I don't know if you are still looking for information about the hospital. I was a patient there myself for five years, from 1966 to 1971. Although I was told that I would spend the rest of my life in hospital and would never be able to live independently, that was not the case.
I escaped in 1971, lived rough for a while, eventually found my feet, married and had children and grandchildren. (I've also campaigned vigorously for patients' rights and helped other sufferers, but that's another story!)
What is the truth about Central Hospital? On the one hand, the nursing staff were, on the whole, very kind to the patients. Most patients would have formed lifelong friendships with other patients on their wards. The routine was pretty undemanding. Patients carried out "occupational therapy" in workshops (which, in my case, involved putting the tops onto bottles of washing-up liquid) - yes, honestly! It was all we were thought fit to do. Some patients worked in the laundry; or, if they are lucky, on the farm. It was a simple life, without the stresses and demands of the outside world.
On the other hand, the medicals treatments were, quite simply, barbaric and damaging. E.C.T. without anaesthetic (but being held down by every available nurse) is horrific and never-to-be-forgotten. Insulin-shock treatment involved being injected with insulin first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach, so that one went into a "diabetic" coma; from which one would be revived (hopefully) around lunchtime with glucose fed down a rubber tube through the nose and into the stomach. (It was believed that the deep rest of the coma was beneficial.) On top of this, hospital patients received massive doses of tranquilisers.
The end result was that we all walked around like zombies. Sadly, many patients were reduced to this state by the treatment they were receiving and not by their original illness (which, in your mother's case, I would imagine, was most likely puerperal psychosis, which would nowadays be treated by hormone therapy).
Sadly, also, at that time, virtually any psychotic state was often wrongly categorised as "schizophrenia".
I hope this is not too distressing for you. The truth is that your mother would have had a reduced experience of life; but would, nonetheless, most probably have been reasonably content. She would have had a simple, but safe and secure existence. Within the confines of the hospital she would, no doubt, have had her friends and would have been treated as an individual.
Yes, there was a large ballroom in the hospital; and, in the sixties we had regular discos. There was a cricket field, and I can remember afternoons spent sunbathing there. Trusted patients were also allowed to walk down into Warwick when they wished to do so.
It wasn't all bad and it has to be understood in the context of the time.
I hope this reaches you and that it is some help to you.
