![]() They believed that the patient had lost all control over their morals and that strict discipline was necessary to help the patient regain self-control. ![]() Because doctors did not understand what caused the behavior of their patients, they often listed the possible causes of mental illness as religious excitement, sunstroke, or even reading novels. The establishment of asylums did not mean that treatment greatly improved. Between 18, the number of asylums in the United States increased from nine to 62. These facilities, meant to be places of refuge, were referred to as insane asylums. The number of facilities devoted to the care of people with mental disorders increased significantly. By the 1860s, Americans wanted to provide better assistance to the less fortunate, including the mentally ill. Patients were often forced to live with criminals and were treated likewise: locked in a cell or even chained to walls. It prevented the sufferer from damaging clothes or furniture, and from injuring self, staff or fellow inmates.īefore the American Civil War, the mentally ill were often placed in poorhouses, workhouses, or prisons when their families could no longer care for them. At the height of its use, it was considered more humane than traditional restraints made of ropes or chains. The straitjacket was one of these treatments. As a result, doctors attempted a variety of treatments that seem cruel by modern standards. ![]() ![]() (See the French Wikipedia article, Camisole de force.)īefore psychiatric medications and talking therapies were developed, doctors simply did not know how to treat mental disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety disorders. The straitjacket is described as early as 1772, in a book by the Irish physician David Macbride, though it is sometimes claimed that it was invented in France in 1790 by an upholsterer named Guilleret, for Bicêtre Hospital. ![]()
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