Episode 3 Preview: The Rise and Fall of the Asylum

About the Episode

Mass confinement in mental asylums and extreme treatments – from lobotomy to coma therapy – were the standard for treating mental illness in the United States until a few decades ago. Today, one of the largest de-facto mental health facilities in the United States is Cook County Jail in Chicago, where more than one-third of inmates have a mental health diagnosis.

Aired: | Expires: | Runtime: 32s

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Extras

Ginny Fuchs and OCD

Olympic boxer Ginny Fuchs shares a little of what it's like to live with OCD.

4:15
Cynthia Piltch and Electroconvulsive Therapy

Cynthia is turning to ECT, or Electroconvulsive Therapy, to manage her severe depression.

3:54
The Mass Incarceration of the Mentally Ill

Asylums were closed down, but the mentally ill are still being institutionalized.

2:55
Psychedelics and Mental Illness

A chemist accidentally created the psychedelic, LSD, while searching for new medications.

3:18
The Kirkbride Asylum

Kirkbride's 'hospitals for the insane' were built for those who had nowhere else to go.

3:08
Experimental Treatments and the Rise of Eugenics

What gave rise to the Eugenics program in the United States?

5:47
A Debilitating Condition

For 8 years, Matthew Rosenberg has dealt with a debilitating form of OCD.

2:13
The Asylum Hill Project

Some 30,000 patients came through the Mississippi State Asylum, and many never left.

5:21
Episode 1 Preview: Evil Or Illness

Episode 1 explores ancient ideas of mental illness and the establishment of psychiatry.

2:25
Mysteries of Mental Illness | Preview

Mysteries of Mental Illness explores the story of mental illness in science and society.

0:32