Treatment for insanity remained surprisingly consistent in many ways over hundreds of years (see last post). One great stride in treating the insane came when authorities stopped lumping “lunatics” in with criminals and the poor, either in prisons or almshouses. (Just as often, lunatics were chained or confined even in early hospitals.)

Sketch of an Inmate in Bethlem (Bedlam) Hospital

A more compassionate understanding about the special needs of the insane emerged, and from that, elaborate asylums for their care sprang up. Though asylums eventually deteriorated into little more than holding tanks and warehouses for the insane, their original purpose was founded on kindness.

During the 1960s and 1970s, funding for mental health care was diverted from asylums (which weren’t working well) and funneled into community-based services. Like the asylums before them, community services such as clinics and halfway houses were good ideas which unfortunately never received sufficient funds to work well. As mentally ill patients were turned out of asylums, they often found no help. A 2006 report from the Bureau of Justice shows that in 2005, “more than half of all prison and jail inmates had a mental health problem.” These people included 705,600 in State prisons, 78,800 in Federal prisons, and 479,900 in local jails. Mental health problems were defined by a recent history or symptoms of a mental health problem that occurred within 12 months of the time the survey was taken.

It seems that once again, prisons constitute the primary housing for the nation’s mentally ill.

The Updated Bethlem (Bedlam) Hospital

An Engraving of Bethlem (Bedlam) Hospital

______________________________________________________________________________________