The Mentally Ill in America

Book excerpt: THE MENTALLY ILL IN AMERICA A HISTORY OF THEIR CARE AND TREATMENT FROM COLONIAL TIMES By ALBERT DEUTSCH WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY WILLIAM A. WHITE, M. D., D. Sc., LL. D. Late Superintendent, St. Elizabeths Hospital, Washington, D. C. Professor of Psychiatry, George Washington University 1946 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW YORK Third Printing, 194, Columbia University Press, Ne w York FOREIGN AGENT OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, Humphrey Milford, Amen House, London, E. G. 4, England, AND B. I. Building, Nicol Road, Bombay, India First and second printings, 1937, 1938 Double day, Do ran Company, Inc. COPYRIGHT, 1937 BY THE AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION by William A. White, M. D. ix AUTHORS FOREWORD xv CHAPTER I. PROPHETS, DEMONS AND WITCHES . . II. COLONIAL AMERICA THE OLD WORLD HERITAGE 24 III. COLONIAL PROVISIONS FOR THE MENTALLY ILL PUNISHMENT, REPRESSION AND INDIFFERENCE . ., . 39 IV. RATIONAL HUMANITARIANISM THE BEGIN NINGS OF REFORM .... - 55 V. BENJAMIN RUSH THE FATHER OF AMERI CAN PSYCHIATRY 72 VI. THE RISE OF MORAL TREATMENT . 88 VII. RETROGRESSION OVER THE HILL TO THE POORHOUSE 114 VIII. THE CULT OF CURABILITY AND THE RISE OF STATE INSTITUTIONS . . . 132 IX. DOROTHEA LYNDE Dix MILITANT CRU SADER . 158 X. MID-CENTURY PSYCHIATRISTS .... 186 XL CONFLICT OF THEORIES RESTRAINT OR NON-RESTRAINT 213 XII. THE TREND TOWARD STATE CARE . . . 229 XIII. STATE CARE EXODUS FROM THE POORHOUSE 246 XIV. PSYCHIATRY EMERGES FROM ISOLATION . 272 XV. THE MENTAL HYGIENE MOVEMENT AND ITS FOUNDER 300 vi CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XVI. HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDS OF MENTAL DEFECT . . . . . 331 XVII. CHANGING CONCEPTS IN MENTAL DEFECT 353 XVIII. INSANITY AND THECRIMINAL LAW . . 386 XIX. OUR COMMITMENT LAWS 417 XX. MODERN TRENDS IN INSTITUTIONAL CARE AND TREATMENT 440 XXI. TOWARDS MENTAL HYGIENE .... 463 BIBLIOGRAPHY 497 INDEX . 5 5 ILLUSTRATIONS PlNEL AT THE SALPETRIERE Frontispiece FACING PAGE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY HOSPITALS FOR THE MENTALLY ILL IN AMERICA . 68 BENJAMIN RUSH 76 DOROTHEA LYNDE Dix 160 THE ORIGINAL THIRTEEN ... 192 OLD METHODS OF RESTRAINT AND A MOD ERN SUBSTITUTE . . 224 CLIFFORD W. BEERS 304 HYDROTIIKRAPY, OLD AND NEW 448 INTRODUCTION TT IS with deep satisfaction that I introduce this important book to the reading public. If the lessons it teaches are understood and taken to heart by its readers, society will be the authors debtor. Mr. Deutschs book, the preparation of which has been made possible by the American Foundation for Mental Hygiene, might be described in a very few words by saying that it traces the evolution of a cultural pattern as repre sented by the way in which people through the years have thought and felt about the so-called insane. It is an exceed ingly illuminating presentation and because of the dramatic material with which it deals, it may well prove to be a spear head for the penetration of important social facts and the understanding of social processes which, presented with less appealing or less startling illustration, might fail to attract attention. It is altogether fitting that in the presentation of this extraordinary and important story of mans struggles with himself, the illustrations should be taken more particularly from their American setting. In this way the whole matter is brought home to us who live in this country and we see what has actually been taking place, more especially since earlycolonial days, and we can feel that we ourselves are a part of the whole story and that the victories that have been won and the ground that has been gained are assets of which we can avail ourselves. It is always an illuminating pro cedure to trace the path along which we have come, to be come acquainted with the historical forces that are driving us, and their directions, because after all we have to conquer, not by opposing these forces, but by conforming to them. Mr...