WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.950 [This tape was transfered from a 16mm film original by Colorlab 00:00:00.950 --> 00:00:01.850 for the National Library of Medicine, January 2006, NLM call number HF 1414] 00:00:01.850 --> 00:00:08.440 [Distributed by the International Film Bureau, Inc., Chicago, Illinois] 00:00:08.440 --> 00:00:13.730 [The Mental Health Film Board Professional Education Series] 00:00:13.730 --> 00:00:20.240 [Man to Man, An Affiliated Film Production, Copyright MCMLIV by M.H.F.B.] 00:00:20.240 --> 00:00:25.800 [Sponsored by the Mental Health Authorities of Michigan, New Jersey, Alaska] 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:27.720 [Mental Health Film Board: K. Appeal, M.D., L. Baumgartner, M.D., C. Binger, M.D., 00:00:27.720 --> 00:00:29.250 J. M. Bobbitt, Ph.D., M. R. Kaufman, M.D., R. T. Morse, M.D., 00:00:29.250 --> 00:00:31.380 T. A. C. Rennie, M.D., H. P. Rome, M.D., L. Saul, M.D., 00:00:31.380 --> 00:00:33.730 E. D. Swann, H. I. Weinstock, M.D., Alberta Jacoby, Exec. Sec.] 00:00:33.730 --> 00:00:35.990 [Written by Irving Jacoby and Jack Neher 00:00:35.990 --> 00:00:37.530 Photographed by Richard Leacock 00:00:37.530 --> 00:00:39.180 Edited by Aram Boyajian 00:00:39.180 --> 00:00:41.870 Consultants T.A.C. Rennie, M.D., William F. Green, M.D.] 00:00:41.870 --> 00:00:44.480 [Directed by Irving Jacoby] 00:00:44.480 --> 00:00:52.170 [Music] 00:00:52.170 --> 00:00:55.610 [Narrator:] Sanctuary, refuge, hospital. 00:00:55.610 --> 00:00:57.700 This is no snake pit. 00:00:57.700 --> 00:01:01.420 The doors are locked, but it's not a prison that we enter. 00:01:01.420 --> 00:01:04.390 For these locks are meant to protect patients. 00:01:04.390 --> 00:01:06.290 They open as though by magic, 00:01:06.290 --> 00:01:13.010 when the sick no longer need the safeguards of hospital care. 00:01:13.010 --> 00:01:20.650 In the meantime, those who carry the keys are not guards. 00:01:20.650 --> 00:01:27.350 Joe Fuller, psychiatric aide, is no man's keeper but his own. 00:01:27.350 --> 00:01:28.630 This is his job. 00:01:28.630 --> 00:01:30.000 His living. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:32.370 This ward is his work world. 00:01:32.370 --> 00:01:36.490 It's a strange world, to us. 00:01:36.490 --> 00:02:13.740 [Men mumbling and speaking incoherently] 00:02:13.740 --> 00:02:14.960 [Joe Fuller:] What's this, Mr. Jordan? 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:16.070 [Mr. Jordan:] I made a notee. 00:02:16.070 --> 00:02:17.020 [Joe Fuller:] Very nice. 00:02:17.020 --> 00:02:18.130 [Mr. Jordan:] Do ya want one? 00:02:18.130 --> 00:02:27.330 [Joe Fuller:] Fine. Thanks a lot. 00:02:27.330 --> 00:02:29.290 [Mr. Jordan:] That's right, throw away those chains. 00:02:29.290 --> 00:02:30.970 We don't like chains around here. 00:02:30.970 --> 00:02:32.380 Do we boys? 00:02:32.380 --> 00:02:38.560 [Other men:] Nah, no. 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:40.840 [Joe Fuller:] Well, thanks a lot, Mr. Jordan. 00:02:40.840 --> 00:02:42.910 [Mr. Jordan:] You're welcome, I gotta go now. 00:02:42.910 --> 00:02:45.150 I got one of these for the night man and Frank. 00:02:45.150 --> 00:02:51.070 [Mumbling in the background.] 00:02:51.070 --> 00:02:55.650 [Mr. Mills:] Hey, Jordan is a lot easier to take 00:02:55.650 --> 00:02:57.640 since he started occupational therapy. 00:02:57.640 --> 00:03:00.110 [Joe Fuller:] Yeah, it gives him a chance to work off a lot of steam. 00:03:00.110 --> 00:03:01.110 [Mr. Mills:] Nice cord, ain't it? 00:03:01.110 --> 00:03:05.660 [Joe Fuller:] Yeah. 00:03:05.660 --> 00:03:10.630 [Fuller lights Mr. Mills' cigarette] 00:03:10.630 --> 00:03:13.120 [Joe Fuller:] I hear you're going home this weekend, Mr. Mills. 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:15.250 [Mr. Mills:] Yep, and maybe for longer than that. 00:03:15.250 --> 00:03:17.050 [Joe Fuller:] Good. 00:03:17.050 --> 00:03:19.130 [Mr. Mills:] I'll be glad to go home. 00:03:19.130 --> 00:03:21.630 It's been almost a year now. 00:03:21.630 --> 00:03:24.770 And you know Joe, I was as bad as that guy over there 00:03:24.770 --> 00:03:26.480 when I first came here. 00:03:26.480 --> 00:03:28.740 [Mills points out man sitting in chair leaning forward with hands hanging between his legs] 00:03:28.740 --> 00:03:31.720 [Joe Fuller:] Yeah, I remember. 00:03:31.720 --> 00:03:32.820 [Mr. Mills:] Now that reminds me. 00:03:32.820 --> 00:03:34.560 I found a pipe in his locker. 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:36.870 I wonder if he'd like to smoke it? 00:03:36.870 --> 00:03:38.560 [Joe Fuller:] Maybe he would. 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:42.420 [Joe Fuller moves towards man in the chair.] 00:03:42.420 --> 00:03:44.860 Sit up, Mr. Rusk. 00:03:44.860 --> 00:03:46.150 Come on. 00:03:46.150 --> 00:03:48.120 [Joe pulls Mr. Rusk to the upright position.] 00:03:48.120 --> 00:03:51.080 How'd you like to smoke? 00:03:51.080 --> 00:03:53.270 This is your old pipe. 00:03:53.270 --> 00:03:56.080 [He places it in Mr. Rusk's hands. It clatters to the floor.] 00:03:56.080 --> 00:04:09.520 [Joe picks it up and places it to the side of Mr. Rusk's chair and walks away.] 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:11.260 [Narrator:] Perhaps later. 00:04:11.260 --> 00:04:13.610 Perhaps next time. 00:04:13.610 --> 00:04:19.580 Of all the tools in Joe's work kit, time is the most useful. 00:04:19.580 --> 00:04:27.300 The ability to accept time as an ally is usually called patience. 00:04:27.300 --> 00:04:30.150 Joe has learned to be patient. 00:04:30.150 --> 00:04:31.840 Patient as a mother. 00:04:31.840 --> 00:04:33.580 Patient as a nurse. 00:04:33.580 --> 00:04:38.430 At times it must seem to him, as patient as Job himself. 00:04:38.430 --> 00:04:39.420 [Someone knocks on the class window.] 00:04:39.420 --> 00:04:42.310 For Joe's charges, like children, have many conflicting needs 00:04:42.310 --> 00:04:44.040 according to their personalities. 00:04:44.040 --> 00:04:45.520 Their states of illness, 00:04:45.520 --> 00:04:47.340 their physical conditions, 00:04:47.340 --> 00:04:49.580 their momentary whims. 00:04:49.580 --> 00:04:52.020 The aide is the only constant human being 00:04:52.020 --> 00:04:55.620 in an environment marked by inconstancy. 00:04:55.620 --> 00:04:57.970 When one man delights in harmless mischief, 00:04:57.970 --> 00:05:04.470 another must be protected from his antics. 00:05:04.470 --> 00:05:06.620 Sometimes one can help another, 00:05:06.620 --> 00:05:08.900 a sign of his own improvement. 00:05:08.900 --> 00:05:12.810 But more often it's Joe's personal attention that's wanted. 00:05:12.810 --> 00:05:18.500 His word, his touch. 00:05:18.500 --> 00:05:23.840 Sometimes a bemused patient merely requires a little prodding, 00:05:23.840 --> 00:05:28.890 a gentle reminder of where he is, 00:05:28.890 --> 00:05:31.500 while others seem to have lost all memory of the simple tasks 00:05:31.500 --> 00:05:39.280 they learned as children. 00:05:39.280 --> 00:05:41.680 No longer able to take care of themselves, 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:48.250 they depend on others to help them live from day to day. 00:05:48.250 --> 00:05:49.700 Joe helps. 00:05:49.700 --> 00:05:51.290 Without resentment. 00:05:51.290 --> 00:05:55.280 Without contempt. 00:05:55.280 --> 00:06:06.800 This is his work. 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:10.720 [Nurse:] Dr. Brand, this is Mr. Harve, a new psychiatric aide. 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:15.020 I'm bringing him up on this ward because you're so short-handed. 00:06:15.020 --> 00:06:16.270 [Dr. Brand:] We sure can use him. 00:06:16.270 --> 00:06:18.100 Glad to meet you. 00:06:18.100 --> 00:06:19.230 This is Miss O'Malley. 00:06:19.230 --> 00:06:21.570 She is the nurse in charge in this ward. 00:06:21.570 --> 00:06:23.880 And this is Mr. Fuller. 00:06:23.880 --> 00:06:27.880 He's a psychiatric aide like yourself. 00:06:27.880 --> 00:06:30.820 Have you ever worked in a mental hospital before? 00:06:30.820 --> 00:06:31.470 [Mr. Harve:] Oh sure. 00:06:31.470 --> 00:06:37.080 I know all about looney bins. 00:06:37.080 --> 00:06:38.760 [Dr. Brand:] We prefer to think of this as a hospital 00:06:38.760 --> 00:06:41.850 where we treat sick people. 00:06:41.850 --> 00:06:44.410 [Mr. Harve:] Well, I didn't mean nothing. 00:06:44.410 --> 00:06:46.560 [Dr. Brand:] No, I realize you didn't. 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:47.890 You see these are all special patients 00:06:47.890 --> 00:06:50.620 who are getting the best that the hospital can offer them. 00:06:50.620 --> 00:06:52.750 There's electroshock, 00:06:52.750 --> 00:06:54.800 there's recreational therapy, 00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:56.950 there's occupational therapy... 00:06:56.950 --> 00:06:59.350 and the companionship of other men. 00:06:59.350 --> 00:07:02.910 [Mr. Harve:] I usually work on a back ward, where they don't have that. 00:07:02.910 --> 00:07:03.990 [Dr. Brand:] Yes, I know, 00:07:03.990 --> 00:07:06.790 but for the time being I'd like you to work here with Mr. Fuller. 00:07:06.790 --> 00:07:08.710 He has more than he can handle. 00:07:08.710 --> 00:07:10.350 [Mr. Harve:] Anything you say. 00:07:10.350 --> 00:07:15.410 [Dr. Brand:] Well, Mr. Fuller will explain your duties to you. 00:07:15.410 --> 00:07:17.160 [Joe Fuller:] Well, like the doctor said. 00:07:17.160 --> 00:07:20.640 On our ward, we try to give a lot of time to each patient. 00:07:20.640 --> 00:07:23.410 It's kind of a new idea. 00:07:23.410 --> 00:07:24.790 The more treatment they get, 00:07:24.790 --> 00:07:26.830 the better chance they have of going home. 00:07:26.830 --> 00:07:32.000 [Mr. Harve:] I don't go for stuff like that. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:36.860 I like a ward where the doctor comes through once a day and spends five minutes. 00:07:36.860 --> 00:07:40.570 How did you get into this racket in the first place? 00:07:40.570 --> 00:07:43.510 [Joe Fuller:] My wife. 00:07:43.510 --> 00:07:46.530 This was Helen's hometown. 00:07:46.530 --> 00:07:48.150 She used to work over in the administration building 00:07:48.150 --> 00:07:50.840 before we were married. 00:07:50.840 --> 00:07:55.150 Then I opened a small radio repair shop downtown. 00:07:55.150 --> 00:07:59.380 Only it didn't pan out. 00:07:59.380 --> 00:08:03.810 Then she got her old job back, and I took this job. 00:08:03.810 --> 00:08:06.200 How about you? 00:08:06.200 --> 00:08:10.230 [Mr. Harve:] I guess I just needed a job too. 00:08:10.230 --> 00:08:12.690 But I ain't doing this kind of work for fun. 00:08:12.690 --> 00:08:15.170 And if the doctors and nurses ride me too much, 00:08:15.170 --> 00:08:19.170 well, I'll just move on. 00:08:19.170 --> 00:08:24.920 [Joe Fuller:] Sometimes I think of moving on myself. 00:08:24.920 --> 00:08:30.040 Might not be a bad idea. 00:08:30.040 --> 00:08:31.580 [Narrator:] On a job like this, 00:08:31.580 --> 00:08:37.650 you learn not to consider yourself judge and jury. 00:08:37.650 --> 00:08:40.740 Joe usually takes people as they come. 00:08:40.740 --> 00:08:45.920 On the other hand, he doesn't have to like everything he sees. 00:08:45.920 --> 00:09:10.180 [Bill holds a music session with a group of men singing "Sweet Adeline."] 00:09:10.180 --> 00:09:10.780 [Mr. Harve:] Cut that out! 00:09:10.780 --> 00:09:12.550 [Mr. Mack:] Try and make me! 00:09:12.550 --> 00:09:17.070 [Mr. Harve is scuffling with a patient.] 00:09:17.070 --> 00:09:18.880 [Joe Fuller:] What's your trouble, Mack? 00:09:18.880 --> 00:09:20.020 [Mack:] I don't want to sing. 00:09:20.020 --> 00:09:26.700 [Joe Fuller:] Okay then, don't sing. 00:09:26.700 --> 00:09:27.660 Go ahead, Bill. 00:09:27.660 --> 00:09:30.400 [Bill:] All right, men. I've been working on the railroad. 00:09:30.400 --> 00:09:38.840 [Choir starts singing "I've been working on the railroad, all the live-long day."] 00:09:38.840 --> 00:09:43.110 [Fuller beckons Mr. Harve over] 00:09:43.110 --> 00:09:45.390 [Joe Fuller:] Take it easy. 00:09:45.390 --> 00:09:48.180 [Mr. Harve:] What that guy needs is a good beating-up. 00:09:48.180 --> 00:09:51.400 [Joe Fuller:] Look Frank, that stuff doesn't go around here. 00:09:51.400 --> 00:09:53.510 [Mr. Harve:] And I thought you were a right guy. 00:09:53.510 --> 00:09:54.480 [Joe Fuller:] I'm okay, 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:56.980 but you can't go around hitting guys. 00:09:56.980 --> 00:10:00.470 McGarrick wouldn't hurt anybody. 00:10:00.470 --> 00:10:03.160 Besides, he's in here because he's seriously sick. 00:10:03.160 --> 00:10:21.400 [Men sing "Dinah won't you blow your horn...someone's in the kitchen with Dinah."] 00:10:21.400 --> 00:10:40.360 [Mr. Rusk is holding his pipe, running it through his fingers, while singing continues.] 00:10:40.360 --> 00:10:42.440 [Narrator:] Dr. Brand usually confers with the nurse 00:10:42.440 --> 00:10:47.320 and the aide after his morning visit with the patients. 00:10:47.320 --> 00:10:48.610 [Dr. Brand:] I'm afraid I'm going to have to transfer 00:10:48.610 --> 00:10:50.990 some of your men off the ward. 00:10:50.990 --> 00:10:54.950 How about some of those who haven't responded to treatment? 00:10:54.950 --> 00:10:57.750 [Nurse O'Malley:] Well, doctor, there's old Mr. Noven. 00:10:57.750 --> 00:10:59.950 He has had over 50 electric shock treatments 00:10:59.950 --> 00:11:07.600 and there's no change at all. 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:14.060 [Dr. Brand:] Well, all right, we'll transfer him. 00:11:14.060 --> 00:11:15.490 How about Rusk? 00:11:15.490 --> 00:11:21.330 He hasn't improved much. 00:11:21.330 --> 00:11:23.000 [Nurse O'Malley:] Well, you were telling me about him this morning, 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:25.540 weren't you, Mr. Fuller? 00:11:25.540 --> 00:11:27.410 [Joe Fuller:] No, it was just a little thing. 00:11:27.410 --> 00:11:29.790 [Dr. Brand:] Well, tell us anyway, Mr. Fuller. 00:11:29.790 --> 00:11:33.860 [Joe Fuller:] Well, I had been trying to get Mr. Rusk to smoke his pipe, 00:11:33.860 --> 00:11:36.340 but he's never shown much interest in it. 00:11:36.340 --> 00:11:39.010 And the other day I saw him holding it. 00:11:39.010 --> 00:11:42.740 Today when I offered him a light, he accepted it. 00:11:42.740 --> 00:11:46.180 [Dr. Brand:] Well, let's keep him around a little while longer 00:11:46.180 --> 00:11:48.460 and see what develops. 00:11:48.460 --> 00:11:51.230 I'm glad you persisted with that pipe, Mr. Fuller. 00:11:51.230 --> 00:11:53.680 You know we depend on you for the little things. 00:11:53.680 --> 00:11:56.040 They can be mighty important. 00:11:56.040 --> 00:12:00.530 That just shows you what you could do with more help around here. 00:12:00.530 --> 00:12:03.990 How does that list look now? 00:12:03.990 --> 00:12:06.680 [Therapist:] Underhand! 00:12:06.680 --> 00:12:08.630 [Narrator:] In mental hospitals nowadays, 00:12:08.630 --> 00:12:11.550 exercise is a prescribed activity. 00:12:11.550 --> 00:12:14.040 For not only does it keep bodies in good shape, 00:12:14.040 --> 00:12:16.420 it involves the patients with each other. 00:12:16.420 --> 00:12:21.980 and provides a normal, familiar outlet for feelings. 00:12:21.980 --> 00:12:25.440 The leader is usually a trained recreational therapist. 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:27.670 [Therapist:] Strike one! 00:12:27.670 --> 00:12:30.780 [Narrator:] Not all of the patients are capable of taking part. 00:12:30.780 --> 00:12:34.050 Some of them can't coordinate sufficiently to throw a ball. 00:12:34.050 --> 00:12:39.870 Others are unable to maintain interest in anything outside themselves. 00:12:39.870 --> 00:12:43.600 But the games bring the men out of the wards and into the sunshine. 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:45.230 There's something relaxing in just the sounds 00:12:45.230 --> 00:12:53.270 of people enjoying themselves. 00:12:53.270 --> 00:13:00.630 [Ball rolls over to the bench where Mr. Rusk sits with Joe Fuller.] 00:13:00.630 --> 00:13:07.550 [Joe Fuller picks up the ball and gives it to Mr. Rusk.] 00:13:07.550 --> 00:13:10.890 [Mr. Rusk:] Thank you, Harry. 00:13:10.890 --> 00:13:12.880 [Joe Fuller:] Harry? 00:13:12.880 --> 00:13:15.180 [Narrator:] Mr. Rusk had talked. 00:13:15.180 --> 00:13:17.850 Joe was so surprised and perplexed that he never 00:13:17.850 --> 00:13:20.120 knew who won the game that afternoon. 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:21.700 A few days later, 00:13:21.700 --> 00:13:24.900 he was attending one of the classes that are part of an aide's training 00:13:24.900 --> 00:13:26.860 in the care of the mentally ill. 00:13:26.860 --> 00:13:31.020 Dr. Brand was discussing the dynamics of identification. 00:13:31.020 --> 00:13:34.470 [Dr. Brand:] Even our rules for living are designed to reach the patient 00:13:34.470 --> 00:13:37.480 with what for him is an unbelievable idea: 00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:40.320 that he can trust us. 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:42.970 Common sense suggests you begin by always behaving 00:13:42.970 --> 00:13:47.000 in a way that makes you his friend, not his enemy. 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:52.140 Even when you think he is incapable of understanding what you're doing. 00:13:52.140 --> 00:13:55.670 You can also try to know the patient as a human being. 00:13:55.670 --> 00:13:58.640 Liking what is likable about him. 00:13:58.640 --> 00:14:01.490 Understanding what is not likable about him. 00:14:01.490 --> 00:14:04.370 If we remind him of someone who made him suffer, 00:14:04.370 --> 00:14:06.380 he'll mistrust us. 00:14:06.380 --> 00:14:08.760 And if we remind him of someone he liked, 00:14:08.760 --> 00:14:12.100 he may come around to trust us. 00:14:12.100 --> 00:14:14.160 Yes, Mr. Fuller. 00:14:14.160 --> 00:14:16.190 [Joe Fuller:] The other day one of my patients, 00:14:16.190 --> 00:14:20.960 a Mr. Rusk down in recreational therapy, he fumbled a ball. 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:22.270 And when I picked it up for him, 00:14:22.270 --> 00:14:24.780 he thanked me and he called me Harry. 00:14:24.780 --> 00:14:27.660 I was wondering who Harry was? 00:14:27.660 --> 00:14:30.130 [Dr. Brand:] Does anyone have any ideas? 00:14:30.130 --> 00:14:31.700 Mr. Jackson? 00:14:31.700 --> 00:14:33.260 [Mr. Jackson:] It's possible that this Harry is someone 00:14:33.260 --> 00:14:36.130 that Mr. Rusk had played ball with in his younger days. 00:14:36.130 --> 00:14:37.510 [Joe Fuller:] But he's in his 50s. 00:14:37.510 --> 00:14:40.840 That would have been a long time ago. 00:14:40.840 --> 00:14:44.230 Although maybe he was thinking back on happier times. 00:14:44.230 --> 00:14:45.990 Sometimes they do that. 00:14:45.990 --> 00:14:47.620 [Dr. Brand:] They do indeed. 00:14:47.620 --> 00:14:50.910 You can check with one of the social workers, Mr. Fuller. 00:14:50.910 --> 00:14:53.360 Find out if there's a Harry in the family. 00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:55.320 But no matter what you find out, 00:14:55.320 --> 00:15:03.700 I suggest you spend a little more time with him. 00:15:03.700 --> 00:15:06.130 [Social Worker:] Mr. Rusk has a son named Harry. 00:15:06.130 --> 00:15:14.260 An only child. 00:15:14.260 --> 00:15:21.930 Wait a minute, the boy was killed in action in the Pacific. 00:15:21.930 --> 00:15:24.660 [Joe Fuller:] That's it. 00:15:24.660 --> 00:15:31.370 [Joe Fuller and Mr. Rusk sit at a table with a checkerboard.] 00:15:31.370 --> 00:15:33.320 [Narrator:] Now that Joe knew something about the pain 00:15:33.320 --> 00:15:36.290 that Mr. Rusk had been unable to bear, 00:15:36.290 --> 00:15:42.760 the patient became a real person for him. 00:15:42.760 --> 00:15:47.200 Waiting for still more to emerge would be easier now. 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:52.180 [Joe Fuller:] How about a game, Mr. Rusk? 00:15:52.180 --> 00:15:54.160 [Narrator:] For Joe often found it difficult 00:15:54.160 --> 00:15:56.120 to live and work among the masks that the 00:15:56.120 --> 00:16:02.690 mentally ill use to protect themselves from pressures they can't stand. 00:16:02.690 --> 00:16:06.520 They like the formal relationships of card-playing or checkers 00:16:06.520 --> 00:16:09.510 because the rules don't change. 00:16:09.510 --> 00:16:18.440 Each act does not become a problem involving feelings. 00:16:18.440 --> 00:16:24.020 Yet Joe is aware of suppressed feelings. 00:16:24.020 --> 00:16:26.560 How else could one explain the fits of odd behavior 00:16:26.560 --> 00:16:41.550 that seem to have nothing to do with the game? 00:16:41.550 --> 00:16:46.340 [Joe Fuller:] It's your move, Mr. Rusk. 00:16:46.340 --> 00:16:48.910 [Narrator:] Feelings that have been pushed down so deep 00:16:48.910 --> 00:16:50.310 may take a long time to come 00:16:50.310 --> 00:16:52.110 to the surface. 00:16:52.110 --> 00:16:58.730 It was taking Mr. Rusk months. 00:16:58.730 --> 00:17:02.830 Communicating is apt to be frightening. 00:17:02.830 --> 00:17:07.590 It must be tenderly encouraged. 00:17:07.590 --> 00:17:11.260 The feelings may give rise to thoughts that are so confused, 00:17:11.260 --> 00:17:12.930 they must be reshifted, 00:17:12.930 --> 00:17:13.890 straightened out, 00:17:13.890 --> 00:17:15.030 reordered, 00:17:15.030 --> 00:17:15.790 constantly, 00:17:15.790 --> 00:17:19.640 continuously. 00:17:19.640 --> 00:17:23.480 There is no time for anything but endless rearranging 00:17:23.480 --> 00:17:24.770 in the vain hope of finding a 00:17:24.770 --> 00:17:31.220 sequence that's satisfying. 00:17:31.220 --> 00:17:36.770 There are many ways to talk without using words. 00:17:36.770 --> 00:17:40.980 There are many ways to connect with another human being. 00:17:40.980 --> 00:17:42.310 We use our manner. 00:17:42.310 --> 00:17:43.610 Our eyes. 00:17:43.610 --> 00:17:44.670 Our smile. 00:17:44.670 --> 00:17:48.660 Long before we learn to use words. 00:17:48.660 --> 00:17:51.920 Joe, like a person working with children, 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:55.090 has come to understand the wordless language. 00:17:55.090 --> 00:18:00.960 [Joe reaches over to light Mr. Rusk's pipe.] 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:06.240 Many of his patients never talk, but they will express feeling. 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:09.670 Many of his patients seem not to understand, 00:18:09.670 --> 00:18:11.770 yet Joe must find a way of getting them to do 00:18:11.770 --> 00:18:18.110 what is necessary for their health and welfare. 00:18:18.110 --> 00:18:21.680 Patients can be handled physically without violence. 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:24.060 The kind word, the explanation, 00:18:24.060 --> 00:18:28.230 may be understood hours or weeks after it's been given, 00:18:28.230 --> 00:18:33.080 for no one knows what such patients hear and remember. 00:18:33.080 --> 00:18:37.010 Mr. Rusk took three months to make his first move. 00:18:37.010 --> 00:18:38.950 Another three was spent in getting up the courage 00:18:38.950 --> 00:18:48.560 to play hard enough to win. 00:18:48.560 --> 00:18:50.930 By now Joe doesn't find the games 00:18:50.930 --> 00:19:01.330 as one-sided as they used to be. 00:19:01.330 --> 00:19:04.910 The miracle of a man coming to life is slow, 00:19:04.910 --> 00:19:09.750 but no less wonderful for that reason. 00:19:09.750 --> 00:19:11.980 One by one he regains the little skills 00:19:11.980 --> 00:19:16.380 by which a human being moves towards relative independence. 00:19:16.380 --> 00:19:19.330 It can be a delicate, difficult process. 00:19:19.330 --> 00:19:26.580 We can only follow it from the outside. 00:19:26.580 --> 00:19:30.560 We learn to notice small changes, 00:19:30.560 --> 00:19:34.810 but their why and how remain a secret. 00:19:34.810 --> 00:19:39.520 Growth is always wonderful. 00:19:39.520 --> 00:19:41.770 [Joe Fuller:] Mr. Rusk, this is our clothes room. 00:19:41.770 --> 00:19:44.970 This is where you'll be working, if you like it. 00:19:44.970 --> 00:19:47.010 Now this will be your job, 00:19:47.010 --> 00:19:48.960 folding trousers. 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:54.530 Just let the legs hang down like that and fold it over on itself. 00:19:54.530 --> 00:19:56.130 And each one is marked. 00:19:56.130 --> 00:19:59.070 There's a size 34. 00:19:59.070 --> 00:20:03.620 Over here, it's all marked off, 32, 34, 36 00:20:03.620 --> 00:20:06.060 Now, this would go in there. 00:20:06.060 --> 00:20:08.390 Do you think you can do that? 00:20:08.390 --> 00:20:11.370 Does that look easy? 00:20:11.370 --> 00:20:12.210 [Mr. Rusk:] 34. 00:20:12.210 --> 00:20:13.520 [Joe Fuller:] That's right. 00:20:13.520 --> 00:20:17.310 [Mr. Rusk proceeds to place the pants on the shelf.] 00:20:17.310 --> 00:20:20.700 [Joe Fuller:] That's it. 00:20:20.700 --> 00:20:23.230 [Narrator:] It was almost a year before Mr. Rusk 00:20:23.230 --> 00:20:26.220 could venture out of his shell. 00:20:26.220 --> 00:20:29.450 [Mr. Rusk:] You know when I called you Harry the other day. 00:20:29.450 --> 00:20:31.310 [Joe Fuller:] Um hum. 00:20:31.310 --> 00:20:33.790 [Mr. Rusk:] You must have thought I was crazy. 00:20:33.790 --> 00:20:36.990 Well, I must be crazy or I wouldn't be here. 00:20:36.990 --> 00:20:38.850 [Joe Fuller:] You just mistook me for your son, that's all. 00:20:38.850 --> 00:20:40.290 I must look like him. 00:20:40.290 --> 00:20:43.450 People make mistakes like that at times. 00:20:43.450 --> 00:20:46.230 [Mr. Rusk:] Yeah, but I'm crazy. 00:20:46.230 --> 00:20:49.380 I can see now you don't look like Harry. 00:20:49.380 --> 00:20:50.720 [Joe Fuller:] Well, from what you told me about him, 00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:52.540 he must have been a fine fellow. 00:20:52.540 --> 00:20:54.590 [Mr. Rusk:] The best! 00:20:54.590 --> 00:21:03.350 I can't understand why he had to be... 00:21:03.350 --> 00:21:08.310 Nothing much mattered after that. 00:21:08.310 --> 00:21:14.240 [Joe offers the lighter to light Mr. Rusk's pipe.] 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:17.330 [Joe Fuller:] The war took a lot of nice guys. 00:21:17.330 --> 00:21:19.600 Must have been hard on your wife, too. 00:21:19.600 --> 00:21:22.390 [Mr. Rusk nods.] 00:21:22.390 --> 00:21:25.950 She's all alone now, isn't she? 00:21:25.950 --> 00:21:27.630 [Mr. Rusk:] I guess so. 00:21:27.630 --> 00:21:29.920 [Joe Fuller:] She'll certainly be glad to have you home again. 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:33.050 [Mr. Rusk:] Nah, I'm finished. 00:21:33.050 --> 00:21:33.800 [Joe Fuller:] What do you mean, 00:21:33.800 --> 00:21:36.330 look how you've improved in the last few months. 00:21:36.330 --> 00:21:38.720 The doctors will help you get well. 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:40.040 [Mr. Rusk:] Not me. 00:21:40.040 --> 00:21:40.890 [Joe Fuller:] Why not? 00:21:40.890 --> 00:21:41.930 Look at Jordan. 00:21:41.930 --> 00:21:43.900 The one who used to talk so much. 00:21:43.900 --> 00:21:45.410 He has ground privileges now. 00:21:45.410 --> 00:21:48.700 He can come and go around the grounds as much as he pleases. 00:21:48.700 --> 00:21:49.990 And look at Andy Bower. 00:21:49.990 --> 00:21:53.370 He's working down on the farm. 00:21:53.370 --> 00:21:54.490 [Mr. Rusk:] Yeah, but look at Wilmer. 00:21:54.490 --> 00:21:55.910 He's as lonely as ever. 00:21:55.910 --> 00:21:58.490 [Joe Fuller:] Well, sometimes I think Wilmer 00:21:58.490 --> 00:22:00.870 would rather stay here than go home. 00:22:00.870 --> 00:22:02.330 He likes to play the clown too much. 00:22:02.330 --> 00:22:09.300 [Wilmer, with a paper bag on his head, bows, and Mr. Rusk laughs.] 00:22:09.300 --> 00:22:12.360 [Joe Fuller:] That's the first time I've heard you laugh! 00:22:12.360 --> 00:22:16.620 [Mr. Rusk:] Well, feels good to laugh. 00:22:16.620 --> 00:22:20.090 I guess I haven't had much to laugh about lately. 00:22:20.090 --> 00:22:22.830 [Joe Fuller:] Aw, you're coming along fine, Mr. Rusk. 00:22:22.830 --> 00:22:25.130 You're getting better everyday. 00:22:25.130 --> 00:22:26.660 [Mr. Rusk:] You really think so, Joe? 00:22:26.660 --> 00:22:28.610 [Joe Fuller:] I certainly do. 00:22:28.610 --> 00:22:32.200 [Mr. Rusk:] Well, it was good talking to you this way. 00:22:32.200 --> 00:22:35.320 [Narrator:] Then Mr. Rusk went back in. 00:22:35.320 --> 00:22:39.720 He'd need time to think over, to comprehend, his big step forward. 00:22:39.720 --> 00:22:40.710 His wife. 00:22:40.710 --> 00:22:41.730 His home. 00:22:41.730 --> 00:22:44.920 He'd have to think about them. 00:22:44.920 --> 00:22:52.010 [Mr. Harve walks up to Joe Fuller in the locker area.] 00:22:52.010 --> 00:22:54.160 [Mr. Harve:] It's 5:30 Joe, going to supper? 00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:56.580 [Joe Fuller:] Not just yet Frank, I want to finish this job first. 00:22:56.580 --> 00:22:58.880 [Mr. Harve:] I guess they told you, I'm leaving next week. 00:22:58.880 --> 00:23:00.840 Got a swell job in a factory downtown. 00:23:00.840 --> 00:23:03.170 [Joe Fuller:] Well, some people get all the breaks. 00:23:03.170 --> 00:23:04.480 [Mr. Harve:] Well, I think it's about time 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:07.060 I got away from these people. 00:23:07.060 --> 00:23:08.540 How about you? 00:23:08.540 --> 00:23:10.590 When are you moving on? 00:23:10.590 --> 00:23:13.440 [Joe Fuller:] Well...won't be this week. 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:15.830 [Mr. Harve:] Better hurry up.You aren't getting any younger. 00:23:15.830 --> 00:23:19.310 [Joe Fuller:] Haha, you're not kidding. 00:23:19.310 --> 00:23:25.910 [Mr. Harve:] Well, I'll see you at supper. 00:23:25.910 --> 00:23:35.240 [Joe Fuller:] Mr. Rusk, what's the matter? 00:23:35.240 --> 00:23:39.170 Here, Mr. Rusk, you dropped this. 00:23:39.170 --> 00:23:42.130 Say, I didn't mean what I just said to Frank. 00:23:42.130 --> 00:23:44.840 I was only trying to be friendly. 00:23:44.840 --> 00:23:48.750 I'm not even thinking of leaving. 00:23:48.750 --> 00:23:50.540 [Mr. Rusk stops working and walks away.] 00:23:50.540 --> 00:23:55.220 Mr. Rusk? 00:23:55.220 --> 00:24:01.300 [Narrator:] Regression is the technical name for Mr. Rusk's medical condition. 00:24:01.300 --> 00:24:07.450 For Joe, no technical word could describe the situation. 00:24:07.450 --> 00:24:12.340 After a year of patient, careful work, day by day, hour by hour, 00:24:12.340 --> 00:24:14.200 he's back at the beginning. 00:24:14.200 --> 00:24:17.540 The elaborate bridge over which Rusk has been moving toward health, 00:24:17.540 --> 00:24:27.090 the bridge of which Joe himself was part, has come crashing down. 00:24:27.090 --> 00:24:31.190 All that day, he worried about Mr. Rusk. 00:24:31.190 --> 00:24:32.900 [Nurse O'Malley:] Hello Joe. What's for dinner? 00:24:32.900 --> 00:24:35.080 [Joe Fuller:] Huh! Oh, I forget. 00:24:35.080 --> 00:24:39.130 [Nurse O'Malley:] You forget! It must have been real good. 00:24:39.130 --> 00:24:42.820 By the way, Mr. Rusk seems to have had a relapse. 00:24:42.820 --> 00:24:45.030 He hasn't eaten anything all afternoon. 00:24:45.030 --> 00:24:49.770 Try and get him to take something. 00:24:49.770 --> 00:24:54.320 See you later. 00:24:54.320 --> 00:24:58.880 [Narrator:] Try to get him to take something. 00:24:58.880 --> 00:25:01.780 Try to pick up the milk you spilled. 00:25:01.780 --> 00:25:08.640 Try to remake the statue you dropped. 00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:11.480 It was even worse than it had been at the beginning. 00:25:11.480 --> 00:25:14.270 Then Mr. Rusk had been angry at the world. 00:25:14.270 --> 00:25:17.820 Now Joe felt that the anger was all focused on him. 00:25:17.820 --> 00:25:21.190 What's more, he felt he deserved it. 00:25:21.190 --> 00:25:25.700 What to do about it? 00:25:25.700 --> 00:25:29.340 He could go home and try to forget about Mr. Rusk, 00:25:29.340 --> 00:25:33.860 or he could tell Dr. Brand the whole story. 00:25:33.860 --> 00:25:36.520 [Joe Fuller:] No, it was my fault all right. 00:25:36.520 --> 00:25:40.700 I should have known how he'd react to the idea of my leaving. 00:25:40.700 --> 00:25:43.890 [Dr. Brand:] None of us are perfect. 00:25:43.890 --> 00:25:50.600 I wouldn't blame myself too much for an accident like this. 00:25:50.600 --> 00:25:52.340 Have you been thinking about leaving? 00:25:52.340 --> 00:26:00.070 [Joe Fuller:] No! Well, I must admit that I have thought about it off and on. 00:26:00.070 --> 00:26:02.820 But you know how it is, doctor, 00:26:02.820 --> 00:26:05.480 You get to know some of these patients... 00:26:05.480 --> 00:26:06.540 you get to like them, 00:26:06.540 --> 00:26:08.360 some of them. 00:26:08.360 --> 00:26:14.860 Patients like Mr. Rusk, a few others who get better. 00:26:14.860 --> 00:26:17.290 I thought I was in on something real big for awhile, 00:26:17.290 --> 00:26:21.000 something where I was doing some good. 00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:22.960 Then I messed it all up. 00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:26.200 [Dr. Brand:] Don't worry sO'Much, Joe. 00:26:26.200 --> 00:26:27.550 This might be the most important thing 00:26:27.550 --> 00:26:31.180 that's happened on your job here. 00:26:31.180 --> 00:26:35.220 Do me a favor. Forget Mr. Rusk tonight; 00:26:35.220 --> 00:26:38.770 take your wife to the movies. 00:26:38.770 --> 00:26:46.980 Mr. Rusk will still be here tomorrow when you come on duty. 00:26:46.980 --> 00:26:48.730 [Narrator:] Joe hung around the hospital that night 00:26:48.730 --> 00:26:51.160 after his shift was over. 00:26:51.160 --> 00:26:54.020 Something had happened to him, too. 00:26:54.020 --> 00:26:58.860 Something that needed to be thought over, to be talked out. 00:26:58.860 --> 00:27:02.040 Kate O'Malley was the kind of girl you could talk to. 00:27:02.040 --> 00:27:04.930 Besides, this sort of thing was her profession. 00:27:04.930 --> 00:27:07.450 [Joe Fuller:] What did he mean, 00:27:07.450 --> 00:27:09.800 the most important thing that ever happened to me? 00:27:09.800 --> 00:27:11.270 [Nurse O'Malley:] I don't know... 00:27:11.270 --> 00:27:14.090 but when I first started in mental hospital work, 00:27:14.090 --> 00:27:18.480 I used to get pretty discouraged when a patient become upset. 00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:20.610 I used to feel like giving it all up 00:27:20.610 --> 00:27:25.490 and going in for surgery, or pediatrics, or something else. 00:27:25.490 --> 00:27:31.950 But now I realize that every serious illness has its ups and downs. 00:27:31.950 --> 00:27:34.250 [Joe Fuller:] Mostly downs, it seems to me. 00:27:34.250 --> 00:27:38.060 [Nurse O'Malley:] Listen Joe, you have a lot to give these patients. 00:27:38.060 --> 00:27:41.490 I probably know more about Rusk's illness than you do, 00:27:41.490 --> 00:27:46.620 but you probably know more about Rusk. 00:27:46.620 --> 00:27:49.560 [Joe Fuller:] That's what makes me feel so bad about all this. 00:27:49.560 --> 00:27:52.300 Rusk was the one I was counting on to come through. 00:27:52.300 --> 00:27:54.800 [Nurse O'Malley:] You had a man-to-man relationship 00:27:54.800 --> 00:27:57.650 that was the right medicine for him. 00:27:57.650 --> 00:27:59.860 You have a knack for doing that. 00:27:59.860 --> 00:28:03.180 That's why you were able to help him more. 00:28:03.180 --> 00:28:05.430 [Joe Fuller:] I guess I didn't think of it that way. 00:28:05.430 --> 00:28:08.100 [Nurse O'Malley:] Someday Rusk will come to realize you're a man 00:28:08.100 --> 00:28:10.620 he'll have to give up, 00:28:10.620 --> 00:28:13.370 and he'll accept that too. 00:28:13.370 --> 00:28:18.060 You deserve a lot of credit for reaching Rusk when the rest of us failed. 00:28:18.060 --> 00:28:20.980 It's no easy job. 00:28:20.980 --> 00:28:23.570 [Joe Fuller:] No, and it's not a bad one either. 00:28:23.570 --> 00:28:31.420 [Nurse O'Malley:] Depends on who's doing it. 00:28:31.420 --> 00:28:32.670 [Narrator:] The world of the mentally ill 00:28:32.670 --> 00:28:35.560 is not very unlike the world we know. 00:28:35.560 --> 00:28:38.420 The things in it may appear distorted to us 00:28:38.420 --> 00:28:42.320 because of the special point of view from which they are seen. 00:28:42.320 --> 00:28:44.180 What makes the point of view special 00:28:44.180 --> 00:28:47.900 is the particular pattern of feelings of a particular person. 00:28:47.900 --> 00:28:51.680 Each pattern is different, as each person is different, 00:28:51.680 --> 00:28:57.770 depending on what he was and what happened to him. 00:28:57.770 --> 00:29:05.240 Joe has come to recognize these differences and live with them. 00:29:05.240 --> 00:29:09.080 He has learned to accept surprising or even silly behavior, 00:29:09.080 --> 00:29:16.930 as long as it's not destructive. 00:29:16.930 --> 00:29:19.350 He has really come to like what is likable. 00:29:19.350 --> 00:29:22.480 And to try to understand what is not likable. 00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:26.960 He doesn't feel threatened by patients who express their needs directly. 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:28.940 He doesn't feel contempt for grown men 00:29:28.940 --> 00:29:32.190 who act with the exuberance of children. 00:29:32.190 --> 00:29:35.150 He takes them as they are. 00:29:35.150 --> 00:29:37.950 And this acceptance, this liking, 00:29:37.950 --> 00:29:41.940 is what Joe can contribute to the process of therapy. 00:29:41.940 --> 00:29:46.190 For hospitals like this one are places where sick people 00:29:46.190 --> 00:29:48.320 are being helped to recover from serious illness. 00:29:48.320 --> 00:29:51.820 Joe is part of a team, headed by a psychiatrist, 00:29:51.820 --> 00:29:54.470 that is constantly trying to speed this recovery, 00:29:54.470 --> 00:29:59.690 which might otherwise take a lifetime, or might never occur at all. 00:29:59.690 --> 00:30:03.790 Along with some psychotherapy and physical therapy, 00:30:03.790 --> 00:30:07.980 along with the occupational, recreational, and industrial therapy, 00:30:07.980 --> 00:30:11.850 there is also the simple therapy of being treated with respect, 00:30:11.850 --> 00:30:19.180 day in and day out, by the one sane person in the ward. 00:30:19.180 --> 00:30:21.860 Time and patience. 00:30:21.860 --> 00:30:27.790 Joe has them to give. 00:30:27.790 --> 00:30:35.810 The bridge is beginning to be rebuilt on an even firmer base. 00:30:35.810 --> 00:30:40.760 It may be easier for Mr. Rusk to move over the second time. 00:30:40.760 --> 00:30:44.880 But he cannot be pushed. 00:30:44.880 --> 00:30:46.670 [Joe Fuller:] It's your move, Mr. Rusk. 00:30:46.670 --> 00:30:53.650 [Climactic music playing] 00:30:53.650 --> 00:30:55.600 [This picture was made possible through the cooperation 00:30:55.600 --> 00:30:57.940 of the professional staff of the Fairfield State Hospital, 00:30:57.940 --> 00:31:00.030 Newtown, Connecticut, who played their own roles 00:31:00.030 --> 00:31:01.990 as well as those of their patients. 00:31:01.990 --> 00:31:02.910 The understanding which they brought to these performances 00:31:02.910 --> 00:31:14.490 bespeaks the sympathy and respect that they feel for the mentally ill.] 00:31:14.490 --> 00:31:24.020 The End