McLean Hospital was once the premier mental institution in America. And by premier, I don't just mean it had the best doctors and best treatments. I mean it was (and still is, though not to the same degree) the country club of mental institutions--where $1,000/day stays were "enjoyed" by the richest and most powerful Americans with mental illness. It was the hospital about which Girl, Interrupted and The Bell Jar were written, and Dennis Lehane loosely based the hospital in Shutter Island on McLean. For some of the elite patients, like James Taylor and Ray Charles, stays at McLean were simply short respites--a retreat away from the stressful world. For others, like a 79-year-old patient Beam interviews who has been at McClean for over 50 years, it's a necessary home. Beam, a journalist for the Boston Globe, captures the human interest elements of the hospital's history--the fascinating patients and their doctors, the cutting edge treatments, and, finally, the current state of mental health care in the United States and the economic problems that have affected McLean as they have other treatment facilities. I found it fascinating, but it may only be fascinating to others interested in mental health care.
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