In the 1960’s a group of psychiatrists’ formed the anti-psychiatry movement and stated that psychiatry had no validity. Psychiatrists like Thomas Szasz put forward the idea that mental illness did not exist and that people were struggling to make sense of a mad world and another psychiatrist called Ronal Lain put forward an idea which suggested that a person’s mother makes them mentally ill. In 1973 David Rosenhan conducted an experiment into the validity of psychiatric diagnosis. This study was conducted in two parts. First Rosenhan sent a number of healthy pseudo patients to 12 different mental institutes undercover.
He chose this fate, for it was necessary to overcome the power of the nurse; to release her grasp on the patients of the ward. The Nurse left voiceless and now could not hide her womanhood; her power over the patients lost. McMurphy, like Christ, suffered for the patients of the ward; he suffered to overcome the evil presence of Nurse Ratched. He became a sacrificial victim for the people, allowing them to regain self-confidence and sanity. McMurphy is a man of Christ like ideals; he sins as a man would, but suffers for the people as Christ
When McMurphy discovers that many of the patients are in the hospital because they don’t have the courage to get out into the real world he gets upset but also embarrassed because it is evident that Nurse Ratched’s therapy and methods to help the men are designed to undermine the little confidence they do have, not encourage it. In my opinion Nurse Ratched’s should be put into the asylum for abusing her authority and dehumanizing the patients and replacing it with blind conformity. McMurphy, is the person who sees everything that Nurse Ratched is doing. By showing the other patients how to create their own standards of sanity, McMurphy greets a bunch of institutionalized nervous wrecks back towards their humanity. McMurphy and I both think that society is corrupt and if you are no danger to yourself or society you are not insane, you may be different but you are most definitely not
Dying patients sometimes lose all ability to take care of themselves. Vomit, drool, urine, faces, and other indignities must be attended to by nursing assistants. Recent laws in Oregon and the U.K. have started a trend of legalization. But some most notably the U.S. Attorney General’s office, are determined to prevent the laws from going through with physician assisted suicide. Physician assisted suicide is killing one’s self by a patient facilitated by means a drug prescription or by information as an indication of what dosage provided by a physician aware of the patients intent.
Nurse Ratched, the authoritative figure who controls the ward, is believed to be providing help for mentally ill men. The tension begins when Randal P. McMurphy, a wrongly committed mental patient with a lust for life, is placed in a mental hospital in Oregon to avoid the physical labor of a prison farm. Immediately his presence begins to alter the environment of the mental ward. He brings with him amusement, disorder, and rebellion as he begins his quest to become the “Bull Goose Looney”. This then develops into a complicated battle between McMurphy and Nurse Ratched; McMurphy fighting for individual freedom, and the nurse fighting for confinement.
The Fog as a Symbol in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Over the Cuckoo's Nest” is described by Chief Bromden as being instated by Ms. Ratched but in reality, it is the Chief slipping from reality due to his mental illness, or it could also be an induced fog caused by the Chief's medication. Therefore it is clear this this is not a literal fog. The Chief hallucinates the fog drifting into the ward through imaginary vents controlled by the staff. Often throughout the book, the Chief describes the fog as being a safe place where he can hide and ignore reality . The fog is also the state which Ms. Ratched imposes on the other patients throughout her cleverly devised routines and treatments.
n the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the author, Ken Kesey, chose a patient who suffers from schizophrenia like symptoms to narrate the story. The novel is seen through Chief Bromden and how he interprets the insane asylum he lives in, which he calls "the Combine." Chief is very observant and gives detailed descriptions on everything in the ward. The other patients are under the impression that he is deaf and dumb. This allows him to eavesdrop throughout the entire hospital and know exactly what’s going on at all times.
The novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey is the story of a man named Chief Bromden and his experiences on an extremely problematic ward of a mental hospital during the mid 1900’s. Early in the novel, when it becomes evident that Chief is a classified schizophrenic, it raises the question of whether or not anything in the novel is actually happening, or if all the events that unfold are just creations of his imagination. There are a large number of events that took place in the novel that are clearly hallucinations, but there are also things that happen that could have actually happened outside of Chief’s mind. One instance early in the novel in which Chief Bromden shows his mental hallucinations is when he refers to the fog machines in the ward. The appearance of fog throughout the novel is associated with Chief’s fear of the Nurse Ratched and the orderlies.
As in every good plot there is a villain character played by Nurse Ratched. She is a former Army nurse who runs a strict hospital and whose practices are questionable and harsh. There is one other important character and that is Randle McMurphy. These three characters demonstrate the controversy of the different methods that were once used as treatment in psychology. In this psychological hospital there are two methods used, the behavioristic and biomedical methods are used to treat patients.
Also, incarcerated persons might not want treatment because they don’t recognize that they have an illness or they have lost touch with reality all together. When and if the offender experiences a psychotic break, they are taken to a facility so that a doctor can prescribe medication, they can also be forced to take the medication by court order. One expert contends that “we have created a revolving door in which mentally ill cycle from clinics, to homelessness, to jail”. The offenders in California, Texas, Arizona, Maryland, and Oregon, all go through a screening process. They do questionnaire, and or observation through an interview that is done by jail employees or a nurse.