Treating Madness
Bethleham Hospital (Bedlam) is the first thing that comes to my mind when thinking of the treatment of lunacy in the 18th century. Unfortunately, there wasn't much "treatment" involved until late in the century. Per wikipedia:
In the 18th century people used to go there to see the lunatics. For a penny one could peer into their cells, view the freaks of the "show of Bethlehem" and laugh at their antics, generally of a sexual nature or violent fights. Entry was free on the first Tuesday of the month. Visitors were permitted to bring long sticks with which to poke and enrage the inmates.
Also, wikipedia says that the view of the time [was] that madness was a result of moral weakness.
From lancastercastle.com:
Until the late 17th and early 18th Century, there had not been a strong movement to incarcerate the mentally ill. Sufferers existed as best they could within communities, sometimes cared for by family or friends. Institutions that did exist were scarce and infamous for their brutality, such as ‘Bethlem’ in London, more commonly known as ‘Bedlam’. Moreover lunatics were judged to be morally inferior and until the 1770s the public were encouraged to view the inmates of Bedlam as entertainment.
In the early 18th Century, the idea that the insane ought to be segregated from ‘sane society’ gathered momentum. The number of private ‘madhouses’ increased. The care offered frequently took the form of cruel punishment. There was little incentive to cure or release and most of these institutions were run primarily for profit, with relatives paying the madhouse to keep patients.
When we were in Williamsburg, VA, we visited the Public Hospital which was the first building in North America devoted to treating the mentally ill and opened in 1773. Here are a couple of pictures I took:
A cell for the poorer sort
A cell for the more well-to-do
* This post prompted by this article on the treatment of insanity with a cheese poultice.
In the 18th century people used to go there to see the lunatics. For a penny one could peer into their cells, view the freaks of the "show of Bethlehem" and laugh at their antics, generally of a sexual nature or violent fights. Entry was free on the first Tuesday of the month. Visitors were permitted to bring long sticks with which to poke and enrage the inmates.
Also, wikipedia says that the view of the time [was] that madness was a result of moral weakness.
From lancastercastle.com:
Until the late 17th and early 18th Century, there had not been a strong movement to incarcerate the mentally ill. Sufferers existed as best they could within communities, sometimes cared for by family or friends. Institutions that did exist were scarce and infamous for their brutality, such as ‘Bethlem’ in London, more commonly known as ‘Bedlam’. Moreover lunatics were judged to be morally inferior and until the 1770s the public were encouraged to view the inmates of Bedlam as entertainment.
In the early 18th Century, the idea that the insane ought to be segregated from ‘sane society’ gathered momentum. The number of private ‘madhouses’ increased. The care offered frequently took the form of cruel punishment. There was little incentive to cure or release and most of these institutions were run primarily for profit, with relatives paying the madhouse to keep patients.
When we were in Williamsburg, VA, we visited the Public Hospital which was the first building in North America devoted to treating the mentally ill and opened in 1773. Here are a couple of pictures I took:
A cell for the poorer sort
A cell for the more well-to-do
* This post prompted by this article on the treatment of insanity with a cheese poultice.