Psychiatric hospitals are facilities for people who have severe mental illness problems. One of the earliest insane asylums was Bethlem, London, which was made in 1247. people with mental illness were placed in places called asylums which were very crowded institutions that were underfunded. Once a patient was placed in an asylum it was very hard for them to get out. In the 1700s there were a few private asylums where the rich could send their relatives. The poor were out of luck around this time, they would rely on a parish to fund the patient or they could be sent to a workhouse or a prison. During these times, The Bath of Surprise method was used, this was a form of “treatment” where they would take a patient and surprisingly dunk them in an ice cold bath. They would strap them down from hours to even days.
In the early 1800s, mental illness was treated by isolation. They believed that people with mental illness were dangerous and shouldn’t be kept in public. Around this time the caretakers at these asylums would put the patient in a small cage with chains for hours to days or until the patient was calm.
During the early 1900s.These patients also had “treatments” which were usually not effective and would not be done to people today. During these times the patients were usually not put in by themself, instead, their families would send them to the institutions without their consent. Lobotomy was a very common form of treatment. A lobotomy was a traumatic brain surgery where they insert a tool into the brain. Many claimed that this would cure depression, schizophrenia, and personality disorders. Although it was believed that it could work and cure some, it was usually ineffective and inhumane. This treatment caused patients to end up with irreversible brain damage.
Currently, insane asylums isn't the term that is used as often. Mental hospitals formed around 1960 when John F. Kennedy signed the Community Mental Health Centers Act. This act stated that states can fund and support the building of mental health hospitals. It created community based care instead of institutional based care. Today many things have changed in these asylums. First of all, patients are now being treated with proper medications and therapy. Today, the caretakers understand how to help and treat mental illness. In mental hospitals they focus more on stabilization. When the patient is stable enough to go into the community they will be discharged. The average stay for mental hospitals today is around 10 days, which is significantly less than in the 1900s where they could be there from months to years, or even their whole lives.
How would you feel if your family sent you to a mental hospital without you knowing?
Do you think the treatments they used actually worked?
How do you think society treats or should treat people in mental hospitals?
https://psychcentral.com/blog/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-mental-hospital-patient#changes-over-time
https://fherehab.com/learning/treat-mental-health-centuries
https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/medicine/victorian-mental-asylum
Replies
I also would try to think about what is best for my family if I was considering sending them to a mental hospital.
I think it would really bother me and upset me because they didn't have the courage to tell me. I really don't know if it works or not. I thionk there are several people who traet them as they should, all with patience and good.
I agree. People should treat them normally even though they were in a mental hospital.
I would feel very disrespected if my family sent me to a mental hospital without me knowing, as well as very disapointed because I don't think there would ever be the same trust. I think the treatments depends on the hospitals and the methods they use.
I agree. I think that most treatments were very cruel and not very effective.
If my family sent me to a mental hospital without me knowing, I would be very scared and confused. I think the treatments they use now work pretty well, but back then, the treatments were cruel and didn't help much. I think our society is kind of used to mental illnesses because there is so many of them, and lots of people suffer from them.
I agree. The new treatments that are being used work better than the ones used back in the early 1900s.
I will literally cry if my family sent me to a mental hospital. I never went to a mental hospital but they might work or not so. Probably treat them horribly or don't treat them right like they supposed to be.
I agree, I don't think that the paitents are treated right at the hospitals.
I would feel very angry and sad, but I couldn't really do anyhting about it. No, I think they thought it helped when it really doesn't it was basicly torcher back in the day. I don't think society treats mentally hospitals good and I think they should treat them better.
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