ARTISTS THROUGH THE CROSS HAIRS

Question: What drug did Judy Garland die of an overdose from?
Answer: Star of The Wizard of Oz, her movie contract required she stay thin. To control her weight, she took prescribed psychiatric drugs known to cause suicidal tendencies and delirium. When her behaviour became erratic, psychiatrists prescribed electroshock and more drugs. She died of an overdose of psychiatric drugs.

Question: What form of "therapy" was Francis Farmer subjected to for 11 years?
Answer: A rising star of the 1930s, Francis Farmer’s career was cut short in 1943 when she was wrongfully declared mentally incompetent and committed to a series of asylums and public mental hospitals. She told of being “raped by orderlies, gnawed on by rats, poisoned by
tainted food, chained in padded cells, strapped in straitjackets and half drowned in ice baths.” After eleven years she was released and spent the remaining years of her life taking odd jobs. She died in 1970.

Question: What psychiatric drug had Kurt Cobain been prescribed because he was creative?
Answer: A highly creative child, Cobain was labelled “hyperactive” and prescribed Ritalin. According to Cobain “I turned to heroin to quench the re in my gut (stomach pain is a well-known side effect of Ritalin).” To counter the drug’s side effects, he was also given sedatives. Thirty-six hours after admission to a psychiatric rehab centre to kick his drug habit, Cobain ed to his home and shot himself. Heroin and Valium were found in his bloodstream.

Question: Which movie star was packed in ice to help her confusion?
Answer: Star of Gone with the Wind, Vivien Leigh contracted tuberculosis (a lung disease). The known side effects of her medication included confusion and psychosis. However, sent to a psychiatrist, she was institutionalized, packed in ice, given electroshock and later
prescribed psychotropic drugs. She died in 1967.

Question: Who had Marilyn Monroe seen before she committed suicide?
Answer: Marilyn had been seen by a psychoanalysis for years, Marilyn was referred to a psychiatrist who prescribed addictive drugs. On August 4th, 1962, she spent six hours with psychiatrist Ralph Greenson. The following day she was found dead of a drug overdose.

These are just a few of the artists which have been targets of psychiatric brutality and demoralization.