Psychiatric hospital
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A psychiatric hospital is a residential facility where people with mental illnesses can be kept safe and receive treatment.
On some occasions, a person might choose to enter a psychiatric hospital to address their mental health. On other occasions, people can be forced into psychiatric facilities if a doctor thinks they are a danger to others or themselves.
Doctors who work at psychiatric hospitals are called psychiatrists.
History
[change | change source]"Lunatic asylums"
[change | change source]Psychiatric hospitals used to be called lunatic asylums. Earlier asylums like the old Bethlem Royal Hospital in London (nicknamed "Bedlam") were like prisons. Patients received no treatment and were often imprisoned and chained. When he took over Bethlem, Philippe Pinel made a radical change: he got rid of the chains in his asylum.
Institutionalization
[change | change source]In the 19th century, new asylums were built. These were designed to be pleasant places with gardens and airy rooms, and later became known as psychiatric hospitals. Although they no longer looked like prisons, patients still had little freedom or hope of leaving. Many experienced institutionalisation - they had lived in the hospital for so long that they could not cope with living outside of it.
Deinstitutionalisation
[change | change source]In the middle of the 20th century, new drugs were invented that made it easier to treat mental illness. Governments began to look for ways to care for patients outside of hospitals. They believed it would lead to better care for patients and save money. This is known as deinstitutionalisation.
Since the 1970s, many countries have closed large numbers of psychiatric hospitals. Mentally ill patients are now also cared for in local hospitals, small clinics and in their own homes.
