of 1982. now she works as a secretary and plans to go back to college but when she's lonely or depressed she still drinks why is this child why did God create it and that's all I've always wondered you know why is Billy here I don't know Billy Calhoun has not been given aversive shock therapy or a lobotomy although he still lives in the Sagamore infirmary now he's out of restraints 13 hours a day for the past year the Sycamore staff has worked intensely with Billy rewarding him with praise and affection for not hurting himself and his self-abusive behavior is almost gone Billy's improved so much that now he's able to attend a special school with other children thank you those are the screams of a 17 year old girl troubled youngster crying for help this is called confrontation therapy it comes in various forms it is supposed to help troubled children [Applause] because with you it's going to be one minute more give me one more minute just a second maybe tomorrow it's Now Elaine it starts now now you know you never tested yourself you will never ever when I was there last yeah I went for a couple days you've never tested all along you've never tested it there's your father right there turned around told you he's going to take control of it and that's where exactly what you want but then you won't look at him a few years ago these teenagers might have been put away in juvenile prisons or traditional psychiatric wards today they are the raw material of a growing industry an industry that treats troubled kids that word troubled is a relatively new label for kids like these it used to be that we had bad kids who were locked away in reformed schools and sick kids who were locked away in Mental Hospitals but in the past decade we've been seeking an alternative instead of Simply punishing unacceptable Behavior we've been looking for ways to change that behavior this facility called Elon claims to be able to do that Elon is a leader in an expanding Coast-to-Coast industry parts of which we'll look at tonight the growth of that industry has been spurred by the availability of government money to pay for an alternative treatment but there is another more basic reason this country is producing millions of youngsters who are in trouble with Society with school with their families with themselves NBC News is grateful to the parents and children who are included in this report they agreed to participate in order to help others understand this National problem the children in this report are not [ __ ] and they are not insane but their range of problems is enormous crime sex drugs emotional disturbances truancy the main thing that they have in common is that somebody their family a judge a social worker has sent them away for help sent them away for the child's own good to places that often call themselves residential treatment facilities or group homes or therapeutic communities or private schools or boys or girls ranches today there are over 3 000 such facilities both profit making and non-profit and they have custody of an estimated 300 000 American youngsters the treatment which some of these children undergo is a matter of controversy partly because there are no national standards to determine where therapy ends and mistreatment begins partly because solid evidence as to which treatments work best is hard to come by don't care portions of what you were about to see are raw and emotional and you may be shocked at what can be done to a youngster for the child's own good Ness NBC News presents for the child's own good reported by Robert Rogers oh deep in the woods of Maine is one of the most Innovative and most profitable Adolescent Treatment Centers this is a long you are watching Primal scream therapy which is intended to release a youngster's deepest fears and emotions but Elon also uses older techniques like physical punishment or misbehavior and dunce caps for Scholastic failure the kids here are not called patients or inmates but residents [Music] they come from all over the country many have been in other psychiatric institutions before Elon their behavior problems range from serious crime to truancy from sexual promiscuity to drinking and Drug taking from chronic Disobedience to running away from home some are ordered here by Juvenile Courts or estate agencies but many are sent by their own parents few youngsters volunteer for Elan some told us they were whisked out of their homes in what they call the Elon snatch some of the kids have mentioned that they or their peers were snatched what does that mean well it's usually in the morning you see uh when four residents generally big people you know uh are taller and heavier uh will show up at a uh at someone's house and go into a new residence bedroom and say Hi Johnny we're from Milan and we'd like you to come with us Lord Hill I will oh yes we're we're been through it and it's a good thing and they talk very nicely but they're big and they're strong and they're insistent and there are four of them and so it happens no matter how they arrive the average resident will spend 17 months here whether they like it or not they become part of a rigid hierarchy Conformity brings promotion and eventual graduation misconduct or failure to adapt enthusiastically to the system brings punishment and public humiliation come here for the fact man yeah you're taking advantage yeah because there's no strength in here okay to apply any kind of pressure on you in the jargon of Elon this is a haircut variations of this shouted reprimand echo through every Elon residence the haircut is a Mainstay of the system the louder the better [Music] even the most minor infraction provokes a torrent of castigation and insults from staff members or from any Resident who happens to rank higher in the Elon pecking order it's the upstairs the theory is that blowing the most trivial incidents out of proportion with angry shouting will lead the supposed offender to take a closer look at himself those in charge are convinced that it works and accept everything that goes around here your facility is running the man who runs Elon is Joe Ritchie himself a former delinquent and heroin addict Richie has strong opinions on why so many families no longer seem able to control their own children acting out uh you know we've gone through some serious craziness regarding Adolescence in the last two decades we've gone through the free school concept of it's not important that a child has structure let them write on the walls you know let them do this let them do that let them Express himself well that's nonsense everybody knows that successful people are people who are disciplined even in an expanding business like Child Care elon's growth has been spectacular it was founded just nine years ago by Joe Ritchie and Dr Gerald Davidson a Boston psychiatrist they began with just four children today there are over 300 residents profits from Elan have helped make Joe Ritchie a millionaire at Elon youngsters perform most of the daily chores each household is a tightly structured community new residents do the Dirty Work under the supervision of more senior residents with titles like ramrod expediter and department head throughout their stay residents are switched from job to job and promoted or demoted depending on their conduct and attitude it is all part of the Elon therapy our states that night the residents go to school unlike some treatment centers Elan stresses education house representatives represent there are 27 full-time teachers and an accredited high school as well as remedial classes for those who need them all right the executive Dunst caps are required attire for those who fail courses is making that's good idea in the households discipline is maintained by an elite group called The expediters they relay orders keep track of every resident and Report negative behavior some call them spiers Joe Ritchie prefers another name Dieter is a policeman very much like the policemen out in society they play the same role they're the line of defense between the normal people and the lunatics uh what an expediter does in a house is he makes sure that the game is played honestly for instance an expediter's job is to make sure that if you're supposed to be in your department and you're functioning because that's what it calls for that you're not walking around the hall so you're not hanging out in your room even if a youngster manages to elude the expediters and run away he can look forward to being tracked down and brought back Joe Ritchie believes that much of elon's success can be traced to the resident's knowledge that they cannot Escape adolescents are very shrewd if you go into a hospital and you don't want to stay there all you have to do is make an aggressive gesture at a nurse and you're kicked out all you have to do is light your bed on fire and you're kicked out so consequently kids learn how to get out of treatment at Elan the first thing they learn is you're not going to get out of here if you burn the place down we'll sleep in a tent together you know no matter how many times you run away we will go and get you why because we have a commitment all right to you and to ourselves you know what I'm sick and tired you know what I gotta deal with your skin this too is part of the treatment in so-called encounter groups residents are encouraged to express their hostile feelings the result is usually a stream of curses and obscenities despite the words the shouting is so mechanical so repetitious that to an outsider at least it is not so much shocking as it is monotonous me I can't feel feminine I can't walk around and try to be feminine because I I end up turning it into gaming because of my other feelings try to walk around here feminine in high heels and everything I turn after the shouting there is an attempt to resolve hostilities yes so why don't you ask for help I say Paul Paul is led by a staff member like most of the therapeutic staff his main qualification is that he is himself a graduate of Elan the only thread there are no national standards nor even a consensus of expert opinion on how much formal training should be required of persons involved in treating troubled kids but both Dr Davidson a trained psychiatrist and Joe Ritchie who did not graduate from college believe that experience is the best teacher when it comes to helping the type of kids who come to Elan if you ask for help was that mean to you no get away or they might you know because I know the things I do and they might do the same thing to me it costs seventeen thousand four hundred dollars to send the average youngster to Elon for one year even at that price there are Judges social workers and parents who consider it a bargain elan's Defenders claim it has the most consistently effective program for salvaging young people who are too difficult for other facilities to handle so many states want to use Elon that there's a waiting list but on the other hand one state agency in Massachusetts will no longer send their youngsters here because they object to the way the children are treated one reason is the use of physical punishment Joe you make no bones about it there is corporal punishment here at Elan tell us about it what are the stages it comes in who's it administered by well it's it's administered by the kids first of all corporal it's a harsh term okay what it is is we have the ring okay which uh everybody misinterprets it's it's not a boxing ring it's a ring of human people youngsters who are accused of being bullies are forced to fight continuously against a series of opponents until they are beaten the bully is introduced as what he is in this corner is the bully who's trying to turn this facility into a Detention Center okay and in this corner is the house Champion who's going to show them why it can't be done and that's exactly how it does and we never allowed the bully to win the girls get put in the ring too well girls bully as well as boys though I mean you know it doesn't it's uh you know we're we're a uh equal rights facility uh we also use spanking which is symbolic again it's a last resort okay and it's and it's one resident spanking another Resident and it's done with a ping pong paddle okay and uh usually a person won't get spanked more than once or twice but it's a symbolic thing which is if you're gonna act like a baby you should be treated like a baby well when they spanked me I mean they didn't have to spank me so I turned black and blue simple as that I mean that was just one time after another I was so sorry I couldn't sit down now to me that's a little ridiculous how often were you spanked every day for a long time hard oh yeah clipboards um hands anything you know something that they could well I would feel it supposedly they thought it would I needed it because I supposedly was terribly big baby how many people's thank you quality pairs usually when they use a paddle they may have four or five people spank a person like three to five times each you know and it doesn't feel too good you have any trouble sitting down the rest of the week oh yeah I have had trouble doing that well what I was saying was that we're upfront about it the boxing ring the spanking that we're into containment controlling and Justice we're not into degradation uh the idea is not to punish all right the idea is to make sure we have an orderly Society a society where people don't get abused in my early days of Elan I uh split I left the program and I went to Boston I stayed in Boston approximately two days and I returned to the program where I uh encountered a semi-professional boxer than what they call the boxing right um it was more than just the boxing ring it was uh sort of you could say a kill situation where I stood no chance even in defending myself and uh it was too much it was definitely too much you were badly beaten yes why is it so much fun for you to be miserable hey what do you get out of it in the alarm system of Relentless emotional pressure the ultimate tool is the general meeting prompted by staff members the entire household confronts a single resident the purpose is to force her to reveal her deepest feelings about herself I just I get high so I look at using ingrate right I look at you as a brat of these spoiled brat you have nothing in you know inside here just a selfish little spoiled leech is what you are if you think people you know you know give you and get you in this week you're out of your mind you know what I mean you just the girl is 16 from the middle west her parents sent her here after she had run away from home and got in trouble with the law that's why you're disgusting in a way man because everyone is trying to find it and you want to hold a whole lot of it you just think that you you are it okay as long as the girl resists making the admissions which the staff wants to hear the angry mood intensifies okay and we're what I ask myself is why do they have to sit down and why do they have to go through it and why do they have to be honest and you don't have to answer me that one why did they have to do it and you don't I should do it but I don't know why don't you think you have to I could be honest because I just don't tell the whole thing not honest you haven't been honest it's the day you walked in the door you know right now yeah you better start being at it throughout here yeah because nobody around here yeah finally the meeting erupts into a tirade of foul language residents take turns verbally bludgeoning the girl with obscene insults and threats until she is reduced to tears and submission this little stuff is a little and girl everybody's gonna be outside for you what a world don't you know revolve around you everybody went around and 99 and nine tenths percent of the people in this room told you in so many words they think you suck as a person that you give nothing and then if they had their way they'd cut you of having to deal with an ingrate like you and then you stand up there as if nobody said it as if they believe everything you're trying to run on what kind of response do you expect to get it dishonest your mind you're playing your games if you want to change so bad why is it that you don't tell the truth what do you feel that it's done that's that makes you such a bad thing like when I was like when I was out there I I just I tell my mother I hate her 24 hours a day and she was a [ __ ] and I hated so much because she didn't give me what I wanted she didn't give me what I wanted and I just I can remember time to say I hate you I hate you I hate you and I can just what else [Music] abortion what about that um I hate myself just because I had that's not what you told me before I went with your heart to to get it up right now sir but why can't you please I don't I don't like to think about it and then when I'm thinking about it okay because they don't like to think about things either but they have to and what is it okay 30 squeezy gummy person that used to live on the streets even though I did a couple of streets but I just I picture myself doing it you know going on the streets and just going to bed with every guy I know hey why did you passing over is that what you told me how many people you know be real I hate myself foreign [Music] like I'm not even a yeah exist that just comes right off the of the streets that I hate it and I just hate myself so much what does an abortion mean to you I guess what the part of me that I wanted but I wanted like someone to love and someone they loved me back and I just flushed it right down the toilet that makes me feel like it's so dirty like disgusting NBC News queried a number of mental health experts about the effectiveness and safety of this type of Confrontation most replied that it all depends on a variety of factors one has to be extremely careful in using confrontation you can only use confrontation when there is also support when there was also follow-through when there was also some kind of alternative that the youth can learn positively positive ways of dealing with situations negative things in which the person is just destroyed as a human being humiliated devastated ruined and thrown into a a terribly terribly destructive State can lead in some cases to psychosis the only reason that we can make the kinds of Demands we do and put the kinds of pressure on young people is because we give them an equivalent amount of support and so if you if you spend time here at first all you hear is the loud noise and the demands and so on so forth but if you spend time and you watch you begin to see the tenderness and the support and the caring and the organized caring that goes on in this place the last four days we've seen you go through some pretty rough stuff many changes well do you think this meeting we saw today all these kids calling you names and putting you down do you think that's helped you yeah and yes it has because I need I need it I need to hear how people look at me so I can change because I know they may look at me a certain way or a [ __ ] or a sleaze or a dirt bag or whatever and I need to hear it because it makes me want to change it makes me not like it I don't like hearing it at all as much as I hate it it's good for me just so I could change it and feel good about myself because right at this point I hate myself this young man named Steve spent 18 months at Elon two years after leaving there he is a full-time college student he earned spending money playing with a rock group and has become a dedicated athlete Elan likes to call itself a last resort facility for troubled kids who have not been helped by other more traditional methods it claims that two-thirds of all its former residents are now leading productive lives that figure has not been scientifically verified but Steve considers himself an elon's success I like to think of myself as being a successful graduate yeah what about other graduates that you know I could only judge it against mine and I think they're doing well some better some not so good but they're all doing as best they can and a heck a lot better than before I look back at a lot and I figure uh where where was I no really where was I where what were these people doing to me they were saying they were helping me but now that I'm back home I'm not sure where I am compared to the other Elon graduates that you know personally are you doing better are you doing worse than the average I'm doing worse than the average is um in what ways I don't Jam I'm supported by my parents what's life like now I've never been happier I haven't been happier in my uh 19 years you still doing drugs I occasionally I smoke pot once in a while and some other things but not as much anymore as I ever did but it's not running your life oh no not at all my work is running my life I enjoy my work so much now I used to hate to work before I actually like it so to me that's surprising but you still think that you might be dead today or at least be a an addict and maybe a hooker if if you hadn't gone to Airline I believe that yeah it could be true that is a very big possibility also I could have turned the whole tables around myself like I was saying one of the other when I don't want to go back five years and find out it's the best we got I'm serious it's it's the best that we have I mean there are other institutions that you know maybe a little bit better they may be a little bit more staff but I've worked in enough institutions to know that this is you know that's the best system we got and nobody's come up with a better system yet in this business there's no guarantees of success we're not God we're the hospital we're trying to do the very best we can what I hope for them is that they can be happy and be taken care of all the time I don't have hope for all of them they will be like you and me I don't think that's I don't think that's possible at this point you take a kid who's 18 19 years old hasn't learned yet to speak uh can't write his name yet uh you know I don't I have hope that they're going to be totally normal I have no plan to do anything but this for the rest of my life I mean I'm certainly comfortable doing this I I get good feeling I work with these kids and uh I think I'm doing something for them and I I think they appreciate me you know [Music] you're better than that [Music] so we made it to the abandoned boarding school the boys are up there just [ __ ] around this place is [ __ ] beautiful [Music] what's going on here [Music] dude I found Eric's classroom Eric Clapton's autobiography how to find God wow look at this time [Music] tell me yeah yeah this is sketch this is where it went down dude like sketch around my car over there whatever we got this is crazy like literally everything is Left Behind [Music] hello we got like a calendar here [Music] oh my God dude get the [ __ ] over here now yo [ __ ] Gotta Do the typical [ __ ] yeah what do we got oh look at that that's sick oh we got the kitchen laughs [Music] yeah this place is like it's really sketchy I guess it was like a massive like this whole like school was a cult full of like child abuse like they used to have like a fighting club and like make the kids like beat the [ __ ] out of each other this room is crazy [Music] it's so quiet in here [Music] oh that's beautiful it's like actually real oh it is oh what the [ __ ] did someone had a uh interesting time [Music] oh it's still wet dude liquid it's called Blue liquid oh yeah they sure did I mean okay I guess so that's what they found this is where the oldest [ __ ] blue looking that's a real serious guy yeah oh dude this one I feel like the principal's office or something good all those people finally left my car or if they thank you Dad or they just towed it that would suck part of the exhibit now I mean it usually pop out this one though we hopping out here are we go yeah let's go to these other buildings oh yeah this is like killing my ass foreign athletic laces nice why do they keep closing it is dude it's like [ __ ] five feet relax there's a window wide open over here [Music] oh they went nice easy way oh there's even more buildings in the woods down there over here oh my dumb ass didn't even see it oh dude I am definitely gonna get my next cut it off clearly people found paint or dyed yeah someone really had a good time with food coloring oh dude we got classrooms in here science room in here most people have had some time had some fun here this place has bad vibes Burn It Down okay the guy who owns this place [Music] yeah holy [ __ ] igga just put get the only functioning one

Channel: REALWOMEN/REALSTORIES

Views: 573,659

Keywords: Real Women Real Stories, juvenile psychiatry, mental health documentary, mental health, Oscar nominated documentary, mental illness documentary, full documentary, documentary, old documentary, psychiatric hospital, elan school, elan school documentary, abuse at mental hospital, mental hospital, mental hospitals, dark horrors, upsetting documentaries, disturbing documentaries, Elan, abuse in mental institutions, life tragedy, psychiatry, Emotional Deprivation, Trauma

Id: -NEcDt6CLDk

Length: 91min 44sec (5504 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 02 2023