From lunatics to psychiatric patients; from chaining and incinerating to care

Nowadays, persons who suffer from a mental disease receive treatment and care, in many cases in buildings that are specially developed for taking care of these people. Unfortunately, this hasn't always been the case and people weren't always treated as if they have a disease they cannot do anything about. Although care still isn't always practiced with respect to the patient (which is of course ridiculous), things have been far worse.

Early societies

In the earlies societies people with deviant behaviour weren't seen as people who suffered from a disease; they were possessed by a demon. To 'cure' them from this demon, skull trepenations were done, so that the bad spirit would leave the head of the 'lunatic' (such as people with outstanding behaviour were called in the past). A different method that was used in these early cultures was covering the lunatic in excreta. In addition to these and other forms of torture, lunatics were often exiled from the village.

In Sparta society didn't even bother to let people with different behaviour live. Disabled babies were killed right after they were born. Society was focussed on producing good soldiers and disabled people were considered useless.

 The early Christian period

Also during this period people were not seen as suffering from a disease, but as being possessed by a demon, in this case by Satan. Still, people were exiled from the village. However, punishments or 'cures' - whatever they might call it - could even be worse. If a person showed abnormal behaviour, it wasn't a good Christian and consequently, he or she was burned as a witch on stakes. Often, lunatics were also used during fairs as an attraction by just standing and being 'weird'. People who thought differently, in stead of acted differently, received another treatment. They were placed in a home for lunatics and were chained to the wall. In addition to this, they hardly received any food and nursing. Thus, diseases often developed in these enormously dirty and smelly homes.

 

The Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages the predominant thought was that mental diseased were useless. When a physically disabled person was shown to Luther, he called him a 'massa carnis' (a lump of flesh). In this same period, the Dutch writer Hugo de Groot said that 'deformed children' were not human and should be killed when they were born.

During this period, people believed the disease (note that it was concerned a disease during this period) would disappear by frightening the lunatic. This was, however, not often done but simply saying 'boo'! Patients were often scourged. Furthermore, to prevent the diseased from expressing blasphemies, they were choked by menas of a pillow on a regular basis.

Hospitals during the 17th century

The first hospitals that were founded in the 17th centuries were not created out of charity. They served to maked the 'useless' more useful by contributing to the economy. They had to perform hard labour and followed a strict routine. The income their hard work yielded just functioned to enlarge the income of the institution. Patients were not allowed to choose if they want to live in these hospitals. Every person who didn't measure up to the norms of society (this also counted for people who were very poor) was obliged to take part of the institution.

Untill the 19th century these institutions were made public for entertainment. People would visit the hospitals to make fun of the people who lived in there.

Modern time:

Untill very recently horrible things have happened to people who think or act differently than the mainstream. And still, care for these people is not always perfect. The picture below shows you how terrible things were still done to mentally ill patients in 1938. In this children's chair, 'difficult' patients would sit the whole day wearing a straitjacket and a spit - or bite mask to prevent the patient to bite or spit during a moment of rage.




A children's chair from the lunatic room in a Dutch hospital room in 1938


 

Also from the following scene of the movie 'One flew over the cuckoo's nest' it can be concluded that psychiatric care wasn't that respectful only a few decades ago. Protagonist McMurphey, played by actor Jack Nicholson, is punished by means of electroshock therapy. Later in this movie, McMurphey is punished again for showing undesirable behaviour. This time, the punishment is even worse and life-changing. During a Lobotomy (an operation that was done during the mid-20th century) the frontal part of the brain became disconnected from the rest of the brain and the nervous system, turning McMurphey into a vegatable.

Are you shocked by the methods that have been applied to 'cure' people who suffer from a mental disease? Have you experienced kinds of maltreatment yourself? Please share your opinion and experiences with us.