
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, August 13, 1994                   TAG: 9408250028
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By ANDREW P. MURPHY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NO SHAME IN BEING A MENTAL PATIENT, PAST OR PRESENT

IN THE PAST several weeks, this newspaper carried two excellent articles (June 26, ``An elite said their kind wasn't wanted'' and July 1, ``Documentary looks at Virginia's disturbing secret'') about the treatment of patients at the Central Virginia Training Center earlier in this century. In that I was a patient there from June 25, 1945, through Oct. 31, 1957, I'd like to add a few comments about this matter.

Due to a bad home situation, I was committed by the court, and was diagnosed as being feebleminded. At that time, there was a lot of patient abuse committed by the hospital's employees, which was a fact known by the administration. Thus, I don't doubt any of your contributors' statements. I witnessed some of these abuses, and it was a helpless feeling to see these things happening when I could do nothing about it. I don't feel that I was ever physically abused, and most of the workers with whom I came in contact treated me very well.

But therein lies a paradox. Usually, if you could take care of yourself, and were at least aware of what was going on, then you weren't mistreated. Mistreatment was usually reserved for those employees knew to be unable to help themselves. That was the tragedy.

However, I don't mean to imply that all employees were involved in this. In fact, I believe most were not, and they gave patients under their care the best treatment they could, under very difficult circumstances. In fact, I considered some of them as friends, and still correspond with one of them today.

Neither was I among the patients who were sterilized. Many of my friends were and, of course, against their will. I witnessed several patients receive electric-shock treatments in the hospital clinic. There was no thought of privacy, even for this.

One of the turning points of my stay was the opening of the Davis Training School in 1952 or 1953. This started a whole new theory of treating mental patients. They were sent to school to learn a trade, so that eventually they could become self-supporting, useful members of society. The state then offered to teach those who could learn an occupation at the school, or at the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center in Fishersville. Today, such training is in the community.

Now, patients in mental-health facilities in Virginia and across the nation have patient rights, as we all have under our Constitution. And this is made mandatory by state and federal laws and regulations, and by our courts.

As an employee in mental-health services for many years, and as the guardian of a relative at the Training Center, I see firsthand a complete turnaround that treatment of patients has taken in the past 40 years. This isn't to say that we can rest on our laurels and let our guard down.

Is there patient abuse today? Unfortunately, there is. While this is now the exception rather than the rule, the truth must be admitted that we haven't come as far as we can.

Will this abuse ever cease entirely? No. This is probably not a realistic goal. Human nature being what it is, there'll always be those who get a cheap thrill hurting others who are helpless.

Must we throw up our hands and give in to these abusers? No. Because of our religious beliefs and concern for others, we must not.

To those in your news articles who said they were ashamed of being a patient at the Training Center - or the Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded, as it was then called - I say this:

You did nothing to be ashamed of. So, don't be afraid to get out in the world and enjoy the remaining years of your life. You certainly deserve to. It's through your efforts that this matter has been put in the open for others to learn about and to profit from. And it's because of you that this matter is no longer forgotten as something that happened in the past and can be hidden from view. Above all, remember there are people who care enough about you to want to be around you, and want to offer a helping hand.

Many people helped me overcome my past, and I look forward to the future. Patients and others I work with, along with my relatives, have accepted, not rejected, me because I was a mental patient. That's why I am the person that I am today. And to those people, I'm grateful. They make life worth living.

Of course, there will be a few who won't accept you. When this happens, remember that it's their problem, not yours.

Andrew P. Murphy of Catawba is a nursing assistant at Catawba Hospital.

by CNB