The Reader‘s archive is vast and varied, going back to 1971. Every day in Archive Dive, we’ll dig through and bring up some finds.
Bettelheim spent many years breaking down my identity and self-image, telling me that I was crazy, that I couldn’t be trusted to handle even the simplest things, and that nobody would ever hire me or marry me when I grew up. My belief in myself didn’t come back after I left, got a degree, made a few friends, and found some work. Bettelheim might have tried to claim me as one of his school’s successes, but I know better than that. I am functioning at a level far below my potential, because I’ve never gotten over the way I was treated there.
The letter opened up a floodgate of responses from other students and staff members from the Orthogenic School who corroborated the original letter-writer’s account. “I was expected to be GRATEFUL for being made to feel small and helpless,” wrote one former patient.
