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The History of Mental Hospitals In The United States
Tuesday, September 29, 2020 by Renee D. Warring
This is the first in a series of blogs on the history of mental hospitals. Before mental hospitals were established mentally ill individuals stayed with their families. Their communities had a significant tolerance for what they saw as strange behaviors. Some of the people with mental illness were too violent or disruptive to remain in the community.
Mental hospitals are also known as psychiatric hospitals, were first established in the early 1700’s. However, it was later in the 18th Century when East Coast cities developed both public alms houses and private hospitals. Both had the same mission, which was to care for and treat people who had severe mental illnesses, and both set aside separate wards to treat mentally ill people. Public alms houses were supported through charitable contributions. Private hospitals were supported by wealthy families. Later, public alms houses not only served mentally ill poor people, but physically ill poor people as well.
Early in the 19th century European ideas were adopted by the United States. The ideas were called, “moral treatment”. According to Wikipedia, Moral Treatment is “The humane treatment of mentally ill people. Moral treatment was built on the assumption that those who had mental illness could find their way to recovery and an eventual cure if they were treated kindly and in ways that appealed to the parts of their minds that remained rational. The people who ran the hospitals renounced the use of harsh restraints and long periods of isolation that had been used to manage the most destructive behaviors of mentally ill individuals.” At this time in the early 19th century the new name for psychiatric hospitals was an “asylum”. “The institutions otherwise known as asylums, were specially constructed buildings, no longer attached to hospitals were people with physical maladies were treated. The asylums were quiet, secluded, and peaceful country settings; opportunities for meaningful work and recreation; a system of privileges and rewards for rational behaviors; and gentler kinds of restraints used for shorter periods of time where in previous eras restraints were used for long periods of time. Many of the more prestigious private hospitals tried to implement some parts of moral treatment for mentally ill patients in their wards.”
https://www.nursing.upenn.edu/nhhc/nurses-institutions-caring/history-of-psychiatric-hospitals/
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