creepy. but real. . .

[miss_vincent]

The drugs subdued patients and made them less a danger to themselves and others. Lobotomies and electro shock therapy also meet these needs. Advances in farming made it cheaper for the hospital to grow its own food rather than have patients grow it so the farming was stopped. Toward the 1970s it became illegal for the hospitals to have the patients work without pay, so many work programs were stopped. The patients now had little to do except sit in day rooms under medication. This ushered in the concept of deinstitutionalization. Patients, at this time, were being rapidly discharged to community based housing. Many patients would wind up living on the streets.