153 Man's inhumanity

“Man’s Inhumanity to Man”

Two things came as a surprise to me. First, in an auction box and contents, I found a 175-year-old annual report to the legislature of Virginia with data for the Western Lunatic Asylum, 1842, Staunton, VA.

The 61-page report is tattered, the pages brittle, but still readable. I read it. Then I had to start googling.  Could that which I read be true? Authentic? Acceptable? I was feeling something between anger and sadness. 

The second thing I thought of was the quotation “man’s inhumanity to man.” I didn’t know where it came from or who said it. Surprisingly, it is from a Robert Burns’ poem wherein he laments poverty, cruelty, politics, and class struggle. It is listed under the poetic genre of “dirges.” 

These two things seemed to have come together serendipitously. Some of our readers have expressed interest in more serious topics than devil-eyed cats and pop songs from our teen years. So, here is a serious topic that I am dumbfounded to realize lasted so long and was so engrained in our society: Lunatics and what society did to them and with them. Horrible thoughts may creep into your minds as it did in mine. Were we no worse than the Nazis who wanted to rid themselves of those found unacceptable?

I am now off my soapbox and the facts can stand for themselves.

Some history to help get perspective.

• 1773 – Williamsburg, VA – first patient admitted to the hospital for Persons of Insane & Disordered Minds and a couple of pictures from the museum that it is today.

Thanks to Patrick Henry keeping his 2nd wife, Sarah, at home in the basement with a slave when she became a danger to herself and her children, the Williamsburg institution did not flourish among the upper classes. The protocol at the institution was “bleeding, blistering, pain, shock, terror, dunking, restraints (strait jackets and dresses).” [From American History/mentalillness/18thcenturyamerica]

• 1792 – New York City builds an asylum

• 1817 – Philadelphia 

• 1824 – Kentucky

• 1868 – Virginia – Petersburg – Central State Asylum for African-Americans (no records exist)

• 1900 – Every state has at least one asylum with an estimated population of over a half million people incarcerated. 

• Staunton, VA. Summer 1928. With the heavily traveled Valley Turnpike, Staunton became a prime location for easy transportation of patients. Taking note that the Catholic Al Smith was resoundingly defeated by Herbert Hoover and the depression was imminent, fewer people could cope with personal problems at home. The handicapped were an at-home hardship. The asylum started out in “resort style” with patients planting flowers and taking walks in sight of the architecturally beautiful building. It is the new Western State Hospital.

• But before this lovely building was erected, there stands the information in the 1842 report. There were 152 residents: 75 maniacs, 25 melancholics, 6 epileptics, 3 homicidal, 6 suicidal, 13 monomaniacs/fanatics, 20 demented, 3 idiots, 1 insane. (p. 23) The cost to the State of Virginia was about $53,000 with an average patient age of 36 years. (p. 28) The medicines used were laxatives and opiates. (p. 39). Men worked on the “farm” producing hay, corn, oats, and potatoes which realized about $1000 income while women were “engaged in sewing, spinning, knitting, housework, and in other occupations suited to their sex.” (p.39) [I promised I would NOT say anything!]

• In 1924, Virginia passed the “Eugenical Sterilization Act” where patients at Western State were allowed to be forcibly sterilized. There were too many patients, too little room, only 40 slots for women, and the communities of Virginia needed protection from these undesirable people. This law was not repealed until the early 1970s.

• The women of Western State: many of the women were institutionalized due to their opinions, unruliness, and inability to be “controlled by male-dominated culture.” [History of Psychiatric Institution/18th-19thcenturies] Men – husband, father, brother – could send the women to these facilities as men had the “last say.” No doctor, no battery of tests was needed. 

• Here is a partial list of reasons for commitment:

Raises some questions, doesn’t it. Some make no sense at all.

• · By 1940, some 20,000 mentally ill had been sterilized “to prevent the procreation of criminals, idiots, imbeciles and rapists.” [MotherJones.com/mental- health/America]

• If sterilization wasn’t enough, from 1936 to 1950, over 50,000 frontal lobotomies were performed. 

• Electroshock therapy was also used and is still in limited use today.

• · 1946 – After WWII, President Harry Truman signed a Mental Health Act creating the National Institute of Mental Health. Drug therapy becomes the “new” protocol. 

Notice you can get your own sample!

• 1963 – JFK signed a Community Mental Health Act for federal funding to communities to provide their own care. Never fully funded due to Vietnam War costs.

• 1965 – Today’s issue raises it head for the first time. Medicaid! Many of the half million patients were now eligible for nursing homes when the Medicaid bill passed.

• By 1977 - 650 community health facilities were serving 1.9 million mentally ill. 

• 1955-present - Better drug treatments:

• A 2004 study suggests the 16+percent of prison inmates were diagnosed mentally ill – approximately 325,000 people. This same study shows there were only 100,000 psychiatric beds in public and private hospitals. 

• 2012 – Obama signs a bill to eliminate the word LUNATIC. 

 [I had NO idea! Glenne]