Individuals researching their family genealogy may hit snags if an ancestor was a resident of a mental health facility. Candice Buchanan had a challenging search to find the answer to where her great-great-great-great-grandmother went after disappearing from any records. Even after tracking the mystery to a state mental hospital at the turn of the twentieth century, she was unable to get mental health information from the archives. The redacted records serve privacy interests, but the limited information released can be frustrating to those trying to research their family medical history in order to plan for mental health issues that may arise in the future for themselves or their living relatives.
See Joe Smydo, Vanished Mental-Health Archives Stymie Genealogists, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Feb. 15, 2015.
