They were certainly different, way, way worse in so many ways, some of the people i met in there were in their 70's having been put there by their families for various now stupid reasons, like anxiety or god forbid getting pregnant before marriage, or just plain depression that 40/50yrs of being pumped with old style anti psychotic meds now met they looked every inch like a nutter even though their only symptoms were the side effects of the meds. It was hard getting to know them as a 21yr old & imagining the life they had led in this place cut off for the outside world completely for their entire adult lives, that was some heavy shit.
The place was massive, in it's heyday it had it's own farm, orchard, industrial gardening set up, the place was a self sufficient world away from the world as envisioned by the victorian do-gooders who built it, had its own theatre, cafe on the green, surreal really when i think back on it.
As a 21yr old who could still run it was an amazing place with which to play merry hell on the staff that were keeping me there again my will, but thats a whole other story lol
What was better about it isn't anything that couldn't have been recreated in the units that replaced it. i.e enough staff that gave a toss, enough beds to cover the many hundreds that were lost, actually having groups, things to help pass the time of day, and actual support from staff that wanted to find a way to help even if you didn't think there was any way.
I dunno, almost all the staff I've met who have cared have long since left the profession out of disillusionment.
It was 2 years of hell, but there was also a lot of fun & laughter mixed in. And just to carry on being a pain in their arse before i left the last time (moved out of area) i umm relocated & completed my collection of every ward sigh i had been locked up in. (they were already used to visiting me to be greeted by their ward sigh on my wall) so they really didn't want me to complete my set, Hahaha got ya, and they are still hanging on my walls.