Story: Mental health services

Claims of abuse by former psychiatric patients

Beverley Jackson was committed to Porirua Hospital in the 1960s, when she was a teenager. She claims that she was never mentally ill and was abused by hospital staff. Beverley is one of more than 100 former patients at New Zealand mental hospitals who have taken legal action for alleged abuse, including beatings, rape and the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) as punishment. Watch this clip from a television documentary about the claims of abuse.

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TVNZ Television New Zealand

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How to cite this page:

Warwick Brunton, 'Mental health services - Closing the hospitals, 1960s to 1990s', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/video/29423/claims-of-abuse-by-former-psychiatric-patients (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Warwick Brunton, published 5 May 2011, reviewed & revised 5 May 2022