User:HerbiePocket

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I remember, in about 1991, driving down Southampton Road in Philadelphia, after having visited my grandparents home, and spotting this bizarre edwardian behemoth on the side of the road. It looked like the ruin of a different epoch, and the fact that my mother referred to it as a "hospital" only confused me more. However, at the time I placed it out of my mind, particularly as it was rarely discussed by the locals. I remember being fascinated by the ruin every time we passed it for a number of years following the first encounter. As a young adult I learned that this was the former site of, the now infamous, Philadelphia State Hospital, which housed the poor and insane of old Philadelphia throughout the 20th century.

Prior to September of 2010 I had no knowledge of the long dubious history of psychiatry, or had even heard the term "state hospital". It seems like such a bizarre state of affairs that I devote so much of my time to these articles. Particularly as much of my formal education was devoted to the study of Greek and Latin, and guided towards abstract religious studies. I graduated from Villanova University in the spring of 2007 with a bachelor's degree, to do what with I would not be able to tell you. For a time I was a graduate student there working in peculiar academic path, one that I am sure they were just as perplexed by. Some of my papers of this period were of a mixed subject, and usually related to: Asiatic Philosophy, Eastern Christianity and Jungian Psycho-analysis.

I am currently a graduate student in clinical psychology, albeit at a different university, and with the hopes of doing something marketable in the future. Also, I am currently employed on the grounds of Norristown State Hospital, which presents me with some unforeseen clinical hurdles. Feel free to message me with any inquiries you might have.

Please consult the following articles I am currently working on/re-working:

Historical Persons

Psychiatric Facilities

Organizations

Misc.