In the Shadow of Eight

The “troubled teen industry” is a term that some critics use to describe a broad, underregulated network of private youth residential treatment facilities, ranging from wilderness programs to locked psychiatric hospitals. In a 2008 report, the US Government Accountability Office identified “thousands of allegations of abuse, some of which resulted in death, at residential programs across the country and in American-owned and American operated facilities abroad” (“Residential Programs: Selected Cases of Death, Abuse, and Deceptive Marketing.” US Government Accountability Office, 24 Apr. 2008). Abusive practices within such facilities can include the use of solitary confinement, physical restraints, and the over-prescription of psychiatric medication as a form of behavioral control, often without clear clinical diagnoses. This context is central to understanding Collin Gosselin’s stay at Fairmount Behavioral Health System, where he alleges being heavily medicated against his will. He describes being forcibly injected with sedatives and being prescribed a cocktail of powerful drugs, including antipsychotics and mood stabilizers, with little explanation and no opportunity to refuse. His experience mirrors the accounts of a growing survivor advocacy movement that seeks to expose institutional abuse within this industry. A prominent