Are film/TV interepretations of metal homes real?

Just one little thing I've been wondering is that when you see in films scenes of metal institutions, the patients are acting somewhat eccentric of simply staring into space walking in circles etc.

Is this a true image or simply something made up to add effect?

Reply 1

GodspeedGehenna

Metal? Do you mean Mental? If so, I take it you're referring to psychiatric units.

Generally, no, it is not like that. The level of activity obviously depends on what the unit caters to specifically, but on the whole, NHS psychiatric units are grey, run-down, quiet and full of deteriorating furniture. An occasional burst of activity can occur if a patient gets a bit over-excited or upset about something, but it quickly returns to the status quo.

But yeah there is usually quite a lot of staring into space and occasionally a patient shuffling around.

Reply 2

taz101

No, in real metal institutions there's lots of head banging and air guitaring

and walls of death.

I used to think that was how they where, until my brother had a breakdown and had to be hospitalised for 6 months. the place he was in (and it was an NHS run hospital) was fab, the patients where treated really well, and no-one was banging heads off walls etc (which is what i imaged the place to be like) . It really inspireded me to change my career, and I'm now going this Sept to Queens Uni to study mental health nursing. Maybe some places are like TV, but the hospital that i experienced was def not.

Reply 5

Sir_Vile_Minds

Yes, I meant mental. My bad :facepalm2:

It's just that I've seen so many films since childhood I've had this image that institutions/psychiatric wards have been one of those really quiet places with the odd scream and people sat on the floor rocking back and forth with the odd headbanger ( :teehee:

)

EDIT: Just came across this on wiki:

Many motion pictures portray mental illness in inaccurate ways, leading to misunderstanding and heightened stigmatization of the mentally ill. Some movies, however, are lauded for dispelling stereotypes and providing insight into mental illness. In a study by George Gerbner, it was determined that 5 percent of 'normal' television characters are murderers, while 20% of 'mentally-ill' characters are murderers. 40% of normal characters are violent, while 70% of mentally-ill characters are violent. Contrary to what is portrayed in films and television, Henry J. Steadman, Ph.D., and his colleagues at Policy Research Associates found that, overall, formal mental patients did not have a higher rate of violence than the control group of people who were not formal mental patients. In both groups, however, substance abuse was linked to a higher rate of violence. (Hockenbury and Hockenbury, 2004)