New Britain herald., 1918-04-23


duties, speaking on the topic of Court
of Domestic Relations
Care of Insane as
1t Was and Now Is
In his address to the conference on
Community Responsibility in the
Treatment Of Mental Disorders" DR..
William l.. Russell, medical superin-
tendent of the Bloominedale hospital
at White Plains, \. Y. compared the
old-time method of treating such
patients in the same class as GRIM
inals to the present-day methods OF
scientific care. He related some ter
rible and pathetic conditions of which
he knew himself and declared it to
be one of the cardinal duties of a
state or community to provide proper
and adequate treatment for it's in
sane and mentally unbalanced. In
his paper on this subject DR.. Russell
said:
Two conditions which are fire.
quent consequences of mental disor-
ders however early compelled atten-
ton; namely, disorders of behavior
and dependency, first the only organ
lied provision made for persons suf-
tering from these disorders had ref
erence to these two conditions. 1t
was the duty of the constable and
the poormaster to protect the COM
munity from the acts Of disorderly
persons and to extend to the de
pendent the organized aid which the
community felt it necessary to fur
rish. For the disorderly insane per
son the lookup served the same pur-
pose as, 1t did for the disorderly sane
person, and for the dependent insane
or feeble minded who were not dis
orderly the almshouse furnished food,
shelter. and attention as it did to
all other dependents. Little attempt
was made, in those days, to inquire
into the causes and conditions which
occasioned behavior disorders or de-
tendency or to provide for the spe-
cial needs Of individual cases.
LAS the communities grew in pop
ulation and advanced in knowledge.
however, the problems, which arose
ir connection with this simple
IN ethod of disposing of persons who
we're mentally disordered grew more
complex and difficult and the num-
Der and gravity Of the cases in
which the inadequacy Of the method
was exposed, excited more interest
and comment. To meet this situa-
ton, it became necessary to make a
distinction between the disorderly
sane and the disorderly insane, and
departments in which the latter could
be given separate care were estab-
lished at the almshouses. The mar
row barred cells, the heavy doors with
peep holes, and the restraint appara-
tus which marked this development
are still to be seen at many aims
houses from which the insane were
long since removed The consta BILE
and the lookup were still utilized, but
an effort was made to restrict their
services to temporary needs. Now
this period in the care of the insane
has not yet been completely emerged
from In many communities through
out the country, probably in most,
the only organized agencies for deal
ing with mental disorders are still
those which have to do with disor-
derby behavior and dependency, re-
gardless of the cause. In fact it has
been truly said that in the organized
NJ ethods by which insane persons are
still dealt with in this country ex-
amples can be found of every form
of neglect and abuse to which the
insane have been subjected during
the past two hundred years. The
surveys made by the National Com
mittee for Mental Hygiene have fur
nlshed considerable evidence of this.
To any who may be sceptical [
would suggest the reading of an ar
ticle entitled THE Insane in a County
Poor Farm by DR.. Thomas w. Sal
mon, which appeared in Mental lily
gene in January, 1917. Tbs is true
account of the provision which is
made now for the care of insane per-
sons by a prosperous community in
this country.
Notwithstanding these residuals
of former period, however, great
advances have been made in the care
of the insane. The medical needs Of
the cases have always been recog
nized by some, and physicians and
philanthropists have from a very
early period of the nations develop
n1ent been engaged in efforts to pro-
vide for them. Many of the Aims
house annexes were gradually de-
Veloped into separate departments or
separate institutions under medical
management Private funds were
applied to the establishm ent of high
grade institutions where the best
standards could prevail, and some of
the earliest institutions for the treat
ment of mental disorders in this
country were Of this type Eventual
ly the legislatures in one state after