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THE HOME WHERE HOPE DIED

Harrowing photos show the disturbed and desperate patients of a mental hospital in the 1940s

The images show how patients were badly treated and left abandoned inside Cleveland State Hospital in the 1940s

THESE are the heartbreaking images that show the bleak conditions faced by disturbed and desperate patients at an American mental hospital in the 1940s.

The harrowing photographs show the rundown asylum where patients were badly treated and often left for days on end without any attention.

Forgotten patients were left to sit around in corridors at the US hospital
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Forgotten patients were left to sit around in corridors at the US hospitalCredit: Getty Images
A female patient suffering from withdrawal buries her head in her hands
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A female patient suffering from withdrawal buries her head in her handsCredit: Getty Images
A barefoot patient breaks away from the group in one of the communal rooms
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A barefoot patient breaks away from the group in one of the communal roomsCredit: Getty Images
Two men stare out of the windows in a stark hospital ward
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Two men stare out of the windows in a stark hospital wardCredit: Getty Images
A patient takes part in a finger painting activity
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A patient takes part in a finger painting activityCredit: Getty Images

The pictures were taken by photographers Jerry Cooke and Mary Delaney Cooke inside Cleveland State Hospital in 1946.

The photographers were sent to capture the conditions inside the facility for part of an article that appeared in Life magazine.

The article was used as an exposé to shed light on the shocking conditions inside the institution and to campaign for better facilities.

A man constrained in a straight jacket stands alone
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A man constrained in a straight jacket stands aloneCredit: Getty Images
A female patient is left on a bench after being fitted in a straight jacket
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A female patient is left on a bench after being fitted in a straight jacketCredit: Getty Images
Nurses hold down a patient struggling to get out of bed
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Nurses hold down a patient struggling to get out of bedCredit: Getty Images
A man in a wheelchair takes a listless look through a window at the outside world
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A man in a wheelchair takes a listless look through a window at the outside worldCredit: Getty Images

And when the article, called Bedlam, was published the pictures horrified Americans.

They were shocked to see patients allowed to roam the corridors without wearing any clothes while others were left to rock back and forwards in corners as well as nurses physically restrained them.

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Other horrifying photographs showed a woman tied up in a straight jacket and patients forced to work sweeping the floors despite being bare foot.

The article persuaded authorities the best way to treat those with schizophrenia and other similar conditions was to close psychiatric institutions.

Patients sit around to eat inside the Cleveland State Hospital in 1946
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Patients sit around to eat inside the Cleveland State Hospital in 1946Credit: Getty Images
Men peer from barred windows to the outside world from inside the asylum
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Men peer from barred windows to the outside world from inside the asylumCredit: Getty Images
The imposing building of the Cleveland State Hospital in Ohio in 1946
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The imposing building of the Cleveland State Hospital in Ohio in 1946Credit: Getty Images

This led to many more patients with the conditions being treated at home alongside their families.

The distressing pictures come a day after eerie black and white portraits showed the troubled faces of psychiatric patients in the 1880s.

While another set of haunting images gave a chilling insight into a creepy abandoned psychiatric hospital.

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