
The first insane
asylum in the U.S. was located in Williamsburg Virginia. Founded in 1773,
Eastern State Hospital was built to deal with the “lunatics of society.”

Patients/inmates were
placed in rooms that were basically cells if they were deemed to be dangerous.
Treatment could include restraints, shock water treatments, bleeding, strong
drugs, insulin coma therapy, electroconvulsive therapy, and lobotomies.
Central State Hospital for the Insane |
Insane asylums
became popular in the mid-1800s and their acceptance continued until the early
1960s. In 1955, more than 560,000 patients were living in a state mental
institution. It was not until President John F. Kennedy signed the Community
Mental Health Centers Act of 1963 that funding was allocated to create new
mental health facilities around the country. By the 1970, the number of
patients at mental institutions in the U.S. was decreasing, and by 1977 only
160,000 remained institutionalized. Democratic President Jimmy carter
established the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980. This act restructured
federal health care centers in communities throughout the nation by
strengthening ties between local, state and federal groups.


Today, most
institutions are closed, left abandoned as relics of a sordid, and at times
inhumane history. And few are willing to tell the stories of those who lived
there, in an attempt to pretend this era of mental health didn’t exist in our
country. But some former insane asylums are trying to make reparations and
educate the public about his dark time in our history.
The Old Pathology Building |
In Indianapolis
Indiana, Central State Hospital for the Insane officially closed its doors in
1992 after more than 100 years of operation. The Indiana Medical History
Museum, located in The Old Pathology Building on the hospital grounds is
working to humanize the patients of Central State. Research is being done to
attribute personal stories to those who lived in the hospital. The vast
collection of brains and tumors seen floating in glass specimen jars filled
with formaldehyde were removed from deceased patients and used to advance the
research and understanding mental illness.


~ Joy