Danvers State Hospital, Danvers, Massachusetts- Taya Tarr
Danvers State Hospital, Danvers, Massachusetts
-When was this "asylum" opened, and what did it look like? Denver’s State Insane Asylum was opened in 1878 on Hawthorne Hill in Danver, Massachusetts and closed down in 1992. Danvers was formerly known as the Salem Village where Judge John Hawthorne once lived. The building was gothic-like structure with incredible craftsmanship.
Below is an exterior view.
Below is a layout of the Danvers State Insane Asylum:
There were tunnels that connected all of the buildings underneath. Please visit more photos at: https://www.danversstateinsaneasylum.com/historic-images. That includes pictures during the 1900s as well as early 2000s.
-Did it follow Kirkbride's design? Yes it did follow Kirkbride’s design. The building was designed by architect Nathaniel J. Bradlee and the total estimated price of the building and all the furnishings was $1.5 million. The building was designed to be fully-functioning where one never needed to leave. http://www.kirkbridebuildings.com/buildings/danvers/.
-What was this institution's original intent? The psychiatric hospital original intent was to treat those who had psychiatric illnesses with a humane approach.
-Who were the patients there? Do narratives of their experiences exist? Patients that stayed at Danvers State Hospital were of all ages and mentally ill. There was a book written about Marie Balter who was once a patient then came back to work there. There was a film called Nobody's Child that was based on her life. Her point of view was that of a patient rather than an administrator, which caused conflict with other staff because of her pushiness tendency.
-What was the patients' experience like in that institution, and did that change over the course of the institution's history? The patients were first treated well, however with the overpopulation of patients the care deteriorated. They began using restraints and shock therapy, but that eventually led to prefrontal lobotomy to cure their mental illness. Danvers State Hospital was known as the birthplace for lobotomies. There was an example of a 15year old boy gone missing. Later was found in the ducts and was stuck until they found him later after the fowl smell.
-Did the institution, its services, and patients change over time? In the 1920s and 1930s, there were over 2,000 patients that exceeded the 450patient capacity. The number of patients increased but the staff did not. The lack of funding and disrepair of the buildings resulted in several buildings to be shut down in the 1970s and continued until it was completely shut down in 1992.
-How many people lived, worked, and died there? In 1939, there was a quote of 269 patients dying that year. It is unknown about the total number of patients. In one employee interview, he quoted that there was at least 1500 employees when he started in 1968 and that some lived there and some did not.
-Were bad conditions ever exposed to the public? How? In 1989, a program reported to the Disabled Persons Protection Commissions (DPPC) about a patient that was abused. This led to a report to Department of Mental Health. After that, DPPC began looking into the lack of reporting of abuse. They soon closed down three years later.
-Would you have wanted "treatment" in this institution? I would like to have been there when they first opened, but not after the patients exceeded the capacity and the new "cure" came about.
References:
It appears that overcrowding became a pervasive issue. Much the same situation occurred at the New Hampshire Asylum for Lunatics in Concord, NH. The original intent was excellent but financial duress and eroding societal support for persons with mental illness changed the complexion of the institutions. I too would have been okay with being treated at the NH Asylum for Lunatics when it first opened; however, at the beginning of deinstitutionalization in 1950s and 60s, I would not have wanted to be treated there.
ReplyDeleteVery similar story to the asylum I researched as well (Athens, Ohio). It really makes me wonder if the same pattern of overcrowding and decline in quality of care is starting to happen again in today's facilities. And, wow, Mary Balter's story from the video on the Danvers' website is super interesting and eye opening with a nice summary of the history we are covering.
ReplyDeleteI researched Byberry and it began wth 6 patients and grew to 7000 and overcrowdng as well as a change in who was admitted resulted in a poor quality of care. It also was impacted as many of these faclities by world events such as WWI. While intentions may have been good, the results were not. I wonder if the technology of today would make these kinds of abuses less likely to happen and what is the impact of stigma on living conditions with persons with mental illness?
ReplyDeleteNancy
Interesting. It sounds like initially the care was actually pretty good. It seems like most institutions did not start out with such quality care like this one. And overcrowding seems to be a common theme at the asylums. No wonder when women we were being sent there for being hysterical, and your family members could commit you!
ReplyDeleteI would agree that the overcrowding seemed to be a big issue. Oregon state hospital had the same issue, and actually had almost 3,500 people in the late 1950's. It was originally created to only house a little over 400. There was an interesting program started there called "patients as nurses" in the 1950's, in which the patients could get training while there and earn a certificate. Did anyone else come across similar programs at other institutions?
ReplyDeleteWow, I can't even imagine the situation where they supposedly have a capacity of 450 patients, but wind up with over 2,000 patients during that period of time. That's 4 times as many as the supposed maximum so no wonder the care declined rapidly after that. As everyone as said, that does appear to be a common theme in most of the places our class has researched this week.
Delete