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"Before thorazine, all you could do was restrain violent patients. People would be in restraints for years. In violent episodes, patients and aides both got hurt."
A State Hospital staff member
The introduction of 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. It offered peace for patients and safety for staff. Although this "chemical restraint" appeared more humane for patients, it was not without adverse side effects. One hospital aide accidentally experienced thorazine when he drank fruit punch mixed for the patients: "I was just getting all stiff... I [felt] so bad... " However, each new generation of drugs and research holds promise that more and more of the mentally ill can be treated as outpatients.
 A. M. Lovell, Staff Pharmacist, State Hospital No. 1, 1960.
Fulton State Hospital
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