Bulletin

Bulletin

Author: Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland

Publisher:

Published: 1914

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13:

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The Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry

The Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry

Author: John Paul Webster

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2013-05-14

Total Pages: 197

ISBN-13: 1625845359

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This account of the infamous asylum is “an excellent record of greed and corruption, but it is also a powerful testimonial to compassion and kindness” (Hidden City). The Quaker City and its hospitals were pioneers in the field of mental health. Yet by the end of the nineteenth century, its institutions were crowded and patients lived in shocking conditions. The mentally ill were quartered with the dangerously criminal. By 1906, the city had purchased a vast acreage of farmland incorporated into the city, and the Philadelphia Hospital dubbed its new venture Byberry City Farms. From the start, its history was riddled with corruption and committees, investigations and inquests, appropriations and abuse. Yet it is also a story of reform and redemption, of heroes and human dignity—many dedicated staff members did their best to help patients whose mental illnesses were little understood and were stigmatized by society. “The closed hospital’s almost forgotten story intrigued him immediately and then became his passion . . . Webster tells the hospital’s 100-year story in a brisk, easy-to-read style, and the book is illustrated with 75 photographs from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Temple University Urban Archives, the Pennsylvania State Archives, the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, PhillyHistory.org and friends.” —Northeast Times “Webster . . . wrote his book because of his fascination with an abandoned building he discovered in 2002. He wanted to tell the story of Byberry, one he believes many people do not fully understand.” —Philadelphia Neighborhoods


State Mental Hospitals

State Mental Hospitals

Author: Paul Ahmed

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 1461342651

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The 1970s constitute the decade of decisions about state mental hospi tals! These large, monolithic, and seemingly impervious institutions are being phased out in some states and their basic purpose for exis tence is being seriously questioned in almost all others. Since 1970, hospitals have closed in California, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Oklahoma, Washington, and Wisconsin. Simi lar closings have occurred in several provinces of Canada, in Great Britain, and in some European countries. The purpose of the book is to examine the multiple issues growing out of the hospital closings: Why are the state hospitals being closed? What is the impact of closings on patients, hospital staff, and the communities where the hospitals are located? What has been the impact on the communities receiving these patients? What are the trends for the future, in terms of numbers of closings and types of hospitals which will remain? Is there a role for the state hospital in the care of the mentally ill or is it an obsolete institution? The impetus for the closings is diverse. The discovery and wide spread use of the tranquilizing drugs in the early 1950s allowed more patients to be returned to the community-under medication.