Searching for 1980's Golden Valley MN Psychiatric Patients (Minneapolis, Anoka: lawyer, gated)

[Glenfield]

Originally Posted by sunset kid

this thread just re-enforces my idea that the whole claim of 'Minnesota nice' is a complete farce; it's more like 'Minnesota ice'.

It’s more like completely irrelevant to this thread. BTW, I think there are still a few threads in the MN forum where you haven’t vented your foul mood. Better get busy!

[Sammy Williams]

Just FYI. The abuse discussed on this thread is NOT exclusive to Golden Valley Health Psychiatric Hospital. This was an epidemic in adolescent psychiatric hospitals nationwide. I personally experienced abuse at a hospital in Iowa, but it was more physical abuse (the emotional abuse and bizarre treatments utilized at GVHC had a more negative impact as it was the first hospitalization and i was young). I have heard too many stories from around the nation, very similar to my own. These abuses were happening everywhere, as the nation began trending to institutionalizing young children and teens. These trends still continue to this day; they are now referred to as "residential placement ". I do not know however what quality of care the current clients receive or if abuse is still rampant. I would really love to believe things are currently different from years past, but i fear the current care is not all that different; perhaps the methods are different but are they still abusive?

[eliselowers1969]

I was there.

[Sammy Williams]

I’m sorry to hear that. We were 2 ships passing in the night as I was there 1985-86.

[eliselowers1969]

I believe it was actually 1985. To be honest I had the memories from my time there pretty well locked away.. until I read Atp I and II...and there it was....a wave of memories...real...and some I believe ....crazy as it sounds...brainwashed to cover truth...
Dr Corman(K?) was Russian. We were subject to exerimental treatments and drugs. Behaviour modification therapy and mind control....
My mother put me there. 7 months later she was still not allowed to get me out..when her insurance ran out they transferred custody to my father.His insurance paid a few more months then out the door I went....
I know that 2 of my 3 closest friends during my stay lived out of state....
I spent a couple years when Facebook became a thing trying to find them..
I was given a little pink pill that removed my ability to cry. Or feel....I remember the "quiet room". And Friday night spades ...and laying in a dark hallway for hours listening to Pink Floyd...
I had visits with my family taken away if I was bad..
I would like to know what really happened ...why when I look in my head to deep I feel sick....and aftaid...yet almost melancholy....

[Sammy Williams]

I just wanted to let you know, i will reply to your post, ive just been incredibly stressed but when I'm able, I'll write more. Until then......

[tlarnla]

I was there in early 82. I'm gonna be the oddball and say I kinda liked it. I complained about it a lot at the time, and disagreed with many of their policies and treatment of patients. But I made friends there that I really liked.

I suffered from severe depression, autism, and social anxiety. I grew up in a small town without many friends my age, because my peers considered me a "weirdo". I was pretty scared my first couple weeks there, but slowly I began to make friends, and I got along great with most of the kids there. It was the first time I really felt that I "fit in" with people I wasn't related to. So I didn't really agree with some of their methods, and we sometimes had little protests, but I loved the kids there and some of the counselors.

But I think I was lucky to be there when I was. When I first got there, my roommate told me some horror stories about things that happened there before. I think she mentioned a boy chained to a bed, and somebody pulling a knife on someone else. Plus I talked to another former patient later, who was still in there when I left. She said that things got real nasty after I was discharged. So it sounds like I was there during a more peaceful period. If I had been there a few months earlier, or a few months later, I would have seen more scary stuff.

I did see some aggressive treatment of some kids, but not like the horror stories some of the kids told about other treatment centers. The place my sister was sent to was much worse.

[Genialola]

I was in and out of GVHC/"Fairview Deaconess" in the early 80's. Strangely enough, I work at Fairview Riverside now, 30-something years later. Every time I go out to smoke, I stare at that Fairview Deaconess building (now St. Kates) and the feelings all come back to me. I was a "Corman kid". He hated me. Fridays was a Corman kid group discussion with him. During one of his groups, he'd told one of the kids that he "cared" about them. I've never been one to keep my mouth shut. My response was, "PSH! You don't give a sh*t about us. You just want our parents insurance money". I still remember the way he looked at me. While he kept me in that joint for another year along with a stint in the GVHC drug unit (I wouldn't have known what a drug was if it came up and KISSED me, at that time! "How much marijuana have you done?" "Ummmm... one?"), I never regretted saying that. I wanted him to know that, even though I was just a kid - I knew what he was up to.

I never encountered a kid in there that was actually "bad". And, most were from "good" families; middle and upper-middle class families. I was just a regular run-of-the-mill early teenage girl who was boy-crazy, and didn't want to listen to my dads rules. The whole "treatment" thing was new back then. Dad did what was suggested by school counselors, which was to put me in treatment. Since we lived in Fargo, ND and there weren't any places like that back then - I was sent to GVHC. I learned quickly to mind my P's and Q's and follow the rules. Even then, you never knew what was going to happen. They seemed to like to pull the rug out from under someone once the lights went out. I was in bed, almost asleep and saw shadows from the hall light coming from under the door and heard whispering. Suddenly, they stormed into my room, and 2 grabbed my wrists, 2 grabbed my ankles. I was hauled into the quiet room like that. They'd stepped on the tie to my wrap-around jammies, so not only was I being hauled all the way down the hall with others peeking out their doors, but my pajamas were falling off. This was incredibly humiliating to be almost naked in front of everyone. I was given a thorazine shot (to which I am allergic to. The side-effects are horrible!), and left in that room all night long with just a mattress. One of the night staff gave me a paper yellow "gown" to put on since my jammies were ripped. Not even a blanket. I barely slept, I was so cold along with the twitching and muscle spasms I was having from the thorazine reaction. I still to this day have no idea WHY any of that happened. This is just one of the things I remember from there... so many more things.

[GVHCalumn]

I worked here from the age of 20 to 29 years old. 1983 to 1992 when they closed. I have a lot of memories. Not sure what kind of information you are looking for but I might be able to help. I was not a case manager, counselor or psych tech. I was a hospital unit secretary who they hired right when I got out of technical college. If you have any questions and I can help answer them I will.

[slo5572]

Anyone at GVHC 88-89? Lots of
memories from that place, not all bad.