While mental health is only a minor theme in terms of number of references in Lost in the City, it bears important weight in the book. While the history of healthcare in the African American community can be and is an issue of injustice and accessibility to resources, we also acknowledge the ways in which African Americans have created strength and resilience in community, whether in informal support (for instance, through church communities) or by joining (and reforming) the medical establishment itself.
The stories of Lost in the City are set in a pivotal time for the mental health industry as a whole. In the 1960s, legislation was passed finally addressing some of the abuses that had plagued mental health for generations. While it is difficult to say that any of the Black community’s problems with the system were solved, people benefited from the decrease in average duration of institutionalized stays and movement away from treatments such as insulin shock therapy with dangerous side effects. Still, the fact that changes such of these were necessary at all weighed heavily on the public consciousness, prompting the formation of an anti-psychiatry movement that was particularly prolific in church communities.
The dichotomous nature of hospitals is also highlighted in Lost in the City, as there are instances where hospitals are both a place of treatment and abuse. In describing the people and circumstances surrounding hospitals with such sparse detail, it is key to use each institution as a way to interpret the scene. By analyzing Jones’s choice in hospital, the reader learns more contextually about the character and their treatment.
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