Mental nursing / by William Harding.

  • Harding, William.
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mental nursing / by William Harding. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    prepared, after months of anxious and untiring attention, to hear herself accused of harshness and neglect. A woman ought to be at least twenty-one years of age when she takes up mental nurs- ing. It is difficult for one who is younger to gain that influence over the patient which is essential. The latter is inclined to resent having to submit to the directions of one whom he looks upon as a girl, and is not inclined to obey when the nurse wishes to insist upon the carrying out of some necessary order. Perfect physical health is requisite, and there are emergencies in which a strong frame and good muscular development are useful attributes. The work should not be undertaken by any one who has any hereditary tendency to nervous disease. The responsibility is often very heavy, and this, combined with the constant strain, is enough to try severely even those who have no predisposition to nervous disorders. The friends of the insane are often, and rightly, anxious to have their relatives nursed at home. If it can be managed, this course is to be pre- ferred in the insanity of pregnancy, and it is often a necessity in cases of severe and early puerperal insanity. In many slight cases of mania and melancholia, it is also the course adopted. The stigma which still clings to a residence in an asylum is thus avoided, while