Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1883 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XIII. THE TREATMENT OF INSANITY. Before proceeding to discuss the medical treatment of cases of insanity, there is a point which requires to be first disposed of, for it is one that is suggested both to the physician and the patient's friends at a very early period in the course of the disease, and that is the question: Shall the insane person be treated at home or in an asylum A few years ago there would have been but one answer to such a question, either from the physician or the friends of any patient having the means wherewith to be maintained in a hospital specially set apart for the care and treatment of those so unfortunate as to be the subjects of mental derangement; and for those not having the means, efforts would have been made to procure their admission into a like institution supported at the public expense. But the case is very different now. All are anxious to keep their mentally deranged patients or friends at home so long as this can be done with safety, and matters are fast reaching that point, in some sections of the country, at which no lunatics except those who are dangerous to themselves or others will be sent to asylums so long as they have friends able to take care of them. But, before proceeding to consider the reasons for this extraordinary change of professional and lay opinion, it is proper, in the first place, to ascertain, as far as practicable, what forms of insanity require asylum treatment, and what forms do not. All the varieties of insanity given in the table of classification on pages 292 and 293 can, with reference to this point, be arranged into three groups: 1. Those the subjects of which should never, under any circumstances, be forcibly deprived of their liberty by being committed to a...