A selection of papers and prize essays on subjects connected with insanity / read before the Society for Improving the Condition of the Insane.

Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A selection of papers and prize essays on subjects connected with insanity / read before the Society for Improving the Condition of the Insane. 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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    his own existence has subsided. Since the doctrine of non- restraint has been promulgated, it has increased the practice of secluding and concealing the more violent patients from public inspection, with the hope of impressing those who visit the in- stitution that they had discovered the important secret of rendering them orderly and tranquil; and some have even pro- fessed to divert their thoughts into different channels. In my own opinion, under proper restraint and control of the keeper, they ought to be allowed to associate with the others. Under such restraint they would consider themselves as objects of sus- picion, and thereby acquire the habits of self-restraint, the first advance towards recovery. When immured in their cells, they have unbounded leisure to contrive mischief and to meditate revenge. By seclusion their health is impaired, and they are deprived of exercise and the respiration of a free and wholesome atmosphere. Every person knows that the ferocity of a dog becomes exasperated by being chained. There is another form of this disease originating from the practice of self-pollution,—a vice to which both sexes are equally addicted, and the effects are lamentable without it be arrested by adequate restraint. There shortly ensues on this indulgence a constrained, shy, and diffi- dent demeanour, and a wish for retirement. They form no at- tachments demonstrative of friendship, and are equally cold and indifferent to the opposite sex. By continuance of the practice the memory begins to fail, some delusion usually supervenes, and by protracted indulgences they become epileptic or paralytic, and incurable imbecility concludes the scene. In the early stages of this detestable practice, it is always to be remedied, but this re- quires incessant vigilance and constant restraint. Briefly adverting to my own experience, many patients who have recovered from a state of insanity, and were well educated, have assured me that they were indebted for their cure to the restraint that had been imposed. “ When I found myself unable to accomplish the mischief I had projected, I began seriously to contemplate the motive that impelled me, and the consequent restraint to which I was subjected ; and this meditation gradually disconnected the motive or impulse from the action.” Many patients who have been apprehensive of the return of a paroxysm, have solicited the imposition of restraint to prevent them from injuring them- selves or others : they found themselves approaching to a state in which they should possess no control over their thoughts and b 2