One Flew over the Cuckoo

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One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest

• Ken Kesey

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Why did Kesey Write in this Way?

• Kesey actually worked as a night warden on a ward
  in a mental hospital. He was so determined to
  get the feel of being a patient that he underwent
  ECT.
• While at Stanford, Kesey volunteered for medical
  studies on the effects of psychoactive drugs
  (often hallucinogens). He used these experiences
  to inform how Chief would see the world

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Adaptations

• Cuckoos nest was adapted for both stage and
  screen.
• The 1975 film won the big five Oscars
• Best film, best adapted screenplay, best
• actress, best actor, and best director.
• Kesey unsuccessfully sued film producers in
• 1975 because they changed the point of view
• from the original story.

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Narration

• Be patient with your narrator, Chief Bromden.
• He has had too much electroshock therapy and too
  many drugs.
• Kesey probably did too!
• Keep in mind that our narrator is not the same as
  our protagonist.

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What is this?
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Combine Harvester

• A combine harvester is an agricultural
• machine that harvests all types of cereals, oil
• seeds, and legumes through four main steps
• The crop is cut and directed into a rotating
• chamber with a series of beaters going the
• opposite direction. The grain is dislodged,
  falls to the bottom, separated from debris by
  sieves and wind. The grain is transferred to a
  hopper for transfer and the debris falls out the
  rear

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Motifs to keep an eye on

• ?? Fog
• ?? Hands
• ?? Nature/purity
• ?? Machine/combine
• ?? Christ/savior
• ?? Sanity/insanity
• ?? Laughter

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Check out some images that McMurphy would have
seen in his ward
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Similarities to Cuckoos Nest

• Guests had to check in
• Most were admitted by
• family members
• Many patients had the
• power to leave on their
• own but were controlled
• by staff and manipulated to
• believe that they needed to
• stay.

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Mental Hospitals in the 1930-1960s
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Conditions at These Hospitals Could Be Atrocious

• ?? Over crowded
• ?? Dirty
• ?? Not nurturing
• ?? No privacy
• ?? Similar toor in some cases worse thanprison

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Inside the Institutions

• ?? Patients were provided with adequate care
  (and segregated) which often times led to
  inadequate care, poor facilities, and loss of
  dignity.
• ??They were usually given uniforms and daily
  chores. In fact it wasnt until 1973 that New
  York state banned public hospitals from requiring
  patients to work in exchange for their room and
  board.
• ??Families were often ashamed of the patients
  and would deny their existence.
• ??Ultimately, some of these hospitals became
  holding areas for a persons entire life.

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Medical Care in Mental Hospitals

• Deaths and injuries sometimes
• resulted from both appropriate and
• inappropriate treatments.
• Patients were treated with medically
• approved procedures like being put
• in tanks of ice-cold water, spun in
• chairs for hours, and forced
• "medications" (powerful
• psychoactive drugs) .
• Patients were also treated with
• non-medically approved procedures
• which were simply designed to
• control them. For example, patients
• could be shackled to walls, placed in
• seclusion (most often without
• clothing) or placed in restraints
• (being strapped to a bed with leather
• restraints, often in a spread-eagle
• position).

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Types of Treatments for the Mentally Ill

• Group therapy
• Drug Therapy
• Electroshock Therapy
• Lobotomy

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Drug Therapy

• Chlorpromazine
• Schizophrenic psychosis or manic depressive
  disorder

• Thorazine
• the first psychotropic
• drug, was a milestone
• in treatment therapy,
• making it possible to
• calm unruly behavior,
• anxiety, agitation, and
• confusion without using
• physical restraints.

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Electroshock/Electroconvulsive Therapy

• ?? Became very popular 1930s- 40s.
• ?? Originated to control negative
• behaviors in animals
• (electroshock)
• ?? A doctor had noticed that
• schizophrenic epileptics who had a seizure
  often were more
• normal after the seizure
• which led to chemical
• convulsives and ultimately
• electroconvulsive treatment
• ?? Used to alter the chemistry in the
• human brain to produce desired behaviors.
• ?? Cruelly, it was used as a control
• device within most wards.

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Electroshock Therapy is Very Controversial but is
Still Used Today

• - Used to treat some forms of severe
• depression
• - Used to control the elderly
• - Used on children in an attempt to
• correct their wild and/or unwanted
• behaviors

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Lobotomy

• Surgical procedure for cutting nerve pathways in
  the frontal
• lobes of the brain. The operation has been
  performed on
• mentally ill patients whose behavioral patterns
  were not
• improved by other forms of treatment it was
  supposed to be a
• last resort. The procedure was pioneered by
  Nobel laureate
• Egas Moniz in the 1930s
• Between 1939-1955 over 100,000 lobotomies were
• performed in the United States.
• If performed correctly, disconnecting the frontal
  lobes there
• caused no loss of intellect, no impairment of
  memory, and no
• problems with speech or gait.

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Abuses of Lobotomy

• ??Freeman developed what others
• called assembly line lobotomies, going from
  one patient to the next with his gold-plated
  ice pick, even
• having his assistants time him to see if he
  could break the lobotomy speed record. It is
  said that even some seasoned surgeons fainted
  at the sight.
• ??Doctors would recommend the
• procedure for everything from psychosis to
  depression to neurosis to criminality.

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Lobotomy

• ?? "Every patient probably loses something by
  this operation,
• some spontaneity, some sparkle, some flavor of
  the
• personality
• ?? The aim was that "the patient might be
  transformed from a
• disturbed to a quiet clement insane person."
  There was no
• intention to "help" the patient. The goal was
  only to
• eradicate the behavior which others found
  undesirable.
• ?? Mercy killing of the psyche
• ?? The frontal lobe is the seat of the higher
  functions such as
• love, concern for others, empathy, self-insight,
  creativity,
• initiative, autonomy, rationality, abstract
  reasoning,
• judgment, future planning, foresight,
  will-power,
• determination and concentration

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deinstitutionalization revolution mid 1960s

• A radical "deinstitutionalization revolution"
  began
• It was supposed to end the cruel and inadequate
  care
• of institutions
• Individuals would live in their communities and
• have a "normalized" life
• Group homes, residential care facilities, and
  rooming
• houses were developed
• The movement helped to break up the control that
• was happening in the hospitals.