American Horror Story: Asylum is apart of the American Horror Story anthology series and is based in Briarcliff Sanitorium in the 1960s. In the show, the sanitarium started out as a tuberculosis hospital but was bought by the Catholic Church in 1962 to become a sanatorium for the criminally insane where Monsignor Timothy Howard was named director. Under his direction, Sister Jude ran the asylum very strictly and oversaw the other sisters including Sister Eunice.
Sister Eunice starts the show out as an innocent woman who genuinely cares for the patients’ health. As the show progresses, Sister Eunice is possessed by the Devil and through small actions she topples the entire structure of the hospital and gets Sister Jude admitted to the hospital herself.
Source: Giphy (http://alone—-together.tumblr.com/post/110376396523/tumblr-a-we-heart-it-on)
Dr. Arden is the doctor at the hospital who was hired by Monsignor Howard to continue his research on patients to create a vaccine that would prevent any type of disease. Dr. Arden is also accused of being a Nazi Doctor by a patient that claims themselves to be Anne Frank.
Source: Giphy (http://lastwordem.tumblr.com/post/46000185139)
In the beginning of the show a man named Kit Walker (Evan Peters), is possessed by what is assumed to be aliens and it accused of being Bloody Face – a serial killer of women who takes their skin as trophies – but does not remember an instances of killing anyone. Dr. Oliver Thredson is put on Kit’s case to determine whether he is guilty or not and while in the hospital, Dr. Thredson befriends Lana Winters. Lana Winters was forcibly admitted to the hospital for being gay after she broke into the hospital to write an exposé.
Source: Giphy (http://horrorstorygifs.tumblr.com/post/34038750262)
Since the show is based in an asylum, it shows a lot of different treatment styles that we have seen throughout this semester. The show, however, is an intense dramatization of asylum patients and treatments. Many of the treatments within this show are shown to be abusive and invasive. Lana Winters, one of the main characters is a lesbian, which in the 1960s is not very accepted. Dr. Thredson offers to help Lana overcome his illness through what he calls “Diversion Therapy”, like Conversion Therapy. He injects her with apomorphine while showing her images of naked women to attempt and make her feel ill by looking at those images. He then tries to get her to be attracted to another male patient. He quickly realizes that this treatment will not work for her and apologizes for the pain he caused her.
Source: http://www.beyondfandom.com/2012/11/american-horror-story-asylum-making.html
Lana also experiences shock therapy at the hands of Sister Jude to attempt and alter her memories so that she cannot write an exposé on the hospital. Dr. Arden also administers a lobotomy to Anne Frank to help her Post-Partum Depression and PTSD. Sister Jude also forced Grace to be sterilized after having sex with Kit Walker even though the hospital has no jurisdiction to administer that type of procedure to patients.
Source: https://cinematiccorner.blogspot.com/2012/11/saturday-tv-special-american-horror.html
This show represents the abusive parts of asylums that we have come aware of through this class. However, we know that Asylums were not always abusive and were at times extremly beneficial if not essential to patient care. This show very much dramatizes mental illness and treatments and pulls on the lack of medical knowledge to support the characters actions and beliefs.
