I'm sorry for your loss Sonic, it's very sad and frustrating and there's usually no adequate closure.
As for the discussion about mental hospitals when I was a child my father, an MSW/LCSW social worker, had a 1st edition copy of The Snake Pit (1946) on the bookshelf in our living room. Being a little bookworm at the time I started reading it and was really creeped out. It had a very dark feel to it. Being a child I never finished reading it and to this day when I think of it, it's not a pleasant thought. Curious, I just looked up some review online, and they were very positive.
I don't think the subject of mental illness has ever been talked about all that much until recently and it's still not a subject that many people like to discuss even with all the emphasis placed on it these days. I grew up in that world, but talking about it outside my family was not easy. I feel fortunate to have had the background because I avoided feeling there was a stigma when I needed to seek professional help. I used to be astounded at the level of scorn and ignorance about counseling and therapy. Then pop psychology burst on the scene and created its own style of distortion.
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