Workable Treatments

The late Dr. Loren Mosher was the chief of the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health�s Center for Studies of Schizophrenia, and later clinical professor of psychiatry at the School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego and director of Soteria Associates in San Diego, California. He opened Soteria House in 1971 as a place where young persons diagnosed as having �schizophrenia� lived medication-free with a nonprofessional staff trained to listen, to under stand them and provide support, safety and validation of their experience. �The idea was that �schizophrenia� could often be overcome with the help of meaningful relationships, rather than with drugs, and that such treatment would eventually lead to unquestionably healthier lives,� he said.

Dr. Mosher further stated: �The experiment worked better than expected. At six weeks post admission both groups had improved significantly and comparably despite Soteria clients having not usually received antipsychotic drugs! At two years postadmission, Soteria-treated subjects were working at significantly higher occu pational levels, were significantly more often living independently or with peers, and had fewer readmissions. Interestingly, clients treated at Soteria who received no neuroleptic medication over the entire two years or were thought to be destined to have the worst outcomes, actually did the best as compared to hospital and drug treated control subjects.�

In the Institute of Osservanza (Observance) in Imola, Italy, Dr. Giorgio Antonucci treated dozens of so called violent schizophrenic women, most of who had been continuously strapped to their beds (some up to 20 years). Strait jackets had been used, as well as plastic masks to keep patients from biting. Dr. Antonucci began to release the women from their confinement, spending many, many hours each day talking with them and �penetrating their deliriums and anguish.� In every case, Dr. Antonucci listened to stories of years of desperation and institutional suffering. Under Dr. Antonucci�s leadership, all psychiatric �treatments� were abandoned and some of the most oppressive psychiatric wards were dismantled. 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 read and write, and 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.

Between 1973 and 1996 Dr. Giorgio Antonucci repeatedly dismantled some of the most oppressive concentration camp-like psychiatric wards by ensuring that patients were treated compassionately, with respect and without the use of drugs.

Such programs constitute permanent testimony to the existence of both genuine answers and hope for the seriously troubled.

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