Efforts were taken to use art and music as therapy (the detail about the visiting opera singer is true!), restraints were mostly forbidden, and the hospital made frequent appeals to the state for more trained staff and funding. In reading reports from mental health workers of the 1920s, it was clear that they wanted the best for the people in their care. Mental illness/health is a topic near and dear to my heart. There are liberties and then there are liberties. However, the Manhattan State Hospital did have a bowling alley, which was possibly my favorite detail, and if I could’ve worked in a ghost bowling scene… well, let’s just say it wasn’t for lack of trying. (The Kirkbride plan was quite popular then.) This allowed me to shape-shift the interior to suit my needs. What liberties, you might ask, being a curious sort? For one, the interior of the Manhattan State Hospital for the Insane (sic) of this book is a fictional amalgam constructed from various New York State Kirkbride-model asylums of the time. Before the Devil Breaks You is a work of fiction, and, as such, the reckless author has taken certain liberties to keep the story moving.
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