I understand the classifieds are good for a laugh, which you would undoubtedly need after visiting the exhibit.
My great-aunt was confined to a mental hospital here in VA for about 35 years, and reading her records is heartbreaking. She was committed by her husband (who had a girlfriend at the time) and languished there, being entirely mute for the last 25 years of her life.
I am both fascinated and horrified by mental illness and the institutions and treatment of patients – both today and years ago. It is amazing to me that innocent people could be locked up for the rest of their lives, basically on the say-so of someone who wouldn’t be questioned by the courts. Family members had a hard time convincing the authorities that things/illnesses may not be as they seemed.
We are lucky to be in an age where so many illnesses are now treatable, and with increasingly promising results. Twenty-five years ago, treatment for bi-polar disorder wasn’t nearly as successful as it is today. The article in the Village Voice was good. I wish he would have focused on more than just twelve people. I could read that stuff all day long!