Commitment, detention, care and treatment of the insane : being a report of the fourth section of the International congress of Charities, Correction and Philanthropy, Chicago, June, 1893 / edited by G. Alder Blumer, A. B. Richardson.

  • International Congress of Charities, Correction, and Philanthropy (1893 : Chicago, Ill.)
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Commitment, detention, care and treatment of the insane : being a report of the fourth section of the International congress of Charities, Correction and Philanthropy, Chicago, June, 1893 / edited by G. Alder Blumer, A. B. Richardson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    hyperaemia, traumatic neurosis, etc.—and increased by irritability and excitability when the troubles arise from onanism, puberty or other period of transformation in the sexual life. In the highest degree, when there is nearly no hope of recovery, the pa- tient is in a lingering state for the remainder of his life. These cases are met with in cerebral traumatism, in organic cerebral dis- eases, and as a consequence of many infectious diseases. In this degree we have modifications of the character, and in the sphere of the sensibility and the will. These troubles are still more marked in hypochondria and hysteria. As to its treatment, many prescriptions are the same as for the congenitally depreciated we spoke of. It is a capital duty to begin to fight, from the first symptoms, against predisposing and occa- sional causes, because if you prevent aggravation, }mu make recovery possible. Especially in these depreciations, the alienist ought to utilize all his science and prove that only mental science is insuffi- cient to cure such patients. Not only has he to guide the intel- lectual life, the life of sensibility and will; he has also to remedy the morbid somatic conditions, to superintend the general regime: times of work and rest, air, light, dressing, preservation from alcoholic and other excesses. So doing, following the scientific prescriptions, not only one increases the force of resistance of the patient, but also of future generations. Often one succeeds in increasing the power of com- manding one’s self, of renouncing certain factitious wants and pas- sions, enlarging the feeling of duty, understanding the aim why he is born, and what holy mission he has to fulfil upon earth. The intelligent man has always to have in mind that he has to improve himself, to try and benefit his fellow creatures and so he fulfils before society and the Lord the most important of his duties. Medical men, parents or educators, have always to think about these essential principles, and when they do not reach the wanted results at home, they have to commit their patients to proper special institutions, but never to those where care and education is given by routine. In the highest degree of congenital depreciation we have the real mental degeneration. Persons suifering from this defect are better known under the name of degenerated or weak-minded. Many of them are found in lunatic asylums; the greatest part -enjoy tlieir liberty but the po])ulation of the prisons and of the