Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Psych Hospitals

Timberlawn Hospital - mid 80's

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elizabeth:
Well Im gonna be off the net untill Thursday ir Friday, my computers down and Im getting wireless for this computer to take over to my apartment. Anyways before I left today justw anted to say and I know this may sound stupid and goofy;But when I was at timberlawn I got use to getting hugs from people all the time everytime I turned around ti seeme dlike I was askign for a hug or someone was asking me for a hug. So if anyone wants an internet hug Im sending out internet hugs for anyone and everyone on this thread.............who wants one......... :hug:

elizabeth:
The thing about the situation with the older male patients is this. I never felt violated or abused or traumatized by ti sure it was scary at first but in the end I sort of liked it it was ok. However and I was in Timberlawn in 1982 not 83 sorry got my eyars confused. The thing about Timberlawn in 83 is that it really seems like the staff uh made it more into a  party and turned the other way and really kind of englected us more or less.The parry with the older male patients wasnt that big of deal but obviously tehre was some sexual insinuations going on that they invited us only wioth noone else, the fgact that the staff laughed it off and looked the other way is that they really put us ina  dangerous situation,now luckily nothing happened to traumatize me I wasnt abused, but I lucked out it couldve happened, so the fact that they ignored such situations put us ina dangerous situation.

The fact that they ebcame much more abusive and stricter in later years tells me this. they were still the same old staff that didnt want to take responsibility for didley squat and didnt want to work for their low wage paytcheck and they just did this. They said well weve been in trouble for letting thinsg slip out of control in the past such as the sutuation with the dances with older men and adolescent girls and so they got into trouble for it and they still didnt want to do their job, so what did they do, well we'll just put everyone in restraints and on hard back chair restriction that way we can go back to what we were doing before which is nothing but laying around on their buts not working for their paycheck and sense their all tied down in their rooms they dont have to worry about them getting into trouble and such! thats what it sound slike to me sorry.


Thats my take on the situation!

Ursus:

--- Quote from: "elizabeth" ---Anyways, it neevr occured to the staff taht we were underage going to dances with older men. So we were invited and theyd invite us and nobody else,so it was just us adolescent girls with young adult men. I remember being scraed the first time or two, I think it was only once amonth so maybe 6 times the whole time I was there. I was scared and me and my roomamte went together the first couple of times,we were toegther and danced together and tried to stay away from the guys sort of. But like the second time or so dont remember if she was on guy restricted and restricted to go or if we both just loosened up, but I remember the men telling me to come over there and talk to them,they said " hey baby dont be afraid come over here and talk to me". So I went over and we wer eon the patio i think and I sat at the table next to one or two and talked to them all night, and , we slwo danced together and at the end of the night got hugged and kissed good night, it scared me because I was afraid of older men, and when I remembered it this weekend, I remembered feeling seduced by it, like I was scared at first then when they got me to loosen up and not be afraid, I relaxed and felt like I was being sort of sophisticated and mature for dancing with and hanging out with older men. rthey called us nasty names to our faces and made up nicknames for us that were sexually oriented like young s**ts and baby H&s that type of thing.

Well by my last month I was there, we the girls had just about enough of it, some of us were saying'Its wrong tehy shouldnt be talking to us like that its not appropriate". So some of them went to some eladers at timberlawn and also to their parents and told them about it...
--- End quote ---
What a nightmare. Allowing and enabling older patients, ostensibly in greater command of manipulating the social dynamic, to verbally and psychologically demean younger and more vulnerable patients is never okay. Moreover, the fact that this went on in potentially dangerous circumstances, given the apparent lack of supervision, indicates a flagrant dereliction of duty on the part of staff. I'm surprised this place didn't get sued, whether or not anything really bad happened.

iamartsy:
First off who is the gatekeeper? Getting back to the dances, we had one at Halloween on the unit. The staff was thrilled that an older man kept asking me to dance. That night i used dancing to manipulate them. I did not care about him. They all were ready to let me date him. Me, I was like, eh, whatever?The place stole my youth too. We did have chair time on hard chairs and controlled bathroom usage. It was insane! IAmArtsy.

Mr. B:
I was there 1986-1987 ( 1 year to the day) and lived first on Bloss then was transferred to the newly completed adolescent unit. It was a surreal experience for me and i try not to think about it much, however the memories do circle back from time-to-time. I was sent to Timberlawn after a series of bad behaviors and poor decisions as a 17 yr old kid with average problems. In hindsight, it was probably a good place for me at the time, however, we all agree that my parents got caught up in the 1980s chic of inpatient therapy. They also had great insurance ( another topic).  I was there too long and spent way too much time in the wrong treatment plan.

Drove by the place not too long ago after a very vivid memory of my stay there. Place has change so much in 25 yrs.

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