Who's Deranged?

I'm mentioned before that I'm a veteran of the crazy house. I was sent to Las Encinas Kooky Kabin during my freshman year of college by a counselor. Funny thing was, she didn't tell me she was sending me there!  LOL!

Long story shortish: I was sexually assaulted by another student, and then I got really depressed. I went to talk to a counselor, and was basically dicked around a lot. I kept going back day after day and re-telling the story to a new counselor every day. After four different pow-wows, I was seen by the director of the counseling center. She told me that she wanted me to "go to the hospital to get blood work done," put me in a cab alone, and sent me to a mental hospital. When I got there I found out that she intended for me to be checked into the hospital for a week of treatment. I kind of flipped out and refused to stay, yelling, "I'm over eighteen and you can't do this to me!" Then I made them call me a cab. I went back to the Bitch's office and was all, "Uh, did you know that you were sending me to the loony bin?" and she was like, "Well, if you had checked in they would have eventually done some blood tests." This is how they treat victims of sexual violence. And by "they" I mean Dr. Tavlin at Occidental College. (She didn't protect me, so I'm not going to protect her.)

So I dropped out of school and became a women's studies major elsewhere.

Today in the LA Times there was an article about the lovely Las Encinas Hospital, which is also the home of Dr. Drew and Celebrity Rehab (oooh!). Apparently there have been three suicides and a patient on patient rape in the hospital in the last five months. The rape victim was a fourteen year old girl, who was raped by a sixteen year old parolee while his guard was sleeping on the job. No wonder Oxy College likes it! The hospital is under a lot of scrutiny, obvs, but they've apparently been getting flak since they started publicizing their TV show. The LAT writes:


The incidents occurred in the last five months at Aurora Las Encinas Hospital, which advertises itself as a "world-renowned" haven where patients with acute mental illness and substance abuse problems can recover in safety and comfort. It is a favored destination for rock musicians and actors, among others.

I can speak from direct experience that the staff of Las Encinas loves to talk about their celeb factor. When I told the psychiatrist that evaluated me that I didn't want to be admitted, he looked at me with a shocked expression and said, and I am not making this up, "But we have celebrities stay with us!" He later also tried to sell me on "music therapy." When I found out that this was the famed hospital from Celebrity Rehab, it was no shocker.

I feel very empathetic for all patients of Las Encinas and their families, not only because of these incidents, but because that is not a hospital. Not in the sense that it exists to help people. It's more of a medically-themed corporate whore complex. There's the TV show, of course, but I'm pretty sure the hospital also has some kind of contract with Occidental. I was not the first student to be sent to the Crazy House without much, or any, consent. After my little trip to Pasadena's Finest Concentration Camp I found out that two of my friends had also been sent there for other "incidents." This takes the medicalization of life a little too far for my own comfort, and I hope that this "scrutiny" becomes a "lawsuit" and the people responsible for my situation and all others associated with Las Encinas are "crucified."