Psychiatric Hospitals In America

For centuries, psychiatric hospitals have been used in America as an approach to control the mentally ill. As a matter of fact, “psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals and mental asylums, are hospital or wards specializing in the treatment of serious psychiatric illnesses” (“Psychiatric Hospitals”). Although the very first psychiatric hospital in the world was opened in 705 AD by Muslims in Baghdad, the first in America was not established until the late 18th century. These hospitals served as places of refuge for the mentally ill since their beginning. With that being said, some asylums were known to treat their patients poorly which brought forth major criticism in later years. Ultimately, the history of psychiatric hospitals is one of great turmoil in the United States. Initially, general hospitals included psychiatric “sections” in which patients with mental illnesses were
Prior to the 1950s, patients were mainly treated through lobotomies which usually left the patients severely impaired—or as “vegetables,” as they were dubbed. However, the 50s brought forth new drugs that were more effective than lobotomies, such as Thorazine, for instance (Harvey 3). The introduction of new psychiatric drugs caused people to believe that mental illnesses could be cured, which resulted in an influx of patients being admitted into psychiatric hospitals. As a matter of fact, by 1955, 560,000 patients were in state mental facilities (Harvey 4). Additionally, John F. Kennedy played a pivotal role in reforming mental health facilities, as he signed the Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963, which gave psychiatric hospitals $150 million (Harvey 5). Despite Kennedy’s efforts, they were seemingly “cancelled out” by Ronald Reagan who instituted an array of budget cuts which was detrimental for the mental institutes, as they lost much of their