Seclusion Ward

Breathtaking, beautiful, and heartbreaking.

Whats with the slots under the doors?
They fed them like animals or something sliding a tray under the door?
What if they don't give it back, you still have to go in to get it...

A seclusion room with a window? That seems a little odd...and not as dark and foreboding as so many seclusion rooms seem to be.

Geez when the floors get this bad, they just look like they've always been dirt floors.

Emily, all seclusion rooms are supposed to have a window of some sort so you can visually monitor the safety of the person while they are in there. It was optional as to whether there was a window to the outside. Some places thought it offered too much additional stimulation to people who were already horribly agitated. As well, as soon as you have windows you need to deal with safety issues (glass breaking in the pre-Plexiglas days) and the potential for escape. Other places believed it helped people calm down to have a chance to look outside, and since so many of these facilities were built in the countryside, there often was the potential for a nice view (until budgets were cut and overcrowding ensued). I believe it was a combination of economics and philosophy that dictated whether there was a second seclusion room window in addition to the one used for visual monitoring.

Thanks Lynne, I always love it when you give us insight into these places! :-)

You know, when the pictures of the seclusion rooms were done in the monochromatic black and white, they looked very harsh and dangerous.
These ones, being in colour, seem to fetch more of a sympathy from me, truth be told. I can almost imagine a young teenager who had been put there for whatever reason, crying, and reaching a hand out from under the door.
Perhaps a nurse on duty would reach out as well, and hold the protruding hand?

...I don't think so.

we love lynne and motts, they compliment each other.....

Lynne, again wonderful info. Thanks

Are seclusion rooms the same thing as rooms in a violent ward?

The violent ward was generally an entire wing or a separate section of a facility. Most of the other sections had seclusion rooms as well; just not as many of them. If someone became overly agitated, one of the options was to take them to a seclusion room so they would have a chance to calm themselves down away from the stimulation of the other folks and also for the protection of the other folks and/or staff. These rooms were more common before the days of psychotropic medications. Your options back then if someone was getting agitated were pretty much limited to straightjackets, pack, tubs, or seclusion rooms.

while I was at state hospital, I was threatened to be sent to what we call 310 which was the padded room. I always thought the padded room was only depicted in movies, not so, they are very real. We even had a small seclucion room just off the day room so that the nurses could keep watch over us. I suffer from severe depression and anxiety, and I would have psychoitic breaks and would have to be threatened either for 310 or leather restraints. This threat was what calmed me down many times as none wanted to be sent to 310 and being restrained to ones bed is not my idea of a good time...yipes!

Really? Being restrained in my bed sounds like a typical Friday night to me....

Shhhhh! Stop talking bout our Friday nights!

I think if one had soft furry restraints and a cute man beside, being retrained to the bed could be a lot of exciting fun!

This site has kept my attention for an hour now..I stumbled on it by accident.

many of the restrants don't have the nice lames wool around the wirst . most are made of very thick plastic and are about 3 pounds . 2 point restaints are i leg and the opisit arm not ab;e to move limbs much they (staff) will put 2 fingers in side to make sure it not to tight. The patient is to be offered bathroom break and then back into room if they have not settled down there is also 4 point restaint in which all limbs are restrained. many times meds are give in these occasions

the restraints I was threatened with was leather and I would have been strapped to my bed. I did not like the idea of being restrained at all nor sent to the padded room or seclusion room. No way. I calmed down.

Wow this site has got me hooked. I've been on it for like hours!

brilliant photograph--i can almost hear the loud metallic crash that you would hear when those heavy doors are closed shut

One dares enter here. Silent screams echo a past that is dark and sinister. All alone you dared to face the nightmares of your delusions, confronted by your darkest fears. Many died in such rooms of delusion, twisted by treatment and wading in pain.
The persons in the seclusion ward were usually the most delusional, or troublesome patients. They were left in the rooms alone for up to weeks at a time, only allowed out for regular shock, hydro or other therapies. Meals were served in the rooms. And there was no patient interaction what so ever.

Oh, my goodness. Let me guess - you are writing a book . . . . .

the phrase ''there is nothing underneath us'' comes in head...

These doors seem to say......"we're waiting."

"Faces in the Water" by Janet Frame. Author was locked up for 7 years in the mid 40s- mid 50s. Lets ya really know what these places were like : ). I'm assuming, from the look of things, mental hospitals in New Zealand are pretty much the same as in the States...

Someone Please pick out a room for me.

Interesting framing. The light makes things look okay. I'm guessing that the round object outside the doors are/were a smoke detector of some kind (?)

i love the color it brings out the life that was once there

Interestingly enough Janet Frame was nearly lobotomized right before she won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Guess that would make the good doctor look bad, especially after what happened to Rosemary Kennedy.

Very lovely shot, another one that facinates me.
Could you perhaps tell me what the little slots under the doors are for? I have taken notice and it is by far bugging me, I wish to know the purpose.

Thank you so much for taking the few seconds to explain.

i love the colors in this shot. the blues and yellows are disturbingly calming...