Built in 1874 and opened in 1878, the Danvers State Hospital
was a massive architectural feat that sat atop Hathorne Hill (where the Salem
Witch Trials judge John Hathorne once lived) in Danvers, Massachusetts. The
700,000 square feet, Gothic-style building was designed based on the Kirkbride
plan where one central administrative building had four wings off both sides.
Kirkbride believed that this design allowing exposure to natural light and air
circulation were crucial to an environment that would help cure patients. Danvers
State Hospital was originally established to provide residential treatment and
care to the mentally ill and criminally insane. Over time its functions
expanded to include a training program for nurses, pathological research
laboratory, and operating school clinics to help determine mental deficiency in
children. When originally opened it was called the “State Lunatic Hospital at
Danvers”, housed 450 patients suffering from various mental illnesses, was
considered a one-of-a-kind facility, and was considered a leader in humane
treatment. The patients’ regimen
involved exercise and the creation of elaborate gardens as well as a patient-run
farm that produced large harvests used in the institution’s kitchen. By the
late 1930s and 1940s over 2,000 patients were being housed here and overcrowding
had become severe with little increase in staff and resources creating improper
staffing and supervision. In the 1890s the superintendent declared mechanical
restraint unnecessary and harmful in cases of mental illness. In response to
the problem of destruction by disturbed patients, the hospital reacted with better
segregation of patients, the use of special garments and the use of bed care
for denudative patients, occupational therapy, and sedative forms of
hydrotherapy which they then reported a considerable reduction in destruction. As
a result of increased emphasis on alternative methods of treatment, during the
1960s the inpatient population started to decrease due to de-institutionalization
and community-based mental health care.
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It was interesting to me that many of the asylums followed similar patterns. They often started out utilizing Moral Treatment concepts including rest, exercise, and work. Over time, common problems seemed to arise including overcrowding and understaffing combined with so-called medical treatments being introduced that were inhumane. I wonder how many of the old asylums still exist today in some form, as some mental health program and how many have completely shut down and either fallen into ruin or been demolished.
ReplyDeleteDustin, I agree with Toni. As I read your blog I felt like I was reading the same history of the Asylum that I researched. It looks like, at least initially, these asylums has good intent with their implementation of “moral treatment” that we learned about from Pinel and the Tukes. I see this facility opened with 450 patients! It seems like they were already straying from ideal capacity of 200 or 250 patients. How could the superintendent ever get to know 450 patients personally? I also think about the Dix crusade and how important it was for people to be removed from their families and environment. It seems like this belief may have trumped the original ideas of moral treatment. An ideal patient capacity was apparently sacrificed as long as the mentally ill were removed from their home!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Dustin, for sharing this information about Danvers State Lunatic Hospital. It sounds like the hospital offered a lot of positive services. I especially appreciate that Kirkbride, and those who modeled the layout after his ideas, recognized the value and healing qualities of natural light and fresh air, and that the hospital provided support for mentally ill individuals while also acting as an education facility for those entering the field of psychology and mental health. I like too that the facility looked for alternate means of therapy such as hydrotherapy as a means of supporting clients. I can see how the place would quickly fill up and struggle with overcrowding. I would love to learn more about their admittance practices; what types of ailments and behaviors qualified a person for admittance?
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