Show uintah high E ah school students visit state mental institutions in provo by dale aured allred counselor Coun lor at uintah high school last week april 21 twenty nine students from the psychology and physiology classes of U uintah tah high school made a held field trip to the state school for mentally deficient children at american fork and the state hospital at provo they learned that many of our popular concepts concerning mental disease and feeble feeblemindedness mindedness have advanced very little from the dark aes azes at american fork one of the staff doctors dr houston gave a lecture explaining the aims and problems of the school although many of the inmates are rather old and some are in their se venti they arc are referred to as children because mentally they still are children they are individuals who for some reason have never possessed normal brains the students learned that these conditions result from many different causes and may occur in any type of family regardless of their social economic or intellectual level they were shown examples of the different types of feeble mindedness and learned that although some types are ire inherited many are caused by accidents or diseases before or during I 1 birth the purpose of the sc school ingool is to give these individuals special training according to their abilities and make them useful members of society it if possible and to care for those who cirin cannot not care for themselves it is possible for this school to give these individuals training they ey could not get anywhere else because other schools do not adapt their program for these people jt it is especially difficult for them thein to adjust in other schools because they are often ridiculed and made the butts of jokes and objects of derision by particularly unfeeling and poorly or ay informed people man many y of rhem them leave the school and achieve successes in work they can handle dr houston gave examples of former students who are now factory workers foremen and non coms in the armed sor services vices of course some never beuve the institution charles mckell the psychia tic social worker at the state hospital in provo explained the work of that institution the patients at the state hospital are individuals who at one time possessed normal brains but because of organic or functional causes their brains have ceased to operate properly he showed us cases of op individuals whose psychosis resulted from use of alcohol damage to the brain caused by sy phillis old age stroke and functional which resulted from nn an inability to adjust fo to life and subsequent withdrawal into a dream world agin aar in feeblemindedness feeble mindedness these illnesses can occur in any type tre of family the idea many people have that mental illnesses are shameful family skeletons dates back to the medieval idea that illnesses are results of evil spirits I 1 frits or are punishment for sins ans medical science has made much progress and has become respectable in popular opinion but many people are still afraid to probe robe into their own minds and accept what they find there the only differt difference nce between normal behavior and the behag behavior or of psychotic individuals the word insanity is a legal term and has no place in psychology is one of degree abnormal behavior is usually only an extreme exaggeration of some normal activity or emotion such as daydreaming anger depression or restlessness the field trip did a great deal of good in im impressing I 1 these ideas on the minds of the e students who participated it is hoped that next year a larger group will be able to go |