Remarks on the use and abuse of seclusion / by J.A. Campbell.

  • Campbell, J. A.
Date:
[1886]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the use and abuse of seclusion / by J.A. Campbell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    Reprinted from The Journal of Mental Science, Oct., 1886. EEMAKKS ON THE USE AND ABUSE OE SECLUSION.* By J. A. CAMPBELL, M.D., F.R.S.E., Medical Superintendent of the Westmorland and Cumberland Counties Asylum. As I take it, seclusion means tlie isolation of a patient from his fellows efiected against his will and m spite of his re- The^'reas^ons which should guide us in the use of seclusion are, to my mind — ■ i. £ • 1 The good of the patient from the curative point ot view. 2 The safety of the patient, whether he is curable or not. 3! The safety of fellow patients aud officials during intense naroxysms of excitement in a given patient. At rare intervals it may be necessary to use seclusion as a discinlinary agent in patients who combine with their insanity much inherent wickedness, but such cases in my experience are few and far between. I shall shortly give the results of my practice and the numbers of patients under care for each ot the last five years; before doing so I shall however, give my opinion as to the cases in which seclusion is a necessary and niost proper form of treatment. If seclusion is used from the standpoints I have given at the commencement of my remarks no one can call it an abuse, but judgment and experience are necessary in the use of seclusion as in the use oi any other remedial agent, and it should certainly be determined on m all except cases of the utmost violence by medical opinion. In the following cases seclusion is the safest and kindest treatment: — 1. Epileptic Excitement. * Read at the Brighton Meeting of the Brit. Med. Association, July 13, 1886.