Paralytic Dementia

At many asylums, medical attention was easier to give than psychiatric attention; the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians was no exception. In his 1906 report, the asylum’s physician, Dr. John Turner, describes both the mental and physical conditions of a few of his patients:

Turner describes a “raving” Bannock woman suffering from syphilitic dementia, who also had foul-smelling ulcers. “Under a course of treatment her ulcers all healed, she gained 19 pounds in weight, and became rational.”

A 65-year-old Pima man was admitted in 1903, with “arteria sclerosis, pulse weak and slow.” Turner said the man also had obstipation (obstructive constipation), anasarca (edema or water retention), and weighed 150 pounds. Turner added, “. .  . upon the occasion of his wife’s death, delusions and hallucinations appeared which rendered him dangerous to other persons. After I had relieved this man’s dropsy (the edema), by a combination of potass bitartras, potass et sodil tartras and digitalis, he weighed only 100 pounds and his mental condition was much improved. I then put him on cascara sagrada (a stimulant laxative and bowel cleanser) and nux vomica (a homeopathic medicine made from the seeds of the strychnine tree) and he now weighs 140 pounds, has no dropsy, and he is active and comfortable.”

It is telling that Dr. Turner usually found mental health improvement only after underlying physical problems were addressed. This raises the question as to how much of the mental illness Canton patients experienced was due simply to physical ailments.

A Woman With Dropsy, courtesy National Library of Medicine

Information About Cascara Sagrada

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