Dear Ann Landers,
am a patient in a mental hospital. I know I am ill, just as a person who has pneumonia is ill. I know, too, that my ill-ness is temporary and that I am getting better. One day, I will be a use-ful citizen and perhaps even contribute something to society. I am writing this letter in the hope that people who have friends and relatives in mental institutions will have a better understanding of the mental patient and his needs. More than anything, we need to know we are not forgotten. On the Fourth of July, we were served a lovely chicken dinner, and there was a movie afterward. I would gladly have exchanged the dinner and the movie for just one visitor. I have a daughter, grandchildren, brothers, sisters and cousins, but no one dropped by to say hello. I'm not the only person who waits week after week for a visitor. It's as if our people are ashamed of us and don't wish to remember we are here. We patients discuss this often-never in a self-pitying way, only with a feeling of sadness because others do not understand. The staff here is wonderful. What grand people they are-but we are so many, and they are so few. They do what they can, but nothing builds morale like a visit with family or friends. These links with the outside, more than anything else, speed a patient's recovery. Please print this letter. It is too long, I know, but perhaps you can trim it so it will fit in the paper. You could help so many by passing this word. God bless you. -A Patient Patient

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