Questionable Treatments

If there was an award for the most misleadingly named institution in American history, the Fairview Training Center would be hard to beat. Originally pitched as a school for vulnerable youth with mental and developmental disabilities, the only thing Fairview actually trained people in was survival. It rapidly devolved from a place of learning into a state-funded child prison. The vulnerable kids became inmates, and the staff exploited their labor and took joy in their torment.  Its like a mirror universe Hogwarts with Dementors instead of caretakers and the parents had to PAY to get their children out!
 
Sources, as usual:
 
https://www.opb.org/article/2020/11/16/oregon-history-in-the-shadow-of-fairview-documentary/
 
https://mn.gov/mnddc/parallels2/pdf/00s/08/08-Fairview_Report.pdf
 
https://www.wral.com/story/salem-cold-case-solved-decades-after-teen-found-murdered/17089079/

The asylums we have discussed so far still exist in some way or another until now.  Trans-Allegheny shut down in 1994 with no new location and no new name changes.  It was just gone.  Now it is probably the most famous location for ghost hunting and has been featured on every ghost show and YouTube channel we can think of.  So what is the truth and what actually went on there?  Join us to find out!
 
Sources used:
 
https://www.proquest.com/openview/4bf0e15889d8c331a931319ade6ab38f/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=58721
https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ajp.2014.14060747
https://www.wboy.com/only-on-wboy-com/history-over-horror-what-life-was-really-like-inside-the-trans-allegheny-lunatic-asylum/

New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum, formerly known as New Jersey State Hospital at Trenton and currently known as Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, is still in operation today and was an early asylum founded by Dorothea Dix herself.  Don't let that give you hope, though, because one Henry Cotton got control everything changed.  Join us as Kim describes the unique medical treatment that started there and eventually spread to other facilities all around the world only for its popularity to come crashing back down!
 
Sources:
https://www.worldabandoned.com/trenton-psychiatric-hospital
 
https://www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/surgery-for-the-treatment-of-psychiatric-illness-the-need-to-test-untested-theories/
 
https://the-line-up.com/trenton-psychiatric-hospital
 
https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/ajp.156.12.1982
 
https://www.princeton.edu/~paw/archive_new/PAW04-05/14-0511/features1.html
 
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bjpsych-advances/article/abs/madhouse-a-tragic-tale-of-megalomania-and-modern-medicine-by-andrew-scull/B0FE6793396334945D76D826DCC2A16E
 
https://www.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/ajp.156.12.1982#:~:text=Over%20the%20years%2C%20new%20treatments,in%201947%20psychosurgery%20became%20available

This time we are talking about some of the bizarre things that happened at Western State Hospital in Virginia.  From mysterious deaths and political intrigue to an early US Eugenics movement, Western State has been through quite a bit and is still around in a new form today.  Join us to find out what happened and to hear a married couple bicker - the most true love language!
 
Sources used are below:
https://scuablog.lib.vt.edu/2019/04/26/the-western-lunatic-asylum/
 
https://dbhds.virginia.gov/facilities/wsh/wsh-history/
 
https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/entries/1106#:~:text=The%20Weston%20State%20Hospital%20housed,the%20Trans%2DAllegheny%20Lunatic%20Asylum.
https://kids.kiddle.co/Western_State_Hospital_(Staunton,_Virginia)
https://anneswardson.com/the-dead-no-one-wanted-to-remember/
https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/132-0009/
https://uncommonwealth.lva.virginia.gov/blog/2014/11/19/the-asylum-poisonings-death-politics-and-low-cussedness-in-staunton/
https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/dejarnette-joseph-s-1866-1957/
https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/eugenic-sterilization-in-virginia/
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1085&context=master201019

Byberry Asylum, otherwise known as The Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry, was established in 1907 with the best of intentions.  Originally intended as a working farm for the mentally ill but eventually became the largest mental hospital in Pennsylvania before finally being shut down in 1990 after the horrific conditions inside because too much for the outside world to ignore.  Join us as Kim tells us about the history of Byberry and why a celebration was held when the campus was completely demolished in 2006.
 
All sources can be found below:
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=fUiMt7yaZV0C&oi=fnd&pg=PA6&dq=byberry+mental+hospital&ots=GIL8vCdOai&sig=DFYif1Exp0aOuQbnLYO_Wcr8GNs#v=onepage&q=byberry%20mental%20hospital&f=false
 
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Byberry_State_Hospital/fUiMt7yaZV0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=byberry+state+hospital&printsec=frontcover
 
https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/byberry-philadelphia-state-hospital/
 
https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/feature-articles/best-intentions-byberry-asylum
 
https://www.nursing.upenn.edu/nhhc/nurses-institutions-caring/history-of-psychiatric-hospitals/
 
https://harrisburghistorical.org/items/show/27
 
https://www.phillymag.com/news/2015/06/28/byberry-mental-institution-survivors/
 
https://homeplatedontmove.com/2025/09/22/the-horror-and-tragedy-of-byberry-hospital/
 
https://allthatsinteresting.com/insane-asylums/4#:~:text=Medical%20procedures%20were%20commonly%20done,past%20patients%20are%20still%20remembered.
 
https://mn.gov/mnddc/parallels2/prologue/6a-bedlam/bedlam-life1946.pdf

In this first episode of Questionable Treatments we are exploring the history of insane asylums from their origin tied to medieval Almshouses all the way up to what we know from modern horror movies and ghost hunting shows.  We will also be digging into the history of Insulin Shock Therapy, Electroshock Therapy, and the Lobotomy.
 
All sources referenced can be found below:
https://www.almshouses.org/history-of-almshouses/
https://lambournalmshouses.org/the-history-of-englands-almshouses-from-medieval-origins-to-the-present/
https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/issues/poor-relief-almshouse/
https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/almshouses-poorhouses/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1470530/
https://trans-alleghenylunaticasylum.com/the-kirkbride-plan/?srsltid=AfmBOoriz56wKeHp3lA7UcRQf7Z0tAu6DID-0LSftP5EndmAw7wlF37_
https://www.mymichigan.org/about/news/healthdoseblog/the-history-of-mental-health-treatment/
https://www.cerebromente.org.br/n04/historia/sakel_i.htm
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/dr-manfred-j-sakel-discoverer-of-insulin-shock-therapy-psychiatry-in-history/A7E933069C3B8206F78F8C316A785AAE
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4291941/
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1949/moniz/biographical/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walter-Jackson-Freeman-II
https://www.samhs.org.au/Virtual%20Museum/Medicine/drugs_nonsurg/ect/ect.html#:~:text=The%20heading%20of%20Dr.Birch's,ECT%20machine%20of%20Dr%20Birch
https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co531731/electroconvulsive-therapy-machine
https://litfl.com/history-of-ect/#:~:text=His%20lecture%20outlined%20extensive%20preclinical,and%20seizure%20classification%20(complete%20vs.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11205978/
https://www.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/ajp.156.4.630
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8720400/
https://www.nurokor.com/blog/history-of-bioelectronic-medicine
https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/ajp.116.12.1112-2?download=true
https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp-rj.2020.160103
Youtube videos
Convulsive therapy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myvMJxJa-Ts&list=PLCqWucufhQaHOe0b_dcvB4ZKYn-MygTIY&index=2
Shock therapy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBuwTpb8wZ8&list=PLCqWucufhQaHOe0b_dcvB4ZKYn-MygTIY
Prefrontal Lobotomy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjPwETslJyc&t=347s