The Community's Tolerance of the Mentally Ill

1993 ◽  
Vol 162 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian F. Brockington ◽  
Peter Hall ◽  
Jenny Levings ◽  
Christopher Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Mental Hospital ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Mental Hospitals ◽  
Main Components

A survey of attitudes to mental illness was conducted in a quota sample of about 2000 subjects in Malvern and Bromsgrove. Factor analysis showed three main components – benevolence, authoritarianism, and fear of the mentally ill. Residents of Bromsgrove, which is served by a traditional mental hospital, were slightly more tolerant than those living in Malvern, which has a community-based service, and has seen the closure of two mental hospitals in its vicinity during the last 10 years. The main demographic determinants of tolerance are age, education, occupation, and acquaintance with the mentally ill.

scholarly journals One dose of Architecture, taken daily: Building for Mental Health in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rebecca McLaughlan
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Mental Hospital ◽  
Institutional Care ◽  
Hospital Design ◽  
Mental Hospitals ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government

<p>Thousands of New Zealanders were treated in the nation’s mental hospitals in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Existing research has examined this history of institutionalisation from the perspectives of policy, psychiatric medicine and nursing culture, but to date little has been written about the built fabric of this type of institutional care. This dissertation asks what does the architectural approach taken to Seacliff Asylum (1878-84), Kingseat Hospital (1927-40) and Cherry Farm Hospital (1943-71) indicate about official attitudes to mental illness in New Zealand. Architecture was thought to be capable of performing a curative role in the treatment of mental illness; the administrators of New Zealand’s mental hospitals stated this belief publically in various press releases and reports to the government between 1878 and 1957. This dissertation examines Seacliff, Kingseat and Cherry Farm against current thought regarding the treatment of mental illness and against best architectural practice in mental hospital design.   While these three institutions were the jewels in the crown of New Zealand’s mental hospital network, only Kingseat could be considered an exemplary hospital of its time. The compromises that occurred in the construction of Seacliff, Kingseat and Cherry Farm hospitals indicate that meeting the needs of the mentally ill was only one of a number of agendas that were addressed by the officials involved in the design of these institutions. Many of these agendas were peripheral to the delivery of mental health care, such as the political desire for colonial propaganda and professional concerns of marginalisation, and conflicted with the attainment of ideal environments for the treatment of mental illness. The needs of the mentally ill were a low priority for successive New Zealand governments who exhibited a reluctance to spend taxpayer funds on patients who were not considered curable. The architects and medical advisors involved in the design of these facilities did attempt to meet the needs of these patients; however, they were limited by a design and procurement process that elevated political and operational concerns over the curative potential of these hospitals.   This dissertation also examines the role of individuals in the design of these institutions. Architect Robert Lawson was reproached for deficiencies in the curative potential of Seacliff Asylum. Similarly, medical administrator Theodore Gray has received criticism for limiting the development of New Zealand’s wider network of mental hospital care. This dissertation establishes that Lawson and Gray deserve greater recognition for their relative contributions to the architecture created, within New Zealand, for the treatment of mental illness.</p>

scholarly journals One dose of Architecture, taken daily: Building for Mental Health in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rebecca McLaughlan
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Mental Hospital ◽  
Institutional Care ◽  
Hospital Design ◽  
Mental Hospitals ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government

<p>Thousands of New Zealanders were treated in the nation’s mental hospitals in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Existing research has examined this history of institutionalisation from the perspectives of policy, psychiatric medicine and nursing culture, but to date little has been written about the built fabric of this type of institutional care. This dissertation asks what does the architectural approach taken to Seacliff Asylum (1878-84), Kingseat Hospital (1927-40) and Cherry Farm Hospital (1943-71) indicate about official attitudes to mental illness in New Zealand. Architecture was thought to be capable of performing a curative role in the treatment of mental illness; the administrators of New Zealand’s mental hospitals stated this belief publically in various press releases and reports to the government between 1878 and 1957. This dissertation examines Seacliff, Kingseat and Cherry Farm against current thought regarding the treatment of mental illness and against best architectural practice in mental hospital design.   While these three institutions were the jewels in the crown of New Zealand’s mental hospital network, only Kingseat could be considered an exemplary hospital of its time. The compromises that occurred in the construction of Seacliff, Kingseat and Cherry Farm hospitals indicate that meeting the needs of the mentally ill was only one of a number of agendas that were addressed by the officials involved in the design of these institutions. Many of these agendas were peripheral to the delivery of mental health care, such as the political desire for colonial propaganda and professional concerns of marginalisation, and conflicted with the attainment of ideal environments for the treatment of mental illness. The needs of the mentally ill were a low priority for successive New Zealand governments who exhibited a reluctance to spend taxpayer funds on patients who were not considered curable. The architects and medical advisors involved in the design of these facilities did attempt to meet the needs of these patients; however, they were limited by a design and procurement process that elevated political and operational concerns over the curative potential of these hospitals.   This dissertation also examines the role of individuals in the design of these institutions. Architect Robert Lawson was reproached for deficiencies in the curative potential of Seacliff Asylum. Similarly, medical administrator Theodore Gray has received criticism for limiting the development of New Zealand’s wider network of mental hospital care. This dissertation establishes that Lawson and Gray deserve greater recognition for their relative contributions to the architecture created, within New Zealand, for the treatment of mental illness.</p>

Mental Disorder in Rural Ghana

1958 ◽  
Vol 104 (437) ◽  
pp. 1043-1051 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Field
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Mental Hospital ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Full Detail ◽  
Rural Districts ◽  
Rural Ghana ◽  
Mental Hospitals ◽  
Field Worker

This paper summarizes the main findings of two years' ethno-psychiatric field-work carried out in N.W. Ashanti throughout 1956 and 1957, and later to be published in full detail.The picture surrounding the rural field-worker is essentially different from that seen by psychiatrists in mental hospitals. In rural districts only homicidal patients are ever referred to a mental hospital, and then only from the police-magistrate's court. All other mental illness is regarded as super-naturally determined and hence outside the province of European medicine.

A Tendency in Therapeutics

2016 ◽  
pp. 255-260
Author(s):  
Donald W. Winnicott
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Emotional Development ◽  
Mental Hospital ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Hospital Treatment ◽  
Sharp Line ◽  
Modern Psychiatry

In this essay, Winnicott deals with the theory that mental illnesses are disorders of emotional development and that there is no sharp line between mental health and mental illness. He stresses the importance of medical students being informed correctly about the relation of mental illness—both neurosis and psychosis—to normal emotional development. Winnicott states his belief that the best trend in modern psychiatry is inviting mentally ill people to ask for mental hospital treatment early in their illness.

scholarly journals Mental Hospitals in India in the 21st century: transformation and relevance

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Murthy ◽  
M. Isaac ◽  
H. Dabholkar
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Hospital ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Community Interventions ◽  
Mental Hospitals ◽  
The Family ◽  
The World ◽  
Community Facilities

Mental hospitals in India, as elsewhere in the world, have played an important role in the care of persons with mental illness. Since their inception, they have both been decried for gross violations of human rights and dignity as well as lauded as places of refuge and care for persons turned away by the communities. In a country where community interventions for mental health care are still fragmentary, the mental hospital still continues to be a relevant and legitimate locus of care along with other limited resources available for the care of persons with mental illness outside of the family. In India, positive changes in the infrastructure and resourcing of mental hospitals, reductions in involuntary admissions and improvements in facilities have largely occurred through judicial interventions. Recent pilot interventions for rehabilitation of long-stay patients point towards the need to develop rehabilitation and community facilities for persons with severe mental illness.

Portrayal of Mental Illness in Canadian Newspapers

1986 ◽  
Vol 31 (9) ◽  
pp. 813-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Day ◽  
Stewart Page
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
General Public ◽  
Print Media ◽  
Attitudes And Beliefs ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Mentally Ill Persons ◽  
Mental Health Practices

The present article reports results from a content analysis of 103 newspaper reports taken from eight major Canadian newspapers, and selected at random from the Canadian Newspaper Index. The portrayal of mental illness and mentally ill persons in these reports was compared with that in samples of articles taken from two comparison mental health publications not receiving popular circulation. As compared with these latter publications, the content analysis indicated that the newspapers portrayed mental illness and the mentally ill in a manner which could be described as essentially pejorative, thus seeming to support frequent observations and complaints from the mental health establishment about inadequate or unfair coverage of mental illness in the popular print media. At the same time, the newspaper medium appeared to present more favourable images of nontraditional (example: community-based) mental health practices, than of traditional (example: hospital-based) practices. Implications of such results for the attitudes and beliefs of the general public vis-À-vis mental illness are offered, with special reference to the influence of the print media.

Attitudes of Mental Hospital Visitors towards Unrestricted Visiting

1970 ◽  
Vol 116 (531) ◽  
pp. 217-218
Author(s):  
K. Kumar ◽  
A. J. Willcocks ◽  
A. J. Handyside
Keyword(s):  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Catchment Area ◽  
Mental Hospital ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Point Scale ◽  
Urban Catchment ◽  
Mental Hospitals ◽  
Final Questionnaire ◽  
Multiple Choice Questionnaire

A programme was undertaken to study the attitudes of visitors to mental hospitals. Initially a series of individual non-directive tape-recorded interviews were conducted on a small sample of visitors, who freely discussed various topics, including staff attitude, visiting problems and difficulties in having a mentally ill relative. A provisional questionnaire was constructed from the significant points of the recorded interviews and was used on another sample of visitors in a pilot study, on the basis of which a final ‘multiple choice’ questionnaire was designed incorporating 28 items. Copies of the final questionnaire were then distributed from the wards of two mental hospitals to consecutive visitors, with a stamped envelope addressed to Nottingham University, informing them that the study was in connection with an independent survey. The distribution continued until few new visitors attended. Of the two hospitals, the first, The Pastures (Hospital A), serves a wide county catchment area and has an ‘unrestricted visiting hours' policy; the second, Kingsway (Hospital B), on the other hand, has a ‘limited visiting hours' policy and serves a compact urban catchment area. Altogether 510 questionnaires (75 per cent) were returned completed, 306 (8o per cent) for Hospital A and 204 (70 per cent) for Hospital B at the end of the study. The rest of the paper is confined to the analysis of these 510 questionnaires in relation to the question on the effect of unrestricted visiting, which has already been studied by Barton et al., from the nurses' point of view. The particular question asked by us was, 'some hospitals allow visitors to visit at any convenient time. What effect do you think this would have on (1) the patients, (2) the visitors, (3) the nursing staff, (4) the doctors?’ The replies were to be given on a five point scale for each question. The scale was ‘Very good-Good-No effect-Poor-Very poor.’ the graded adjectives being determined from the earlier tape-recordings.

Opinions about Mental Illness: Hospital Differences in Attitude for Eight Occupation Groups

1965 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Cohen ◽  
Elmer L. Struening
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Mental Hospital ◽  
Hospital Employees ◽  
Occupation Group ◽  
Opinions About Mental Illness

When between-hospital ( n = 12) and within-occupation group ( n = 8) differences in attitude-opinion toward the mentally ill are studied for 4784 mental hospital employees, Authoritarianism and Benevolence do not vary among mental health professionals but do for others; the reverse obtains for Interpersonal Etiology; and Social Restrictiveness differentiates in virtually all groups and most sharply in psychiatrists.

scholarly journals Compulsory admission to mental hospital in Thailand and England

1989 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 355-357
Author(s):  
P. Kupituksa ◽  
J. F. Macmillan ◽  
K. L. Soothill
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Mental Hospital ◽  
Compulsory Admission ◽  
Patients Rights ◽  
Mental Hospitals ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
National Differences

There are national differences relating to compulsory admission to mental hospitals. As a visitor from Thailand, it was of interest to me (PK) to compare procedures relating to admission, treatment and aftercare of the mentally ill in England and Thailand. In Thailand there is no equivalent of the Mental Health Act 1983. Although there are some legal provisions affecting patients' rights in Thai law, there are no legal provisions concerning ‘detained’ patients in mental hospitals.

A Comparison of Responses to the Mentally Ill in Two Communities

1993 ◽  
Vol 162 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Hall ◽  
Ian F. Brockington ◽  
Jenny Levings ◽  
Christopher Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Mental Hospital ◽  
Psychiatric Service ◽  
Psychiatric Nurses ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Demographic Differences ◽  
Community Psychiatric ◽  
Treatment Facilities ◽  
Simple Action

Vignettes representing mentally ill people were presented to about 2000 randomly selected residents in Bromsgrove, served by a mental hospital, and Malvern, served by a community-based psychiatric service. They were asked about the likely cause of the condition, what action they would take, and what agencies were most likely to help. In Malvern, residents seemed more enterprising in involving various agencies and more tolerant. It is possible to derive simple ‘action scores' as an indicator of such tolerance. Although there were significant demographic differences between subgroups, overall identification of vignette subjects as mentally ill was surprisingly low, and so was knowledge both of community psychiatric nurses as an agency, and of the location of dispersed treatment facilities in both areas.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document