Children of Darkness
This is an Oscar nominated 1983 documentary film exploring the issue of mentally ill children and the institutions they lived in. The film not only exposed the abuse in mental institutions but it also educated people that mental illness can happen to anyone.
Hundred and sixty mentally ill and emotionally disturbed children lived at the Eastern State School and Hospital (now closed) in Trevose, Pennsylvania.
They were psychotic, schizophrenic; they suffered from organic brain damage and autism. Some were hyperactive, some totally withdrawn, some were suicidal. Many of the children at Eastern were chronically mentally ill and never saw what we see, heard what we hear, thought in ways we do. Eastern State was the largest children's state psychiatric hospital in America. Each child got food, mediation and a place to sleep.
For those who could benefit from it there was almost no one-to-one or any other form of psychotherapy. The major therapy at Eastern was drugs. Almost every child there was getting some form of psychotropic medication; medication that alters the brain's chemistry in an attempt to control psychotic behavior.
Another popular place for dealing with out-of-control teenagers was the private residential treatment center Elane (now also closed). If you broke one of the rules or your attitude wasn't right you get yelled at which was the main method of "therapy." The teenagers who went there were not mentally ill, psychiatric hospitals didn't work for them. They were alcoholics, drug addicts and drug pushers. They were teenagers who had victimized others and themselves.
The kids at Elan were almost all white, from upper-middle class and wealthy homes. Their parents paid more than $20,000 a year to send them there for treatment. But those were children who had acted out often violently against their parents. Day in, day out, life in Elan was constant confrontation and unrelenting pressure. The feelings and negative attitudes were broken down, dissected and torn apart. The idea was to change the children's behavior.
I'm a young person but I have heard about this place before I wanted to know more about it but I wanted know curious got the best of me and I read this page
Yes I do ,I was a patent,and I have Dr.iSchinder,I was treat real bad there .
Does anyone recall a Dr. Schindler, early 1960’s?
the lady be like what did i do? why god created this body of hunger and pain?.. sex or reproduction creates a body of hunger and pain this can be totally prevented by avoiding intercourse or atleast by using contraception methods.. stop blaming imaginary god for the consequences of your actions..
parents and doctors of darkness trying to control kids by abusing them and fearing them with false belief religions ..then victim blame kid if they get angry and disobeys as phychotic and delusional and torture them with more drugs and get funded by evil breeder parents who breed slaves to control.. false beliefs, parents fearing kids using fake magic and religions are inducing shizophreniea ... never believe anyone or anything.. madness is strong attachment to false belief
I live very close to where ESSH was and I have never heard of it until today and found this documentary, all of this is horrifically covered up. I’m very glad to see that there are survivors here in the comments doing well!! Were the cottages in the places they’re named after or were they all on the same property?? For example, was Croydon Cottage in Croydon?
Spoiler alert. This is not a documentary but thinly disguised anti-psychiatry propaganda
This is 100% $cientology propaganda. The CoS was founded by a paranoid nutcase science fiction writer who desperately needed psychiatric care and when he died was found to have psych meds in his system. He spent his later years in hiding from the government due to his ripping off people of millions of dollars for phony "tech".
And btw my a huge thank you to the director or producer of this film. I wish it could go more viral. But thank you for this video .
As a surviving patient of ESSH, and having already commented. I wonder if too our mewest governor Al Shapiro is going keep this horror story hidden and kept under the rug also. Idk about rest of Bensalem State Police but Det D Bair can just go to hell. I watched them kill that girl!!! And bc "he can't find records of her in Harrisburg".... We'll go figure. Who leaves records around a young 12 year old girl kicked and punched to death. But f**k him too. Someone owes us. Shapiro busted other MH schools, nursing homes etc.. wtf about us? WHAT THE F*K ABOUT US PENNSYLVANIA?????
Anyone else just shocked by the way Autism Spectrum Disorders are depicted on this documentary?? I’m a speech therapist who’s been on a diagnostic team with kids/young adults on the spectrum and I was just completely blown away at how misunderstood and stigmatized Autism Spectrum Disorders were not even that long ago. I realize this documentary was written in the 1980s but goodness… Brain damage?? Virus that destroys the brain???? Come on people!!! My heart breaks for these kids on the documentary.
I was there in 88 and 89 90
Was anyone there in 1970s or 80s? Do you remember Dr. Jerome E Thompson?
Doctors of darkness more like, using people as experiments , they are scum and should be given a taste if their own barbaric treatment and left to rot,
Insanity is all mandated under the laws of the United Nations. The devil has taken the non-subjective scientific definition on this planet and turned it into a pure lie. Kensington, PA, the Irish baby concentration camps, the abomination mental institutes and other defiling concentration camps was all created to defile normal life with ungodly unneeded garb as an image of the devil. You are disgusting and that is why you hated the family and the creator of this planet...
I was there in 1975-76 and I ran away from there, when I was supposed to be there for 6 Months....I remember having a Guitar there too and their Psych Doctor told me that all I had was an Anger Problem, Ha! They had Dances there and it was Co-Ed we smoked Cigarettes and were given Thorzine....I was put in a Straight Jacket and Rubber Room...etc...at 12 years old?! I was in those kinds of places for most of my Younger years.....it really was painful to go through and it really hurt my life.....Being subjected to so much Emotional rejection and pain, I had to learn how to grow up very fast...
I was there at the forensic unit locked down for over three years beating and drugged daily by doctor Camille and Dr wolf they didn't care strapped to a bed for days or locked in a room with a mat for days crazy once I turned eighteen transferred to Norristown hospital and a year later a free man only thing good was the teachers school made time fly by still have scars from the beatings but moved on and life goes on but vivid dreams haunt me daily
It seems they don't teach this in college anymore ? The study of places like this still marks my memory.
Hey Jessie..How terrible for you and the many kids that experienced these atrocities. Im sure youll never forget what happened but I sure hope and pray your living a relatively peaceful and happy life. Soo awesome this place is gone...scary it even existed.
Waves from Australia
It is very amazing how almost 90% of you guys said that Eastern State School and hospital was pure hell after watching that video I was in eastern state school and Hospital between 1990 to 1995 my fiance was Yvonne farmer now Yvonne had manic depression and every time when she cut herself or try to harm herself the staff there in Jameson and Eddington always treated her with respect they made sure not to hurt her when they brought her to Eddington so for all you people who keep downgrading and making it seem like eastern state was such a bad place maybe you should have looked at yourself and thought what could have I done that could have made it better because from 1990 to 1995 none of that stuff was happening and I know because I was very popular in eastern state school and hospital with my friend Jason Conklin
I'm at this again ....I did not watch after I last commented. Been curled in a ball awhile now in tears squeezing my eyes because of my own memories and experinces. About Briam. I knew him there. And there's more to than what's shown. He was a very fun and nice kid. But it always seemed staff would single him out and provoke him. I was on Unit 2. He was in unit across from that did not have seclusion rooms. Unit 2 did. Often in evenings doors bagging loudly 5 , 6 , 7 males having half on the floor or carrying him face down to secluded him. I saw a young girl beaten by male and female staff in unit 2. Punching her in the head and twisting her , kicking her. One of my worst memories because the girl died hours later. And those staff walked around acted like it never happened. No remorse , nothing. It was a place of terrible violence and abuse. Always on guard. I was quite a few times for no reason attacked by girls in elevators. They would push staff out and I'd be alone in there with them being beaten. And I was punished as much as they were. It was horrible. Absolute dark living hell.
I was here 150 days in 1984-1985. I hated it and faked and lied my way out. Too much scarey and horrible stuff I saw. I'm only 5 minutes into this don't think I can take much more watching it , I'm in tears from my own memories. I already remember 2 of these boys..... sorry but i can't watch any further.
I was there from 1974 - 1976 i remember it was a horrible place . State of pa sent me there for evaluation i was a child of the state could do anything they want with you in those days , that what i was told in later years.
ESSH was my home in 1987-88.
We were there to survive. It was a very bad, dark, sad experience. I've found life after Eastern to be at times much more difficult than being there. What I find heart wrenching is that one hand, I'm happy to know it's been demolished and is now a mall/hotel; the other hand, there were more than memories there, but many deaths. Both unborn and born. So I see it as a desecration that there are no memorials. No signs, or even scant information about it. Like it never even happened. Just forget it. This documentary barely scratched the surface of EESH. I was a fortunate case. I had caring, loving, devoted parents. I also had a very good doctor who got me back home, but it's the state. It took six months. But it was all about survival in the end.
Thank you to those who worked there; who cared about us. Your work was not in vain.
Unit 7(December 1987); Croyden cottage(January 1988-June 1988). Treated by Dr. Conrad. No medications, no restraints, no seclusion. But many other traumatic events befell me which I won't speak of here.
I'm finally getting some help for flashbacks, insomnia, anxiety.
Thank you for reading my brief story.
Forcing him to lay down on his bed, not listening to him saying "get off me"... then injecting him with some sh*t. Well done dickhead.