History of Asylums
Asylums haven’t always existed in Canada, much less in the world. In the past, insanity was a domestic responsibility. If you were deemed mentally ill, you were to be looked after by your immediate family. The most severe individuals were kept inside of the house and never let out, while the less harmful were allowed to wander throughout the neighbourhood, occasionally. Nonetheless, when they were it was a rare sight. People assumed evil spirits would come out of them and fly into others and possess them as well. In the end, the mentally ill were feared and shunned away from society.
Asylums haven’t always existed in Canada, much less in the world. In the past, insanity was a domestic responsibility. If you were deemed mentally ill, you were to be looked after by your immediate family. The most severe individuals were kept inside of the house and never let out, while the less harmful were allowed to wander throughout the neighbourhood, occasionally. Nonetheless, when they were it was a rare sight. People assumed evil spirits would come out of them and fly into others and possess them as well. In the end, the mentally ill were feared and shunned away from society.
Around the time of the Middle Ages was when more “formal” types of isolation of the mentally ill came into play. The mad were locked in dungeons or put away in towers away from the rest of the society. Later, in the 14th century, the religious house of St. Mary of Bethlehem started looking after the mentally ill. Finally, in the 15th century, asylums were started in Spain. Religion mostly stimulated the foundations of asylums in England in the 18th century. A famous asylum in England, Bedlam, taken from the name of the religious house of St. Mary, was the first formal asylum - 500 years ahead of its time.
Here in Toronto, the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, now known as CAM-H, opened on January 26, 1850. It was a provincial psychiatric hospital until 1998 when it was transformed into a public domain. As times have changed, names had changed too. The asylum had went through numerous changes trying to find an acceptable name, ranging from The Toronto Lunatic Asylum, the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, “999 Queen Street” (999 upside down is 666...food for thought?), and the Queen Street Mental Health Centre. We will talk more about this in later posts.
-Aleksandra
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History of Labelling
There have been many names for the mad identified in the past. When times change, so do labels. Ideas of what is seen as “normal” change with society’s views. Here is a brief timeline of the labelling of those who identify as being mad:
1800’s- Inmates
This was during the time of asylums, where the mad were treated inhumanly. Torture methods were used to keep the mad in check, such as blood letting, straight jacketing, trepanning and isolation
1960’s- Clients
During this time, mental institutions were being medicalized and this is where the term “client” came into play. Client, although more humane that inmates, was still labelling the person as sick or not mentally well.
1970’s- Survivor
The horror stories of passed users of the mental health system were now coming to the surface of realization. People who had witnessed and experienced the mental health system started calling themselves survivors because they had lived with and survived discrimination, labelling and forced medication. This term is still used today widely in the mental health community, because these problems are still present in the system.
1985- Consumer
This term represented the mad as “users of the system”, as in, users that had a choice. Most Mad identified persons rejected this term, because it made assumptions that those labelled had rights. Most users of the system did not have proper rights to refuse treatment or escape the stigmas of society. Even though the term is highly rejected by the mad community, the term is still used today.
1990’s- Mad
This is one of the newer terms created by the Mad identified community. It was made as a way of self identification, free of stigma and discrimination. This is the term that the non Mad identified should refer to them as.
A number of other names have been used to label and identify those who are Mad identified are mental patients, mental health client and people with lived experience.
Those who run the mental health system have power over those in the mental health system. In the early days of asylums, they used to exercise their power through torture. The actions they performed on inmates, at the time, were harsh, inhumane and humiliating.
Even later on and into present day, the Mad identified are discriminated against through stigma society placed onto them. Using some of the more derogatory names, this renders the Mad identified as powerless, feeling as if they cannot ever escape the negative stigmas placed onto them.
By: Hayley
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Mental Institutions in Ontario
Here is a list of psychiatric hospitals in Ontario. I have found links for the majority of them. If you click on the names of each hospital you will be redirected to their website if you are interested in finding out more information about them.
Cobourg Asylum
Mimico Asylum
Toronto Reception Hospital for the Insane
Woodstock Hospital for Epileptics
-By: Aleksandra
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History of Treatments in Relation to Power:
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History of Treatments in Relation to Power:
Bloodletting: we all know loss of blood is dangerous and that an excessive amount of blood loss can lead to death, however surgeons practices the procedure of bloodletting for nearly two thousand years assuming it would balance out the humours. There are 4 humours: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. Too much blood or yellow bile was said to cause mania, too much black bile caused depression, too much phlegm caused anxiety. Therefore, through bloodletting, surgeons assumed they could prevent mania.
Trepanning: Thought to be the older and one of the first surgical procedures, trepanning is the act of drilling a hole into the skull, assuming that it would allow the evil spirits to escape and free the individual of the harm being caused by said spirits.
Electroconvulsive therapy: First introduced in the 1930s, it was used as a treatment for major depression, bipolar disorder, acute psychosis, and catatonia. The procedure included sending small amounts of electric currents throughout the brain. It produces a mild seizure. Although it is actually a highly effective procedure in curing the mental disorders stated above, it should and is only used when no other forms of treatment have worked.
