Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-27
INSANITY MOUNTS,
SCIENTISTS TO HEAR
ThreefoId Increase in Gen.
GRAFTON to Be Revealed by
Statistics at Session.

The United States seems to be getting
craZier
Statistics showing a three-fold in
crease in insanity in generation, ex-
pressed in admissions to hospitals per
| 100000 population, will be presented at
| the first International Congress on
Mental Hygiene, which will be held here
May to 10.
These will be based largely on sur
vey of mental patients for 1926-27 just
issued by the Census Bureau. Only
| Ga per 100000 were in insane hospitals
| In 1880, the first year for which such
reports were available. At the begin
ming of 1928 there were 221 per 100, 900.
A notable increase in recent years,
the statistics reveal, is due to cerebral
arteriosclerosis and this may indicate
that the American brain, geared to fast
| living and intensive economic pressure
| such as the world never has known be-
| fore, may have started to collapse with
| increasing pressure on weakening ar
teries. The rate of State hospital adj
missions for this disease went up SO
per cent in five years from 1922 to
1927. This Is distinctly a disease Of
| civilization, many psychiatristS believe,
belonging to the same general pattern
as the heart and kidney diseases which
are becoming so prominent in mortality
| statistics.
Appears i'm Middle Life.
Cerebral arteriosclerosis crops out
most frequently In middle life. It is
premature Senility of the brain and its
symptoms are similar to those of the
mental breakdown of aged persons.
Alcoholic psychoses, sufficiently severe
to make hospital treatment necessary,
also increased nearly SO per cent since
1922, but this, it is pointed out, may
| be due to the effects of bad liquor on
the brain cells and is likely to disappear
when the drinking habits of the Amer
ican people are on more stable basis.
The census statistics do not reveal
significant increases in five years in
such major psychotic conditions as de-
| mentia praecox, involution melancholia,
paranoia and manic Oppressive psy-
| chooses which have been responsible for
the majority Of insane patients and all
1880.
Delegates from European countries,
1t Is expected, will present statistics
showing similar trend in their popu-
lations, all possibly overloaded from the
after effects of the war which largely
| will disappear with the present gen.
Grafton.
Queer" Persons Now Taken In.
The situation may not be so alarming
as appears on the face of the statistics
it was pointed out at st. Elizabeth's
Hospital, whose superintendent, DR.. Will
liam A. White, is president of the con-
gresS. AT least part of the increase, St
Elizabeth'S psychiatrists believe, is due
to the fact that queer" persons who
were tolerated and considered harmless
In a less strenuous age now are placed
in mental hospitals.
The village fool, whose antics used to
provide so much amusement for the
gang on the corner, and who was able
to take care of himself in a rural en-
vtronment. Is becoming thing Of the
past with the gradual passing of the
village. Besides more criminals now are
being declared insane.
The congress will consider especially
the neW major economic problem afford
ed by increasing insanity which is held
paramount to that of increasing crime.
ST: Enzabeth's Hospital alone, it was
said by DR.. H. G.. Wooley, clinical di-
rector, has approximately 1000 patients
beyond the capacity for which 1t was
intended and similar reports are made
by most State hospitals.
\
The cost of the 1856 hospitals covered
In the census report was $91, 343,752 in
1927, compared with $75, 154,424 in 1922,
At the beginning of 1928 there were
| 294,075 insane patients in these hos
| pitfalls. New York State alone spends
| approximately $40 1000 900 q year on its
insane and its hospitals are now over
| crowded. According to preliminary an
nouncements of the Congress, there now
are more hospital beds occupied by in
sane patients than by victims of all
other maladies combined.
The effect of prohibition on the in.
sanity situation is admitted by the Cen.
sus Bureau In its explanation of the
alcoholic psychoses statistics. "Thest
increases in most parts of the country
show" the report says, that in spite OF
the national prohibition law there ha.
apparently been during the last few
years an increasing prevalence Of al.
coholism. It must be recognized tina
the first admission rate largely Is infiu'
enced by other factors as well as the
An especially important factor is tht
quality, and there has been a deteriora'
ton in the quality of the liquor which
has been available in recent years. It Il
probable that the increase in the frs
admissions having alcoholic psychose
is due largely to the increased consump
ton of inferior liquors. Occasional ex
cessive drinking brings many cases Il
the hospitals"
Committee for Congress.
The following local committee for the
world congress was announced yester.
day: Frederic A. Delano, chairman,
Mrs. Anne Archbold, DR.. Frank w
Ballou, DR.. II. e. Barnard, H. Edmund
Bulls, Princess Cantacuzine, Mrs. e
Crane Chadbourne, DR.. william j
Cooper, DR.. Hugh s. Cumming, Mrs
Alvin e. Dodd, Mrs. Corcoran Eustis
Robert v. Fleming, DR.. John Foote
Admiral Cary T. Grayson, DR.. Gilbert
H. Grosvenor, Mrs. Archibald Hopkins
Mai. Gen. Merritte w. Ireland, DIR
Vernon L. Kellogg, Col. j. Miller
Kenyon. Mrs. Nicholas Longworth, DR.
Cloyd Heck Marvin, Mrs. Ruth Hanns
| Mccormick DR. John c. Merriam Mrs