Thirty-third annual report of the managers of the State Lunatic Asylum, Utica, N.Y., for the year 1875 : transmitted to the legislature January 13, 1876 / New York State Lunatic Asylum.

  • New York (State). State Lunatic Asylum.
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Thirty-third annual report of the managers of the State Lunatic Asylum, Utica, N.Y., for the year 1875 : transmitted to the legislature January 13, 1876 / New York State Lunatic Asylum. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    superior power, or indirectly by stringent advice, can scarcely accom¬ plish an amount of good sufficient to compensate for the harm that is sure to follow. Resolved, That the duty of restoring the insane, and of procuring the highest possible degree of comfort for those beyond the reach of cure, implies a knowledge of their malady and of their ways and manners that can be obtained only by study and observation. Resolved, That the work of conducting any particular individual through the mazes of disease into the light of unclouded reason, embracing, as it does, the drugs he is to take, the privileges he is to enjoy, the letters he is to write or ought to receive, and the company he may see, implies not only certain professional attainments, but a close and continuous observation of his conduct and conversation, neither of which qualifications can be expected from the class of functionaries above mentioned, though appointed for the express purpose of making suggestions and proffering advice. Resolved, That one of the first things in the treatment of a patient is to secure his confidence, to make him feel that he is in the hands of friends who will protect and care for him; and yet this purpose is completely frustrated when it is incessantly proclaimed to him from the walls of his apartment,, that the people to whom he has been intrusted, are not trusted by others, and that any aid or comfort he may require must be sought from a power paramount to theirs. Resolved, That valuable information may be obtained from the letters of patients respecting their mental movements, as many will communicate their thoughts in this manner more unreservedly than in their conversation, which advantage is lost when their letters are forwarded unopened. Resolved, That inasmuch as the letters of the insane, especially of women, often contain matter the very thought of which, after recovery, will overwhelm them with mortification and dismay, any law which compels the sending of such letters is, clearly, an outrage on common decency and common humanity. Resolved, That the fact so much asserted at the present day, and offered as the main reason for the legislation in question, viz: that sane persons are often falsely imprisoned on the pretense of insanity, is not true, and that we believe that if ever, it is extremely rare that a single case of wrongful imprisonment in any hospital in this country has taken place. Resolved, That should such cases occur, it would require more knowledge and experience to detect and expose their true char¬ acter than any but the officers of the hospital would be likely to possess.