Hey Guys!

I'm not a big fan of posting in my regional forum and then again in the Photography forum, but this has generated some pretty hard core interest and response elsewhere so I wanted to share here.

A while back RiddimRyder, MonkeyLunk and I explored a vacant Psychiatric Hospital and we found a very cool library stocked with old medical journals and publications dating back to very early 1900's.

In among all these books and journals was a curious little box labeled
"Symptom Index"

Here is what it looked like




Vacant Psychiatric Hospital Library - Symptom Index by Freaktography, on Flickr


I had posted these, and other shots in the usual places - the horizontal shot made the front page of Reddit and the comments were full of people wanting to know what the cards said, same with my original post in the Ontario forum. So I went back to the hospital and set up my 35mm and tripod and started to document the best of the batch - there are hundreds of these cards to be read.

Here is a small selection below of some of those cards and the results of studies done on patients to cure them of things like homosexuality, transvestism, pedophilia, rape, head banging, fire starting and many others. They list the name of the Doctor, the publication to find the whole study and it includes a summary of what the treatment was and how successful it was or was not.

These may be offensive to some, but no doubt interesting to all!!


I don't mean to click-bait, but the rest of them can be found here on my photo blog should you wish to see more of these.

http://www.freakto...chiatric-symptoms/


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I just stared and read every one, what an amazing find! Thank you so much for taking the time to photograph them all, I could spend hours going through that. Amazing find man!

Incredible find, I would have photographed every one of them.

That's some interesting stuff.

Post by catdog23 I just stared and read every one, what an amazing find! Thank you so much for taking the time to photograph them all, I could spend hours going through that. Amazing find man!

Post by mookster Incredible find, I would have photographed every one of them.

ost by relik That's some interesting stuff.

Thanks, I`m glad to see you`ve enjoyed this!!

Being one of the ones that was interested in you returning to obtain further details.... & YOU DELIVERED! How VERY interesting! I just can't wrap my head around how they treated these people for said problems in the confines of a mental institution. All i can say.... must of been ALOT of ACTIVE volunteers, and therapy sessions, WOW! WHAT A WARD this must of been!

Really awesome, most people would have most likely walked by something like this. Just to think how medicine and doctors were in earlier days.

You seriously find the greatest stuff, and photograph it so well. Thanks for another wonderful tale and for indulging our curiosity. This is seriously interesting stuff. It's a shame that some of this 'symptoms' were viewed as so aberrant in the past, and resulted in such strange and unnecessary 'treatments'. Keep up the excellent work.

There are probably some museums or academic institutions that would be extremely interested in this. Namely The Museum of Sex (MoSex) in NYC, and The Kinsey Institute in Indiana.

Nicely done Freaktography!

Post by phrenzee Nicely done Freaktography! Post by DJ Craig There are probably some museums or academic institutions that would be extremely interested in this. Namely The Museum of Sex (MoSex) in NYC, and The Kinsey Institute in Indiana. Post by IndoAnomaly You seriously find the greatest stuff, and photograph it so well. Thanks for another wonderful tale and for indulging our curiosity. This is seriously interesting stuff. It's a shame that some of this 'symptoms' were viewed as so aberrant in the past, and resulted in such strange and unnecessary 'treatments'. Keep up the excellent work. Post by FrostyExchange Really awesome, most people would have most likely walked by something like this. Just to think how medicine and doctors were in earlier days. Post by Misunderstood Being one of the ones that was interested in you returning to obtain further details.... & YOU DELIVERED! How VERY interesting! I just can't wrap my head around how they treated these people for said problems in the confines of a mental institution. All i can say.... must of been ALOT of ACTIVE volunteers, and therapy sessions, WOW! WHAT A WARD this must of been!

Thanks so much all of you!!

this is really cool, thanks for sharing .

FASCINATING set Freaktog!

Posted by Freaktography Treatment: while client visualized and narrated recent pleasurable homosexual encounters, therapist periodically introduced odors of ammonium sulfate, btyric acid and smelling salts. Results: Elimination of homosexual activity Treatment: Pairing photographs of nude, immature females with those of nude, fully mature females. Results: Reduction of deviant sexual behavior (Pedophilia)

It amazes me that as recently as 1971 they thought they could "eliminate" homosexuality with strategically placed bad smells. And also that showing a pedophile pics of naked women and girls would somehow "reduce" deviant sexual behavior! WTF?!

Awesome post!

Fascinating. Great and thorough work. Wondering, for one, what they considered a "placebo" for "homosexuality."