Should Patients with a Psychiatric Criteria be in Psychiatric Hospital?
Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their goals and methods. Some hospitals may specialize only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients. Others may specialize in the temporary or permanent care of residents who as a result of a psychological disorder require routine assistance, treatment or a specialized environment. Patients are often admitted on a voluntary basis, but involuntary commitment is practiced when an individual may pose a significant danger to themselves or others.
Vienna’s Narrenturm (German for lunatics’ tower), built in 1784, and was probably the world’s first building specifically designed as a “madhouse”.
The Madhouse Act 1828, allowed the building of purpose-built asylums, the first of which the was at Hanwell in West London and opened its doors in late 1831.
Initially these early asylums were little more than repositories for the mentally ill – removing them from mainstream society in the same manner as a jail would for criminals. Conditions were often extremely poor and serious treatment was not yet an option. At this time no one had a real understanding of mental health problems and they treated it a lot differently to how we do nowadays.
Initial progress in treatment occurred in the United States, often ahead of similar advances in Europe. In 1834, Anna Marsh established the Brattleboro Retreat to offer “merciful, ethical, and scientific care” to the mentally ill. Originally named the Vermont Asylum for the Insane, the hospital pioneered the application of “moral treatment”. The Retreat Farm, a crucial part of therapy, still operates to this day.
Source: Wikipedia.
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