One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest: A Psychological Analysis

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Prisons in the United States are much more likely to be for punishment than for rehabilitation; however, rehabilitation in addition to today’s medicine has been shown to be far more effective. As we see in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest written by Ken Kesey in 1959 and later published in 1962, many people are sent to a mental institution to treat any disorders they have. In the story Randel McMurphy is placed into a mental institution even though he is sane. While McMurphy was imprisoned, he underwent many procedures and unfair treatment; procedures which are now considered inhumane. If a sane man can be placed into a psychiatric facility when he should be given behavioral rehabilitation, it raises the question; how many men and women with a mental disorder have been placed into a prison?
Our methods and opinions of rehabilitation have changed dramatically over the past 100 years. Out of date procedures such as Phrenology, or the thought of one’s head shape to determine their intelligence or character were used in early mental institutions. (Burns).At that time, scientists believed that measuring a person’s head could determine one’s criminality. Argentinian physician Dr. F. Perez furthered this study by opening up an executed criminal’s brain to see if there were any differences between a normal person and a criminal, only to find the two brains were relatively the same. There were also …show more content…

Hired vocational rehabilitative teachers turn uneducated men and women who have done nothing productive, into financially stable, able-bodied adults who can now contribute to the economy and society in which they live.
Indoor business trades usually refer to positions, for example, secretaries or technical specialists. These men and women are now accustomed to a controlled, professional environment, and constantly network with CEO’s of multiple companies and have new insight to the workforce.

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