WORKABLE TREATMENT Real Help

Dr. Giorgio Antonucci in Italy believes in the value of human life and that communication, not enforced incarceration and inhumane physical treatments, can heal even the most seriously disturbed mind.

In the Institute of Osservanza (Observance) in Imola, Italy, Dr. Antonucci treated dozens of so-called schizophrenic patients, most of whom had been continuously strapped to their beds or kept in straightjackets. All �usual� psychiatric treatments were abandoned. Dr. Antonucci released them from their confinement, spending many, many hours each day talking with them and �penetrating their deliriums and anguish.� He listened to stories of years of desperation and institutional suffering.

He ensured that patients were treated compassionately, with respect, and without the use of drugs. In fact, under his guidance, the ward transformed from the most violent in the facility to its calmest. After a few months, his �dangerous� patients were free, walking quietly in the asylum garden. Eventually they were stable and discharged from the hospital after many had been taught how to work and care for themselves for the first time in their lives. Dr. Antonucci�s superior results also came at a much lower cost. Such programs constitute permanent testimony to the existence of both genuine answers and hope for the seriously troubled.

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