"I attended a rural grade school and high school. Following this I was a student at a business school, was an employee at a battery manufacturing firm, self employed in sales work, and employed at the Work Shop for the Blind. For a time I was a patient at the Mental Health Institute. I had a mental illness classed as a form of paranoia. I didn't ask for the name of my ailment until I was released from the Institute. I did some reading about the ailment and found I did have similar symptoms. It was sort of impossible for me to believe that a person could have such symptoms, but I became a voluntary patient at the Institute so as to have a reason to leave my hometown. Also the subjects of psychology, psychiatry, and people's problems had always interested me so I thought it would be a good place to learn more about these subjects, and I was in need of help there too.

"I was a patient at the Mental Health Institute at Cherokee, Iowa, from November 12th, 1956, to April 19, 1957. My parents didn't approve of the idea of my becoming a patient at the Institute, and they suggested that employment and other interests would solve my mental ailments.

"I was a patient in three different wards while I was in the Institute. The doors to these wards were all locked. Many patients including myself looked forward to the time when they were to be released so that they could gain their independence again.

"At the Institute the ward attendant in each of the wards was in charge of all the patient's clothing and other personal belongings. A patient was allowed to have a canteen card which they purchased with their own money.

"The card was kept in the attendant's office of each ward. Patients were allowed to buy pop, candy, cigarettes and other items at the canteen on a certain day of each week. Groups of

patients were accompanied to the canteen by the ward attendants. Some patients were allowed to attend the dance presented each week or movies presented twice a week. There were also Protestant and Catholic church services for the patients. Use of the telephone by patients was not permitted. All letters of the patient were left unsealed. They were all read and then sealed. The postage was paid by the Institute.

"A doctor came to the office of each ward every morning to check patient records and give instructions with regard to the care of the patients. No patient was allowed to talk with the doctor without the permission of the ward attendant.

"Drug addicts, alcoholics, paranoiacs, schizophrenics, manic-depressives, and patients with other less serious ailments were the type of patient treated at the Institute. There were probably some homosexuals there as patients, because they let their trend of living become a mental ailment, but I didn't know which of the patients while I was there were homosexual.

When I arrived at the Institute I was a patient in one ward for a month and during that time I had a complete physical exam. Then, one afternoon, I attended 'staff meeting,' which is one of the regulations for all people who become patients at the Institute. Several doctors ask the patients questions as to why they had become patients at the Institute. While there I also attended group therapy sessions one afternoon week.

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"Following my time on that ward I was a patient on the electric shock ward where I was given a total of 19 of these treatments.

"I was then moved to the next ward and stayed there during the last two months I was a patient at the Institute. I also spent two weeks on leave at various times at the home of

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