Tags
depression, Held Against Your Will, mental health, mental health advocacy, mental health advocates, mental institutions, Psych Patients, psychiatric abuse, psychiatric hospitals, stigma of mental illness, Timberlawn, Timberlawn Psychiatric Hospital
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted. I’ve been neglecting my blog because I’ve been struggling with depression, which just sucks the energy out of you. My beloved dog, Julius, died last October, and I’ve been simply devastated. One thing that has been steady that I’ve been working on is developing a documentary. I’m not quite sure how I’ve managed this, honestly. Just put one foot in front of the other. We’ve been in pre-production now since I last wrote. I formed a production company, Thornton Square Productions. Sound familiar? Like the name of this blog, it’s named after the 1940’s classical psychological thriller, “Gaslight,” that tells the story of a woman whose husband tries to convince her she’s lost her mind. The setting for much of the movie is the fictitious address, “No. 9 Thornton Square,” in London. I’ve hired 2 wonderful and talented producers to work with me on this project. The documentary is very personal and is centered around my own story of being held against my will in a psychiatric hospital in Dallas when I was in my 20’s. I’ve mentioned this in previous posts but am now putting myself out there. Gulp! The film will be a collective story of people who have experienced the same abuse. Right now, we are looking for other survivors who were at the same hospital I was in, Timberlawn Hospital, in the 1980’s and 1990’s, even the 1970’s. If it happened to you, we would love to hear from you. Or if you know of anyone or have ideas of how we can find survivors, we’d be grateful for your help.
The project launched with a dedicated website (www.survivingtimberlawn.com) and social media channels (Facebookand Twitter), each designed to shed light on the issue and create a safe space for those who experienced or witnessed similar abuse to come forward with their stories.
Here’s a short video about my experience at Timberlawn:
Pat’s Story from Pat Price on Vimeo.