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Stories

  • Article

A reflection on art in a mental hospital

Artist Beth Hopkins explains how she used her experience of researching the Adamson Collection to create an embroidered wall hanging.

  • Article

The ‘epileptic’ in art and science

From scarred outsiders in literature to the cold voyeurism of medical films and photography, people who experience seizures and epilepsy are rarely shown in a compassionate light in popular culture.

  • Article

The art of soundproof design

Too much noise is more than annoying – it has serious negative effects on health and cognitive ability. Find out how designers and architects are mitigating the downsides of sound.

  • In pictures

The lost art of convalescence

The efficacy of antibiotics and the demands of work mean we rarely convalesce after an illness. But in the past it was an important part of the return to health.

All stories (172)

Images

  • Seven vignettes of people suffering from different types of mental illness. Lithograph by W. Spread and J. Reed, 1858.
  • Seven vignettes of people suffering from different types of mental illness. Lithograph by W. Spread and J. Reed, 1858.
  • Seven vignettes of people suffering from different types of mental illness. Lithograph by W. Spread and J. Reed, 1858.
  • Recto: a figure sits at a desk looking at a condom with a row of models of the penis surrounded by random images including a robot, a television, a figure on a skateboard; advertisement by ArtReach for Prototypes, a Center for Innovation in health, mental health and social services. Colour lithograph by John Tat.
  • Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi Lamiaceae. Baikal skullcap. Distribution: China. There are several hundred species of Scutellaria, also known as skull caps, so correct identification is important - in particular from Scutellaria lateriflora an American species known as Blue skullcap. The latter is used as an abortifacient and to expel placenta by the Cherokee and for cleaning the throat by the Iroquois (Austin, 2004). Much vaunted as a treatment for rabies with unlikely statistics (1,400 cases cured by one doctor alone). Also as ‘antispasmodic, nervine, [for] chorea, convulsions, tetanus, tremors, delirium tremens, [and as a] diaphoretic and diuretic'. Toxicity symptoms include mental confusion, stupor, headache, vertigo, photophobia, dilated pupils, difficulty in micturition, bradycardia, tremulousness and languor, followed by wakefulness and restlessness (Milspaugh, 1974). Hutchens (1991) reported that it reduces sexual desire and was used for almost every nervous illness. Scutellaria baicalensis contains baicalin, baicalein and wogonin (European Medicines Agency, September 2010). It is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for treating inflammation, cancer, bacterial and viral infections of the lungs and gut and is one of the '50 Chinese herbs' in the lists of some authors. Scutellaria lateriflora (combined with Verbena officinalis, Passiflora incarnata and the seed of Avena sativa (oats) is licensed for use in Britain as a herbal medicine for temporary relief of mild symptoms of stress such as mild anxiety and to aid sleep, based upon traditional use only. Scutellaria baicalensis is not licensed for use in the UK (UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • A mentally ill patient with mask and hand restraints. Photograph after a wood engraving by E. Tritschler, 1908.
  • A mental ill patient in a straight jacket and strapped into a chair. Photograph after a wood engraving by E. Tritschler, 1908.
  • A mental ill patient in a straight jacket and strapped into a chair. Photograph after a wood engraving by E. Tritschler, 1908.
  • Mentally ill people at the Charité hospital sitting and looking at a piece of apparatus (camera?). Photogravure by C. Block after G. Moreau de Tours.
  • A mentally ill patient in a strait-jacket attached to the wall and a strange barrel shaped contraption around his legs. Photograph after a wood engraving by E. Tritschler, 1908.
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