The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-12-17
INSANE IN INSTITUTIONS
 IN THE UNITED STATES

Washington. Dec, 17:--Is insanity in the United States on the increase ? This question is discussed by Dr. Joseph A. HiH in the Governennt re- port the Insane in Institutions, soon to be issued by William J. liar ris, Director. of the Census, in the Department of Commerce. That there has been an increase in the number of Insane under 1nstltutfonal care is made evident by the statistics pre- scented in this report, but, for reasons there set forths this in itself can not 1 be regarded as conclusive proof of an increase Of insanity in the general population outside of institutions. | The number Of insane reported in ! institutions increased from 150,151 in I 1904 to 1S7,791 in 191G-an increase of 1 25 per cent in six years. The total population of the United States in l the same interval increased only 12 per cent. Therefore the insane in in- stitutions increased twice as fast as I the population. In 1904, out of every I 100, GOO persons in the total population, i 1S4 were reported in institutions for \ the insane: bx 1910 the number had
 increased to 204-f In other words, in I 1904, one person out Of every 543 was confined to an institution for the in sane; in 1910, one person out of every
 490. There was a similarly marked I increase in the number of annual adj
 missions to these Institutions, 50. 76s persons having been admitted in 1910, as compared with A9;622 in 1904, an in- I crease of a2 per cent The number of creased from 61 in 1904 to 66 in 1s10-s These increases are at least partly attributable to the extension of the l provisions made for the care of insane persons and to the growth of the prac- tice of placing them in institutions | 1 willingness on the part Of the public 1 to accept institutional treatment. The | old-ttme horror of the li1na1ic asylum fully justified, perhaps, by the inhl1- man practices formerly prevailing in
 such Institutions, has largely disap- l peared. and it is coming to be recog- | nized that the modern institution foI the insane is simply a hospital fol | the treatment of mental diseases, full filling essentially. the same purpose ir 1 the community as any other hospital l for the sick. in the interval between 1 1904 and 1910 the number Of insti&u- | tions for the insane increased from 1 BPS to 3e6s the. average number of in i mates per institution increasing from 45s to 512.
 INSANE AsYLUMs
 OvERCROWDEI Notwithstanding these developments the provisions for the institutional Lcare of the insane are still very in 1 adequate in most parts of the United States There are general coKnplaints
 of overcrowded institutions and of thu necessity of . turning patients away I Under such conditions, the construc.
 ton of a new hospital for the insane or the extension of an existing aont may be followed by an increase in the
 number Of insane in institutions with 4 out being indicative of any Increase in the preEalence of insanity in tias
 community from which the patients are received.
 At the same time. ttere has been 2 Il great improvement in the agenciee
 for discovering cases of insanity ane bringing them under institutions
 care. The advance in methods O
 medical diagnosis leads to the detec.
 ton of mental disease in case. brought to general hospitals for thu
 sick. The institution for the insane is becoming more generally accessible not only by the increase in the mum
 Der Of such institutions, but also bS the improvements in the means ol transportation and communication
 The, automobile is mentioned as fac
 tor of some importance in this con
 nection, making it possible to ,brins
 to the hospital patients in poor physi- cal condition. These lare some of the
 influences which, as stated in tht:
 report, may have Contributed to tht
 apparent increase Of insanity or t
 the increase in the number Of recog-
 nized and recorded eases without be-
 ing indicative of any actual increase
 The author of this report believes tha'
 there has been. at the same time, ar
 actual increase of insanity, but tha.
 it is not as great as the statistics o
 the number Of insane in institutions would indicate.
 An increase of insanity is probably in some degree a natural consequencs of the rapid growth of cities in ths United States Between. 1880 and 1911 the proportion of the population O
 the population of the United State. : living in urban communities increased 2 about 190 per cent, while the rura |. popuEation aIncreased only shout 4 } per cent. As a result 46 per cent. O. the total population of the Unite' States was urban in 1910 as compared with 29 per cent. in 1908. The per centage living in cities of over 1000 5 inhabitants nearly doubled in, tn same interval. being 12.4 per cent. il . 1880 and 9 per cent.<in 1910.
 { More Insanity In City Than in
 Country
 There has been a popular inlpres sion that the lonely isolation of coun | try life is an important cause of in