|
Despite a lack of effective medical treatment 30 – 40% of those admitted between 1870 and 1914 recovered. The asylum’s regime consisted of rest and a nourishing diet, fresh air and exercise, and keeping the patients occupied with work and entertainments. Many of the patients were admitted with malnutrition and in a dire state of health, and the Medical Superintendent gave them all available treatment to help them recover.
Patients worked on the farm and in the gardens and laundry, and did cleaning, sewing, and shoemaking, which acted as an early form of occupational therapy. If they improved they were gradually given greater freedoms, progressing from walking round the ‘airing courts’ to going on supervised walks and outings. The Commissioners in Lunacy were perceived as being obsessed with ‘non-restraint,’ and required any use of strait jackets or padded cells to be meticulously recorded and justified.
Those patients who had recovered enough to go home were discharged on probation and given a monetary allowance so that they did not have to find work immediately. They were discharged after a month if they managed to cope in the outside world.
|
Extract of drawings from postmortem book,
c.1885 (D/H10/D5/1/2)
|
