First annual report : for the year 1895 / Sunderland Borough Asylum.

  • Sunderland Borough Asylum
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: First annual report : for the year 1895 / Sunderland Borough Asylum. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    As to the physical causes, hereditary predisposition, as one would expect, tops the list, and it is closely followed by in¬ temperance in drink. These two great causes of insanity are often combined. A weak-brained man cannot resist the temptation of the public-house, and soon finds himself develop¬ ing a craving for drink, which ultimately lands him in the Police Court or the Asylum. Whilst, however, it is important to bring out all the facts about drink in relation to insanity, yet much harm is done to the temperance cause by the exaggerated and untruthful statements made by teetotal lecturers, who assure us that all, or nearly all, the insanity in the country is produced by drink. A reference to Table A. should soon dissipate these erroneous views. That scourge, Influenza, has not yet finished its ravages. Two of the patients were admitted with insanity following an attack of Influenza. Privation and starvation had to do with 6 of the cases. Three women were admitted suffering from the insanity following child-birth and the critical stages of life—adolescence, change of life, and old age—periods when the mind is specially liable to be upset, brought several to the Asylum. No less than 12 of the 58 cases suffered from General Paralysis of the Insane, so that roughly, every fifth admission laboured under this fatal illness. The same number (12) were affected with Alcoholic Insanity, and 3 suffered from Epileptic Insanity. As many as 14 of the 58 admitted had had previous attacks of insanity treated in other Asylums or elsewhere, one woman having had no less than six attacks, and she is on the high road to recovery once more. Every attack, however, makes her more liable to relapse. The number of patients having a suicidal propensity was very large (32 out of the 58), and these figures will give some idea of the anxiety which the care of these persons involves. (See Table XIX.) Before I came to Sunderland I was frequently told that insane patients from the County of Durham, and especially the Sunderland ones, were the worst class of patients to manage in i England. I have found them a remarkably quiet lot, and I think they have been much maligned. There are, certainly, a Hereditary Predisposition the greatest cause. Drink and Insanity. General Paralysis and Alcoholic In¬ sanity com¬ mon. Suicidal Patients numerous. The Sunder¬ land Insane not so bad as they were painted.
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