Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

In All Things: A Return To The Drooling Ward
by Ed Davis
2014
Wedgewood Press

In the summer of 1970, Ed Davis applied to the Psych Tech Program at what was then called the Sonoma State Hospital after going on a field trip with a Biology teacher t the hospital. After several more visits, he made the decision to apply and was accepted. It was an eye opening experience difficult experience, and this story was hard to read at times.
At the time some of the things they did were viewed as normal and logical, but were anything but only make you question just what is normal.....and thankful there have been so many changes to the dignity as well as the health care these young boys were given.
Assigned to wards, these boys were considered "inmates" and were separated by disability, not ability. Many were given Thorazine and Dilantin daily, fed with nasal feeding tubes and were given a diet of "modified soft" foods. Prescribed stool softener daily, they were chronically ill and had bowel problems........No wonder, soft foods and stool softener......
To control the outbreak of sexual contact between "inmates" the males were subjected to a special "circumcision". If a women became pregnant, it was called an appendectomy. Some women had several.
And the one that bothered me the most.....the use of electroconvulsive therapy to control behavior. If this didn't help they were lobotomized and given larger doses of Thorazine.
I worked in Special Education for 13 years, and I have worked with students with many levels and types of disabilities, and thankfully with people who were professional and conscientious. Excellent teachers with knowledge and compassion, that helped to change not just how these innocent children are treated, but how society views them in general. I have never worked in a state run facility, and I am glad because there is no way in hell I could ever do some of the things I read in this book, and have seen for myself.
Special Education and inclusion has come a long way, books like this remind us why its necessary.
Great read.

In the summer of 1970 Ed Davis entered as a trainee psychiatric technician in California's State Home for the Feeble Minded which had 3500 inmates (as they were then known) and 1800 staff.
He was familiar with the place having visited from college and made various trips befriended some of those there before starting his training and although he wasn't quite 18 years of age when he started he obviously showed the aptitude to take on this kind of job.
I began my training in 1982 at one of the old Victorian asylums in England and although labels had changed - to those with mental handicap (now learning disabilities) I have to say I was still familiar to what may seem some archaic methods and types of patients that we would probably not see these days.
Often such places were built in wide green fields and a tram runs around the grounds so large are there. Patients were encouraged to exercise and get fresh air - well some at least - the 'high grade' ones ie those with less challenging conditions and behaviours who today would not be considered for any such incarceration.
Many of the case studies the author recounts are highly disturbing as often patients who presented with violent and untreated conditions were put into solitary conditions and surgically treated - lobotomy, ECT and in an awful case the breaking of feet to stop escape. However awful we must consider this and I believe some staff did deliberately like to take out their own violent tendencies on patients, at that time drug treatments were very few.
The regimes were strict and degrading for many - including mass bathing but the author tries to see through the gloom and show some humanity on a couple of patients with whom he obviously makes a definite connection (only if this is undone as soon as he moves onto another ward) Bedlam was seen as the standard for centuries in our dealings with those who have mental illness and learning disability but we are pulled up to read that "Back in the 1930s the Nazis sent doctors here to learn our techniques".
Community care and the closing of such institutions meant patients could hopefully live in smaller groups, staffed sympathetically by caring individuals and able to take up a life with others outside a closed and abandoned asylum. But such treatment needs ongoing resources and the right kind of people willing to engage sympathetically with often challenging behaviours in a world that still sees 'madness' as something to shun.
Of course the author feels we have moved on and he may only be shedding a small light from his experience onto the subject matter (the title is taken from a Jack London short story as he also spent time visiting the institution) but I am fearful a growing sense across the world of rhetoric that picks on those who are 'different' be it in colour, sexual attraction or mental health might not heed the lessons of the past.

Short story about the author's work at a mental hospital. Quick read, but very interesting. The writing is very straight forward and gives you a glimpse of the people who work and reside at this type of institution. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book. Although I received the book in this manner, it did not affect my opinion of this book nor my review.

Ed Davis took a journey back in time with a scowling look at a State Mental Health Institute. From soup to nuts, every variety of mental and physical ailments and diseases that plagued mankind was painfully brought to light. The storyline provided a heart-wrenching account of the horrific conditions that prevailed. It was difficult to fully absorb.

It's 1970 at Sonoma State Hospital in Eldridge, California, a place mostly for the feeble-minded that boasted a mind-boggling population of 3,500 patients. However, back then the patients were still being referred to as inmates. Barbaric treatments such as electroshock therapy and lobotomies were widely accepted and used.

There were countless children with deformities that ran the gauntlet of diseases. It was like a freak sideshow you'd see at a carnival. Deplorable treatment was doled out to the patients like cotton candy. It was certainly not a good place or time to be in need.

At the tender age of seventeen, after passing a qualifying examination, the author secured a job there as a psychiatric technician trainee. Fresh out of high school, it seemed like the right thing to do. The pay was horrid but the lure of securing a well-paying job in the not too-distant-future was worth it, but he'd have to pay his dues. It didn't come easy.

I offer my thanks to NetGalley and Wedgewood Press for this digital edition in exchange for an unbiased review.