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A Virginia Mental Institution for Black Patients, Opened After the Civil War, Yields Trove of Disturbing Records

Source: The Washington Post

Resource Type: Website or Webpage Article

Focus Population: BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), People experiencing First Episode Psychosis (FEP), People experiencing Homelessness, People experiencing Suicidal Urges, People in Recovery from Substance Use, People who have experienced Trauma, People with Criminal Justice System Involvement, People with Juvenile Justice System Involvement, People with Serious Mental Illness (SMI)

Topics: Culturally Specific Strengths and Resilience

A painful and explicit exploration into psychiatric abuse and violent and scientific racism faced by Black psychiatric patients post-Civil War to the1960s in the archives of a Virginia mental institution. This article explores misdiagnosis and over diagnosis of serious mental illness like schizophrenia because of their civil rights belief, religious experiences, and/or a result of racialized oppression.