Eastern State Hospital- Williamsburg, VA

The Eastern Lunatic Asylum was opened in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1924. The facility continues to currently operate today under the name, Eastern State Hospital. 

The construction on this facility began in 1771 and the facility was initially a public hospital but also doubled as a place for individuals suffering from other ailments. After a fire in the late 1800’s the facility was modified to what we now call a mental health treatment facility. This fire left two individuals dead and over 200 patients displaced. After being rebuilt, the facility had an outdoor yard for “patients to walk and take air in” but also had a fence put around it. The facility held about 20-30 patients, depending on which resources are used and it was difficult to find narratives of patients time spent at the facility.

One notable aspect of the hospital is patients were admitted to the hospital on a first-come, first-serve basis and admission to the hospital did not rely on qualifiers such as type of mental illness or treatment recommendations. Patients were treated for both physical and mental illness.

Another noteable aspect was the number of recreational activities offered to patients such as dances, steamboat rides, team parties and various games (such as checkers). However, during this time restraints were significantly utilized such as strait-jackets and Utica cribs.

In the 1920’s the Eastern State Hospital housed about 2000 patients and around this time treatment of the patients changed as well with the introduction of psychiatric drugs being used in the facility.

The Eastern State Hospital continues to exist today, with their website noting they have over 300 patients and 900 staff and over 500 acres of land. 

In terms of the question of “if I would like to choose treatment at this facility”, this is a difficult one for me to answer. In the early 1800s, no, I would not choose to seek treatment there. However, if I needed help and support this facility does appear to have the staff and facility to manage individuals with significant mental health needs however my hope would be to receiving treatment in my community, rather than in an a hospital or facility.

Resources:

http://www.esh.dbhds.virginia.gov/

https://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/View/index.cfm?doc=ResearchReports%5CRR1078.xml

http://www.asylumprojects.org/index.php/Eastern_State_Hospital

Howard Dully, Walter Freeman, StepMom, Dad and Lessons Learned

I have so many intense feelings after listening to Howard Dully's account of what happened to him. At 12 years old, he received a transorbital lobotomy, because his step-mother convinced an eager doctor that the boy was unmanageable. Truth was, he had just lost his mom, and the adults had told him she had just "gone away." A loving Mom was replaced by this stepmother who was, at best, unkind to Howard.  Of course the cause of the problems was "Howard was a difficult child." That was the story the stepmother and Freeman told themselves.  It seems Howard's Dad was too disengaged to question his new wife's motives and/or judgment. The child, in this case, was labelled and treated yet was NOT the source of the problem, in my opinion. Grief. Loss. Emotional abuse. No one in his "corner." - these are the things that I believed were causing Howard's issues (if he even had any!).

Do you think that this happens today? If so, give an example -- but do not share any confidential information. If children are serving as scapegoats so to speak, what can we do as practitioners to limit the risk to kids?

Answer these questions, and then respond to at least 2 of your classmates.

Cherry Hospital - North Carolina. Meg Curtis

Encouraged by the influence of Dorothea Dix, the North Carolina General Assembly appointed a committee to spearhead the construction of a new mental health facility for African American patients in 1877.  (Dorothea Dix argued that mental illness was an educated, White affliction only).   

In August of the following year, 171 acres of land was purchased in a town called Goldsboro, which would eventually come the cite for the official “Asylum for the Colored Insane”, as it was called then.  The institution has undergone several name changes, including the Eastern North Carolina Insane Asylum, Eastern Hospital the State Hospital at Goldsboro, and finally Cherry Hospital in 1959, after of Governer R. Gregg Cherry, who was widely known for his work expanding mental health services in the state. 

None of Cherry Hospital’s iterations adhered to the Kirkbride Design or focused on Moral Treatment as a practice model.  The goal was to provide a place for African Americans dealing with mental illness (although the definition of mental illness in this instance is incredibly broad – one official document lists possible diagnoses such as masturbation and ‘deranged menses’) to stay separate from the rest of the community.  The original hospital included 76 beds but housed over 100 patients by Christmas of the hospital’s opening year.  In 1881, Eastern North Carolina Insane Asylum was incorporated, and a board of nine directors were appointed to oversee its operation.  They approved the construction of a second building for patients suffering from tuberculosis, and in 1924, another building was erected for patients diagnosed as criminally insane. 

Eastern North Carolina Insane Asylum, 1896.

State Hospital for Colored Insane, 1950.

It was the state’s sole mental institution for African Americans until 1965, when the hospital was desegregated in order to comply with the newly-passed Civil Rights Act of 1964.  The most widely documented therapy used at Cherry Hospital was called “work therapy”.  Until 1974, the fields surrounding the primary building were tended by its patients, which generated considerable income for the hospital.  An 1884 Superintendent Report boasts, “80 barrels corn, 6,000 pounds of fodder, 50 bushels of peas, and 3,000 pounds of oats.  We now have 37 hogs for butchering and estimate their weight at 4,000 pounds.  An accurate account of the vegetables has not been kept, and the value of our kitchen garden can hardly be estimated.  The orchard gave us apples in abundance.”  Occasionally, patients were loaned out to local farmers as additional laborers.  As the farm grew, so did the number of patients required to harvest the crops, so the hospital numbers swelled to well over 3,000.   During Cherry Hill’s first century of existence, it supported over 91,000 patients. 

Other treatments included sitting in a rocking chair (the most frequently-used treatment, per the hospital’s small museum), electroshock therapy and caging patients (a practice that continued until 1956).  Although overcrowding was a known issue, the Superintendent Report from 1884 includes the line, “It is not…recommend here that steps should be taken for enlarging.  The State, at present, has a large burden in providing for the white insane.”  An occupational therapist was hired in 1932, but most therapeutic interventions occurred on the farm, and used other in-hospital tasks, such as laundry and kitchen work, etc.  Chapel services were eventually made available to patients in the 1950’s, as well as tranquilizing and psychotropic medications. 

The band of the "Asylum for Colored Insane" in Goldsboro, North Carolina.  Date Unknown. 

The hospital remained open until a newer facility took its place in 2016, three years after it was originally slated to open.  There have been several controversies surrounding the care provided at Cherry Hospital, especially in 2001 and in 2008.  In 2001, a deaf man named Junius Wilson died at age 93 after spending most of his life in Cherry Hospital.  Wilson was accused of rape in 1925, and was assumed insane as he communicated solely with a sign language taught in the South.  His charges were dropped in the 1970’s, but he remained at the hospital until 1991, when a social worker realized he was deaf.  In 2008, the hospital nearly lost its national accreditation due to a highly-publicized case of malpractice.  A patient named Steven Sabock died while strapped to a chair, ignored by staff by over 24 hours. 

For all of these reasons, I would not want to be treated at Cherry Hospital.  The original institution was nothing but a means of continuing to profit financially from slavery despite the end of the Civil War, and the new institution seemed to perpetuate dangerous, problematic practices like electroshock therapy and an over-reliance on psychotropic medication.   

Resources:

https://www.commongroundprogram.com/blog/love-and-outrage-asylum-for-the-colored-insane

http://www.jazzloftproject.org/blog/general/the-most-haunting-band-picture-ive-seen

https://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/eastern84/eastern84.html

https://s3.amazonaws.com/kajabi-storefronts-production/sites/41305/themes/924270/downloads/tmvFCiJhToGbABIu72q9_In_Our_Own_Voice.pdf

https://www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2016/08/31/new-cherry-hospital-makes-its-debut-three-years-late/

https://modernfarmer.com/2017/12/strange-horrifying-history-cherry-research-farm-north-carolina/

One Thing That Can Help : Advocacy

One thing that I saw both in the movie and in the life of Jane Addams was the mobilizing of people with lived experience. In the documentary, it was folks with mental illness, in the case of Jane Addams, it was the people living in poverty in the Chicago neighborhood in which she lived.  So often being diagnosed with a mental illness or living in poverty can take away the power of a person or even a whole subset of people. Because of this, Addams believed that the best way for a person to get better from a situation that they were suffering in was for they themselves to take action.

The story in which Addams and her community organized around the issue of  trash in her neighborhood is a prime example of this. It was first an issue of just the trash that was not getting cleaned up, but soon the focus was their living conditions in the neighborhood in general. Soon there were dozens of tenants from Hull House and the surrounding community that had begun to organize around the issue, led by Jane and her partner in such issues, John Dewey. As a result of the investigations and activism done by this group of individuals, 11 of the 24 people employed by the Chicago Sanitary Bureau were fired.

The example from the documentary that illustrates this is the Foundation House's tenant's work with getting a bill passed around free bus passes for folks on SSI, just as their counterparts with SSDI did. He was able to go to talk to law makers themselves, and prepared information and charts to back up the claims that he was making. The bill ended up passing with flying colors, making his advocacy efforts successful. This was not only good practice for this gentleman in advocating for himself and his community, but it also was a valuable experience for the lawmakers that heard him speak, as it proved that people living with mental illness are able to do things just as successfully as others who do not ave MI.

There is one major thing in the way of assisting people become advocates for themselves: the societal belief that others know better than them. As it says in the text: "The idea that people with mental illnesses can still identify their own needs and know what is best for them remains a radical notion in much of the current mental health system in the United States." (p. 95) People who are oppressed, such as those living in poverty, those experiencing homelessness, racial minorities, or those living with severe or persistent mental illness, have been silenced. They have been told that their voices don't count or that in no way could they know what they are talking about. Even though they are the ones who are living or have lived the oppressed experiences, others - even social workers - tell them that what they can and can't think about their own lives. Even in efforts to serve folks, we are at risk at further taking away any agency that they might hold in their own lives, something that Jane Addams felt firmly against. Even when those with MI or those in poverty have a chance to have their voices heard, they can easily be discredited or dismissed. For people to have full agency over their lives, society needs to give them space to do so.

Pilgram State Hospital, Brentwood, Long Island, New York- Lindsay Hill

In 1927, Governor Alfred Smith of New York pressed the legislature for money to build a hospital with a minimum of 10,000 beds to relieve the overcrowding in other state hospitals, Kings Park State Hospital and Central Islip State Hospital. By 1929, construction began for Pilgrim State Hospital and it was named after Dr. Charles W. Pilgrim, who was the Commissioner of Mental Health in the early 1900s. It officially opened on October 1, 1931 on 825 acres on Long Island and 100 patients transferred from Central Islip State Hospital. It was the largest facility of its kind when it was built, according to New York State Office of Mental Health (2019). In nine months, there were 2,018 patients who were hospitalized at Pilgrim State Hospital. In 1954, it’s number of patients reached its peak at 13,875 patients as well as 4,000 employees. Pilgrim State Hospital opened as a small community that included its own police and fire department, post office, train station, power plant, swine farm, church, cemetery and water tower. Houses were also available for staff and administrators to live in. Underground tunnels were used to route utilities. There were multiple sets of buildings that did follow the Kirkbride design with the “wing-like” additions on a main building in the middle. The additions did not stretch out as long as other Kirkbride hospital designs. There were also sets of buildings known as quads, which were four buildings placed around a center building.

Pilgrim State Hospital, as well as Kings Park and Central Islip, were considered “farm colonies” because of their live-and-work treatment programs, agricultural focus and patient facilities. The idea of the farm colonies was that mentally ill patients could receive treatment while also working on the farm doing a variety of different jobs that would help them to recover from their mental illness. As the number of patients continued to grow, the state of New York decided to expand its service by building Edgewood State Hospital as a subsidiary of Pilgrim State Hospital. During World War II, the government took control of Edgewood State Hospital along with three buildings of Pilgrim State Hospital and renamed it Mason General Hospital. This psychiatric hospital was used to treat soldiers returning from war who had been traumatized.

As psychiatric medications and community care became options for patients instead of living in an institute, the number of patients began to decline in all psychiatric hospitals. Edgewood State Hospital closed in 1971 and parts of the Pilgram campus began closing in the 1970s and 1980s. Several buildings were used as a correctional facility in the 1980s but then were reverted for psychiatric care. In 1996, Central Islip and Kings Park transferred their remaining patients to Pilgram, and the two facilities closed due to declining patient populations.

            Long Island Psychiatric Museum is currently located in three rooms of Building 45 on the Pilgrim Psychiatric Center campus. The museum displays photographs of patients playing softball, acting in a play and weaving rugs in an occupational therapy session (NY Times, 2002). There is also a piece of a wall mural one of the patients had created. The museum also has on display an old console used in electro-convulsive therapy; commonly known as shock therapy. Pilgrim continues to use the controversial shock therapy as a form of treatment today. The evidence of lobotomies performed at Pilgram State Hospital is absent from the museum, which is also debated about the truth being hidden from the public about what truly happened at the hospital.

Pilgrim Psychiatric Center, formerly known as Pilgrim State Hospital, is still open today but has downsized considerably since it was initially built. Today, Pilgram provides inpatient and outpatient psychiatric, residential and related services to patients with approximately 275 inpatient beds, four outpatient treatment centers and one assertive community treatment (ACT) team. There are 12 inpatient wards, 2 geriatric wards and seven psychiatric rehabilitation wards at Pilgram Psychiatric Center (New York State Office of Mental Health, 2019).

I was unable to find specific patient experiences or narratives about their time at Pilgram Psychiatric Center, but I was able to find this collection of photographs from Time Magazine. It shows 24 pictures of patients in 1938 at Pilgram and I think the pictures speak for themselves about how patients were treated. Many of them in straightjackets, have a lack of expression on their face and were forced into treatments they probably did not want to do and that were still experimental at that time. This is the link to see the photos; if you click on the picture on the top, it will bring you to the other ones to scroll through- https://time.com/3506058/strangers-to-reason-life-inside-a-psychiatric-hospital-1938/

I do not think I would have wanted to be a patient at Pilgrim Psychiatric Center. Especially at the time it opened for patients in the 1930s, treatment was so poor for anyone who was believed to be mentally ill. Medications were still experimental, and doctors were still determining the side effects and dosages of anti-psychotic medications as they were being introduced in the 1950s. I think many people were used as guinea pigs and their lives were forever changed because of the treatment they received. I think the pictures in the link above show how patients were treated and the effects of the treatment so after seeing those and reading all the information I did about this state hospital, no, I would not want treatment there.

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/29/nyregion/a-selective-memorial-for-an-unsettling-past.html

https://time.com/3506058/strangers-to-reason-life-inside-a-psychiatric-hospital-1938/

https://www.omh.ny.gov/omhweb/facilities/pgpc/

http://www.asylumprojects.org/index.php/Pilgrim_State_Hospital

Byberry Insane Asylum - Philadelphia. Erin Kelly

The Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry was constructed beginning in 1907. The facility grew until it  included over fifty buildings such as male and female dormitories, an infirmary, kitchens, laundry, administration, a chapel, and a morgue. Because of this, the hospital's population also grew rapidly, quickly exceeding its capacity. In fact, the peak patient population was over 7,000 in 1960. The design was not a Kirkbride one; any form of moral treatment did not seem to be in mind when this building was being constructed (Kirkbride actually did in fact design an institution in Philadelphia in the 1850s, but did not contribute to Byberry). 


https://www.americansuburbx.com/2015/05/byberry-mental-hospital-house-of-horrors.html

The hospital was constructed under the belief that while it might be possible for the mentally ill to receive treatment and decrease symptoms, they should be separated from the general public in order to do so. The separation of the mentally ill from the general public was also for the good of that general public.  Byberry was free for patients, so it was mostly the poor or others who could not afford better treatment that ended up there. Patients who were committed at Byberry suffered from a variety of things, spanning from physical disorders that made them "other," as well as the wide range of things that were deemed to be mental disorders at the time. 


https://www.americansuburbx.com/2015/05/byberry-mental-hospital-house-of-horrors.html

Byberry hospital became infamous for its mistreatment of patients. One of the biggest issues was that almost from the minute that the hospital opened, overcrowding became an issue. The depression years also offered its challenges due to lack of funding. Patients were often not fed or fed food with rats in it, and there are pictures of patients completely naked, as the hospital could not afford to clothe them. Aside from not being provided for in the proper way, there were also issues with severe mistreatment, with patients getting severely abused, and there were stories of patients getting raped and even murdered. There are also stories of patients committing suicide while in Byberry, due to the dire condition of the hospital. 

The conditions at the hospital were largely hidden until the 1940s, when two journalist separately took up the issue. In 1946, there was even an expose in Life magazine (https://mn.gov/mnddc/parallels2/prologue/6a-bedlam/bedlam-life1946.pdf), which was aided by photos of a man named Arnold Lord, who was employed at the hospital as an orderly, after he became a conscientious objector for the war. The article said this: 

Thousands spend their days – often for weeks at a stretch – locked in devices euphemistically called ‘restraints’: thick leather handcuffs, great canvas camisoles, ‘muffs,’ ‘mitts,’ wristlets, locks and straps and restraining sheets. Hundreds are confined in ‘lodges’ – bare, bed-less rooms reeking with filth and feces – by day lit only through half-inch holes in steel-plated windows, by night merely black tombs in which the cries of the insane echo unheard from the peeling plaster of the walls.”


Due to this article, there was an outrage at the condition of the hospital, which had previously unknown, except those who lived or worked there. Even Eleanor Roosevelt read the article and demanded change. New state funding funneled in, briefly making things better. However, in the 1950s, there was new tests on the patients, as new psychotropic medicines were beginning to be developed. As recently as the late 1980s, 27-year-old resident William Kirsch was in such restraints for more than 14 months — and possibly as long as three years. The U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania found that Byberry was infringing on Kirsch’s human rights, and demanded his release from the hospital. The hospital was not closed until 2006.


http://theduke81.tripod.com/id4.html






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Person As an Agent- response Jane Addams

I found Jane Addams to be such an amazing role model for human service workers. I was particularly impressed by he dedication to people with MI.    She had a down-to-earth way about her that I’m sure was appreciated.  As our reading explained, her father gently pointed out to her when she was young that her cloak was a little too fancy to wear to church.  This set the stage for a simple Hull-House environment.

In the quote from our reading assignment, Addams stated that she wondered how to make people more equal, “equal in things that mattered much more than clothes, the affairs of education and religion, for instance which we attended to when we went to school and church, that it was very stupid to wear the sort of clothes that made it harder to have equality even there. (Addams, 1910 p.13-14)
It was clear that she believe in a down to earth.
In the movie, the treatment home was similar. It was not like a hospital or formal intuition.  The actions of the staff reflected respect and humanistic approach. My favorite clip was when Frances had success in lobbying. He made the phone call to share is appreciation. The staff person said, “it goes both ways”. He thanked Frances.

I have been part of a movement that I think Addams would have approved of. It was a community action group that met monthly.  The worked together to develop programming for the community. It involved community members, services workers, and business workers.  They came up with community events to connect people such as a summer concert series in downtown Brattleboro Vermont.  The idea was to have live music and entertainment available for everyone. There was a free cookout as to have equal sharing of a meal.

Overbrook- Cedar Grove NJ

Overbrook hospital located in Cedar Grove NJ opened in 1896, its original intent was to be a general hospital. The people of Essex County NJ built the hospital on a 325 acres property. Sounds like in its day it was a beautiful piece of real estate, similar to many of the other asylums I researched. It got its name due to the placement of the main building on top of the hill overlooking the river. What struck me about this hospital in my research was not the treatment of people by the hospital itself but the people who "sent them there" or "signed them over". It is not clear what design the Hospital took but it is clear that it was a massive piece of property, there is documented over 300 tunnels that connect all 30 buildings underground. The hospital had its farm that was staffed by not only patients of the hospital but local prisoners. The size and scope of the hospital required that it had its own train station, it reached its peak capacity in the 40'sand '50s with over 3500 patients. The Decline of Overbrook is detailed due to advancements in medical treatments involving medications resulting in patients being able to live in their communities and receive outpatient services. Earlier the hospital had an abundance of electric shock therapy buildings and hydrotherapy buildings. In one image you could see multiple men being hosed by multiple lines of water in the same room as one another. I can only imagine receiving treatment in such a public manner difficult. IT is estimated that 10,000 people died at the hospital while it was in operation but An old newspaper article from December highlighted the worst of times and the highest number of deaths of patients in one month, it read "The 1,800 insane patients at the Essex County Hospital, at Cedar Grove, NJ, are suffering serious discomfort and in some cases incurring danger from the practically complete collapse of the heating and lighting plant of the institution. The sleeping quarters of the inmates are practically without heat, and have been so during the recent cold snap… the management of the institution has even been trying to borrow a locomotive from one of the railroads to furnish steam for heating and power. During the twenty days since the first of December, there have been twenty-four deaths in the institution, as against eight for the entire month last year. There have also been thirty-two cases of frostbite in the last three weeks." IT is estimated that 10,000 people died at the hospital while it was in operation. Later I read that the hospital administration wrote to the families of these patients and suggested they bring them home while they fixed the issues, no family came to the aid of any patients. Another individual wrote about his mother bringing him to visit his elderly Nanny who was now living at Overbrook, he remembered his mothers anger of the people who signed her in there and refused to take care of the elderly. It is clear that many people, as in other cases where housed at Overbrook not only for their mental health issues but for the convenience of someone else. I do not believe I would have wanted to be treated in many facilities back in late 1800 through the better part of the 1900s but Overbrook seemed to have something to do every day or at least pretty views and at least they did not perform lobotomies. The institution was finally closed in 2007, the decline of patients was visible by the decaying buildings. Furnishings and tools were not moved into one wing or building but just left to decay. References for further reading: https://weirdnj.com/stories/abandoned/overbrook_essexcountyhospital/ https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/essex/verona-cedar-grove/2018/07/03/new-jersey-historic-overbrook-hospital-buildings-demolished/750636002/

Athens Asylum - Athens, Ohio (Spencer Trenoweth)

Athens Lunatic Asylum was opened in Athens, Ohio in 1874, and closed in 1993. During its time of operation, the asylum provided services to a number of populations of people including Civil War veterans and children. It's noted that the first documented patient at Athens was a 12-year-old girl with epilepsy who at the time was thought to be possessed by a demon. Athens was one of the first Victorian-style institutions in North-America that did not use torture as a means to treat patients, instead they encouraged healing through activities such as gardening, counseling, and having access to the fresh air. The designs of the building were influenced by Kirkbride. The main section of the building served as administrative offices while the rest of the complex was split into two wings that included three sections. Males were housed in the left sections of the ward and females on the right. The asylum housed nearly 600 patients which was noted to be double the recommended amount from Kirkbride. Throughout the years the complex expanded and by the 1950’s the asylum covered nearly 1,000 acres and treated more than 1,800 patients. 

The intent of the institution was to provide “moral” treatment to the patients that attended the facilities. From what I have found there was a big belief that restrictions and restraints were not to be used on the facility grounds and that the best way to “train the mind” was by participating in a variety of outdoor activities such as farming, milking cows, picking fruits, and a number of kitchen duties. This was the approach up until 1973 when the federal court system ruled that patient labor needed to be compensated with at least minimum wage.

Patients at Athens came from a variety of settings, including Civil War veterans, children, elderly, homeless, “rebellious teenagers being taught a lesson by their parents”, and violent criminals. Patients were seen for slight distress or severe mental illnesses. Patients at Athens were exposed to a variety of treatments, most of which have since been discredited. Athens is most famous for its practices in lobotomy but is also known for its use of hydrotherapy, electroshock, restraint, and psychotropic drugs. 

I did not find any in-depth narratives, however, I was able to come across an article from an Ohio newspaper that highlights the “spooky” events that took place. The article is a first-hand account by a gentleman that worked at the asylum prior to its closing in 1993. 

https://www.athensmessenger.com/spotlight/remembering-life-at-the-athens-asylum/article_d78a2e7e-0d09-5f64-b1fa-3f6f83a1f856.html

As mentioned the facilities housed around 600 people in the 1800s and up to 1800 people in the late 1950’s. Ohio History Central notes that most of the people who received treatment at Athens never left and in fact were buried in a cemetery on the complex itself. Most of the patients at Athens were involved in some kind of work, this was actually the intent of the facility was to offer patients a number of different experiences on the grounds of the asylum that would help with their rehabilitation. The cemeteries at Athens seem to be a place of interest today for folks who are interested in learning more about the paranormal activity that is believed to happen at the complex. One paranormal event that has received public recognition at Athens would be the stain of bodily fluids found on the floor of an abandoned ward. The woman had been missing for several weeks before staff found the remains of her body, the stain still remains on the floor today. In the search that I did I had a hard time find the information directly related to the practices of lobotomy, hydrotherapy, and electroshock. Most of the historical websites talk about the moral treatment approach that allowed for patients to wander the facility and interact with nature, rather than highlight the lobotomy practice. 

Would I have wanted to receive treatment in this facility? I would not have wanted to receive treatment in any asylum at all honestly. I think the idea of being subject lobotomy, hydrotherapy, and electroshock sound unimaginable. The idea of having a facility that allowed some freedom to explore the outdoors and participate in employment like activities would have been alright with me though. It was nerve-racking to learn that most patients that were checked into Athens never left the facility, that in itself would make me not want to receive treatment there.

Oregon Hospital for the Insane

As has now become a common theme, this hospital basically began as a holding ground for people with mental illness. It's actually been termed Oregon's "forgotten hospital," because of the thousands of remains that still stay there from patient’s past. Research from a former patient explained that, 

“Wards are overcrowded. Staffing is inadequate. Patients whose psychoses have been stabilized by medication are being warehoused in the hospital for lack of smaller community-based mental health centers that would be far better for them" 

https://www.oregonlive.com/editors/2013/04/oregons_forgotten_hospital.html

All this being said, the hospital made great strides towards moral treatment in the following years of opening. The hospital began accepting "patients" in February of 1859, using the typical strategies at the time to “help” people with mental illness to “recover.” However, by 1866, the hospital began to embrace the idea that these “mental patients” were actually human beings, not animals, and by giving them freedoms like all other humans, these people began to actually recover. Generally, they were no longer non-compliant, because they weren't being treated like caged maniacs.

One thing that Oregon Hospital changed about the facility was to build a tall fence around the perimeter, allowing several acres of space for the patients to exercise, explore, and ultimately maintain better overall health. Also, the hospital began inputting jobs and tasks for the patients to complete while in treatment, in order to provide a sense of purpose, discipline and dedication, just like they would need to possess once out of the treatment setting. The moral treatment philosophy became paramount in the hospital, so that corporal punishment was not allowed.

If I had to stay at this hospital, I would be grateful for the element of being outdoors, moving my body and working with the tools I was given. I know this because I've seen the inside of psychiatric hospitals today and at least one time a day, the patients were offered to go for a walk around the premise of the hospital. I think when the patient has a short-term stay in a hospital like that, the walking may be enough stimulation or exercise, but anybody staying long-term, the hospital would do well to incorporate jobs and tasks, especially to be done outside in the fresh air and more room for free exercise (such as running and jumping).

It strikes me that a hospital from the late 1800's could teach our society a few key elements that would be beneficial for people today. Although the strides we have made in moral treatment are significant, how much else has really changed about mental hospitals?

Danvers State Hospital in Danvers, MA (Brenna O'Sullivan)

The State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers was opened in Danvers, Massachusetts on May 1st, 1878. The design of the building did follow the Kirkbride plan. The site of the building was chosen for its, "beauty, privacy, view, and farming potential." According to the Kirkbride plan, the fresh air and pleasant location would contribute toward the patients' wellbeing.

Aerial view of the hospital in 2002. Retrieved from http://www.danvers-state-ia.com/ 

Pleasure gardens. Retrieved from http://www.danvers-state-ia.com/

http://www.danvers-state-ia.com/

When Danvers originally opened, the philosophy of treatment, as with other hospitals following the Kirkbride Plan, seemed to be humanitarian and along the lines of Moral Treatment. The original purpose of the facility was to provide residential treatment and care to the mentally ill. However, over time, the functions expanded to include,  "a training program for nurses in 1889 and a pathological research laboratory in 1895. By the 1920's the hospital was operating school clinics to help determine mental deficiency in children. During the 1960's as a result of increased emphasis on alternative methods of treatment and deinstitutionalization and community based mental health care, the inpatient population started to decrease. Danvers State Hospital closed on June 24, 1992" (https://www.danversstateinsaneasylum.com/timeline). In accordance with the philosophy of moral treatment, patients at Danvers had meaningful work roles included as part of their treatment. There were opportunities available to work on the farm and greenhouses, within building facilities, and crafts to sell to the public. There was also recreational therapy (pleasure gardens, time outdoors), fresh air supplied by a ventilation system (see above photo of living quarters) and hydrotherapy.

The facility was designed to support 450 patients, though eventually many more would be "crowded" inside (http://www.kirkbridebuildings.com/buildings/danvers/).  Over 2,000 patients were housed in Danvers when overcrowding was happening. In the 1930s, the hospital began to suffer from severe overcrowding and lack of funding. There were reports of patient abuse that became public, like this one from 1989: https://www.danversstateinsaneasylum.com/patient-abuse-report.  Lobotomies and electro shock therapy were performed beginning in the late 1940s. The treatment of patients no longer resembled the experience of those admitted to the hospital in its earlier years. This page (https://www.danversstateinsaneasylum.com/newspaper-articles) lists many newspaper articles over the years published about Danvers patients and the treatment they received at the facility.

I was not able to find patient narratives for this facility. However, there are memorial efforts underway spearheaded by the Danvers State Memorial Committee, a group of over 60 ex patients and their allies: http://dsmc.info/who.shtml. Their aim is to restore the cemeteries located at Danvers to provide appropriate memorials to the patients who lived and died at the hospital.

If I lived during the late 1800s and was going to be admitted to a mental health facility, I might choose to be admitted to Danvers. It seems as though the facility was one of the better options in terms of humane treatment of the mentally ill at the time. However, if I were a patient during any other time period following the early 1900s, I would definitely not want to be admitted to Danvers. This facility seems to be an example of a decent plan that went seriously downhill when resources became stretched thin and philosophy around the treatment of people with mental illness shifted away from the original ideas of Moral Treatment.

Brenna O'Sullivan

Trans-Alleghany Lunatic Asylum (TALA)

The Trans-Alleghany Lunatic Asylum (TALA) began its construction in 1858 with a final completion date of 1881. TALA, an institution for the mentally unstable, was opened by the movement following Dorothea Dix's observations of harsh and cruel imprisonment of the mentally ill in jails. Dix, working closely with Thomas Kirkbride, began advocating and promoting the need for improved treatment for the mentally ill. TALA, the second largest hand-cut stone masonry building in the world and largest in North America, embodied the Kirkbride layout; expanding nearly a quarter of a mile in length with multiple wings providing optimum sunlight and fresh air to patients who resided at TALA.

TALA opened for its doors to the first 250 patients in 1864. These patients were made up of individuals who were found to have epilepsy, alcohol and drug additions, and "non-educated mental defectives."

TALA, at its final construction, was four stories tall and included space for both patients and staff. The patients had large, elegant sitting rooms, kitchen, living room, barber shop, beauty parlor, dentist office, medical offices, chapel, athletic fields and indoor courts, specialized wings (geriatric wards), and art rooms. The staff had lounge/break rooms, apartments, medical offices, operating rooms, morgues, and so on.

In 1861, with only one wing constructed, the town of Weston, was overrun by the Civil War's Colonel Erastus Bernard Tyler of the Seventh Ohio Infantry and his platoon. Being familiar with Weston, Colonel Tyler was aware of TALA's construction and where the funds were being kept; the Weston Branch of the Exchange Bank of Virginia. Stealing $27,000.00 of the $30,000.00 (equally today as over a half million dollars) in gold the Virginia State Government had, Colonel Tyler and his platoon set up shop at TALA and nicknamed it as "Camp Tyler." The money was taken to Wheeling, Virginia and ended up funding the division of states creating the state of West Virginia.

Between 1862 and 1864, the Confederates raided TALA, stealing nearly $5,300.00 in cash from the same bank, as well as TALA's food and clothing. At the end of the war, despite expectations, TALA rebounded and became an economic resource to Weston. TALA, now 1863, was being referred to as the West Virginia Hospital for the Insane.

In the early 1900's, TALA began evolving in its care and treatment towards the patients'. Patients, due to the overcrowding, were forced to sleep on the floor or take shifts sleeping in the beds. Three to five patients were placed in small rooms that were designed for one patient. This resulted in a widespread neglect including patient deaths due to starvation, unruly patients being forced to sleep in cages, and patients sleeping in the hallways.

TALA experienced another name change in the early 1900's, Weston State Hospital. TALA remained named as the Weston State Hospital until its closure date in May of 1994. Though several name changes occurred, historians continue to refer to the Weston State Hospital as TALA.

Through the remaining century that TALA's doors were open, the treatment to patients continued to change. During the 1950's TALA became home for the West Virginia Lobotomy Project. This Project was launched with the hopes of reducing the overcrowding as the former 250 bed facility had hit its peak capacity of over 2,400 patients, more than six times the intended amount.

During the same time, a local paper, the Charleston Gazette, began interviewing staff and patients at TALA in hopes of exposing the maltreatment with a subsequent closure of the facility. Aside from the overcrowding and starvation that was occurring, TALA patients were living with minimal furniture, no heat, and extremely poor sanitation. Paint could be seen peeling off the walls, puddles of water formed on various spots on the floors from the leaking cleanings, and grime covered the windows to the point of darkness. Though the Charleston Gazette brought light to the neglectful conditions within TALA, the institution remained open for nearly another 50 years.

The remaining years that TALA was open, the staff expanded once more, only this time, it was the graveyard expanding; a vast 666 acres, to help resolve the raising death rates. To date, ledger has not been found stating the patients names, alleged illness(s), or release/death dates.   

In 2007, after over a decade of being abandoned, TALA was auctioned off and purchased by a local resident, Joe Jordan. Jordan and his family began renovating TALA, primarily in the main building titled Kirkbride. TALA is now opened Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm for guided historical tours, and paranormal tours. TALA also provides a plethora of community events such as local high school sporting events, cook-outs for local businesses and much more. Lastly, TALA, the infamous institution, has been featured on multiple documentaries and paranormal activity-based shows.

Laconia State School- Laconia New Hampshire

The movie "Lost in Laconia" was very helpful in learning about the history of mental institutions in New Hampshire.  I have attached the link at the bottom of this post. 




This film did a great job of showing different aspects of societies beliefs. The interviews of staff members as well as patients were very moving.   The movie is an hour and six minutes, but I would highly recommend it as the producer Gordon DuBois, Executive Producer Dennis Powers and their team were able to capture the horrible treatment of individuals and explain the mindset of the community.  

In the beginning the institution open in 1903 with only 58 children. 



(These photos were found by googling Laconia State School.  There did not seem to be a reference to give the credit for photos.) 

As many other facilities, it grew and grew as the need was there.  People were place there because families could not afford to care for them or their was some disability that "experts" suggested they be placed there for community safety. 

 In 1970, there were 1,162 adults and children. 

There were so many personal accounts of the experience.  The following quotes all came from the movie-

Samantha Chamberlain, former resident explained how she was "afraid for her life:  She continued to say "I don't want to remember those things, It was tough"  She did add that there would be "40 women running around naked, jumping in your bed".  She explained having to showering with 4 other woman and no privacy.  She explained it as "your dignity, your rights were pulled away from you"   I could not imagine the horror. 

James Cry, former resident stated in the movie, "It's hard to escape from there and I can't forgive my mother for putting me there.  I can't even go out on my own because I'm living a nightmare down her behind these four walls"

Freda Smith, a parent explained it as a "dungeon" 

There were 40 children and just one staff member, Allyse Jewell explained the method of feeding them.  "You had to tie them down to feed them. She explained.  "If they were roaming around you new they had been fed."

There were many accounts of abuse and neglect.

"400 sterilizations until 1958 when the practice was discontinued" 

Change started to happen in 1952 when Richard Hungerford, the superintendent encouraged the parents to get involved.  Parents banded together, created a documentary, and pushed for reform. The films name was "Help Wanted".  The parents also worked with the NH Council for Retarted Children.  This movie made the public aware of the treatment.  But as "Hidden in Laconia" movie stated, the general public was not excited about removing these individuals into the community as they didn't think it was safe or there was just a stigma of disability. 

Things did get better towards the end of the school.  Rich Crocker, new superintenant, began to focus on training staff and help patients with career guidance. 

This was not a short road.  Patients began to be placed in the community and in 1990 the movie reported that there were only 100 residents. It wasn't until Jan. 1991 when the doors of Laconia closed for the last time. 

There is no way I would want to be treated in this institution.  I wouldn't want to work there.  Allyse Jewell, staff mentioned that she loved the patients and got teary eyed talking about them.  It was clear in the video that she loved them. 

I would want to be treated with dignity and have privacy.   I would want to be part of the community and be with my family.  I would want to be involved in activities, learning, and work. 

Reference:

DeBois, G (Producer) (2010). Lost in Laconia [motion picture]. USA: A1L Media Productions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UesOm2HTm2I

Pineland- Maine

The asylum was called Maine School of the Feeble-Minded was established in 1908. It was developed for people who were born as what others in society saw as effective. The school did not follow Kirkbride design in their hospital layout. The founders of Maine School for the Feebleminded believed the buildings need to be spread out and big not only to hold all the residents but also give the patients some freedom.

                                               

The goal for Maine School of the Feeble-Minded was to educate those who were cognitively and mentally impaired. Researchers in Europe had found that these patients could be educated and were not as useless as they though. The school wanted to teach patients the basics such as English and math, while giving them social skills that will help them thrive in the community. In 1907 the State of Maine passed legislation that patients could only be between the ages of 3 and 21 to attend and live at the institution.  In 1912 the State of Maine removed residents off the Malaga Islands off of Phippsburg. These individuals were then placed into the school and taken away from their home. The state was so determined to create the “Vacationland” they even ripped up 45 graves on the island and moved them to New Glouster Cemetery. The state did not keep the age requirements, and many residents were older and ended up dying in the school.

There is a book called Voices of Pineland were some patients, or other individuals share their experience with Pineland. Many patients shared the same stories of feeling hopeless like they would not escape the school, and they knew probably die. Many of these stories are from residents of Malaga Island who were forced out of their homes and had the same experiences. The experiences of these clients seemed to change dramatically over time due to more residents and burnt out staff. The staff seemed to get more aggressive and unhappy over time; clients started to have more severe mental health problems.  As time went on the school grew more prominent and began to run out resources such as money, space, employees.  By 1939 there were a total of seven thousand patients, 200 employees, and fifty-one buildings.  The number of people who died at the school is unknown due to the fact some of the graves are from Malaga Island.  Around 1975 a lawsuit was brought upon the school for cruel and unethical punishment to their students. The lawsuit found the school had been mistreating the patients and the school later closed in 1996. At first, I would have wanted to have treatment at Pineland when their philosophy was to educate and help them enter the community.  The philosophy changed, and I would not like to have been a patient there around the late 90s.

https://www.mainememory.net/sitebuilder/site/301/slideshow/307/display?format=list&prev_object_id=567&prev_object=page&slide_num=1