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Institutional damage is the pain and suffering of children or the mentally retarded caused by their spending too much time in an institution and almost no time in a family. There is controversy as to whether such damage can be measured and if it actually occurs.

Institutional damage mainly consists of

• Lack of basic skills such as food preparation or knowing about traffic lights.
• Abusive punishment for normal behavior, leading to heavy psychological damage.
• Lack of knowledge of cultural norms.
• Lack of variety in life experiences.
• Not being used to have responsibilities at all may be an acute problem.
• Lack of intellectual stimulation leading to lower IQ, lack of work training or knowledge.
• Poor eating habits due to institutional ideology or low budget..
• Depending on the institution.
• Bad habits such as smoking or drugs are hard to quit when most people smoke in close proximity on a regular basis. Many people start smoking in school because of it.
• Punishment may be related to the selfish needs of the institution or staff rather than anything else.
• Lack of budget-balancing skills, and not knowing tax return exist. Finding out about tax returns years after going out of the institution can be a huge problem.
• Poor self-esteem.

Causes of institutional damage

Some suggestions people have made of possible causes of institutional damage:

• Orphan schools are sometimes poor and give a poor quality of education.
• Prisons may have laws that explicitly prevent any kind of re-adaptation or training beyond learning to read and religious conversions.
• In some mental hospitals, medication may be used to keep someone calm.
• In autism-related and "midway houses" used to sort incoming youth to specialized institutions, most staff members are poorly paid and trained, and few, if any, specialists are available on an average week.
• Lack of accountability. If a prison guard rapes you, a teacher refuses to help you but helps others based on race or handicap, or a hospital charges exorbitant fees to tourists for opening a file, or the budget is misspent on something absurd, there is no punishment to either the perpetrator or the institution. Institutions tend to accumulate such loopholes over time until leaders can do as they please. The internal inspections fix nothing.