Observations on the expediency of abolishing mechanical restraint in the treatment of the insane in lunatic asylums : a probationary essay / by John Crawford.

  • Crawford, John.
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the expediency of abolishing mechanical restraint in the treatment of the insane in lunatic asylums : a probationary essay / by John Crawford. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    \ tention to these institutions in our own country, and to lead to their improvement; and at the present moment, the public Lunatic Asylums of the United Kingdom, taken as a whole, may challenge a comparison with those of any country in the world. We have even gone before our Continental brethren; for, although they first set the example of modifying restraints and mitigating the severity of coercion, this country has the merit of being the first to demonstrate that restraint and coercion might be altogether abo- lished. This experiment was first tried in the Lincoln Institution, in 1838; and the example was subsequently followed by Dr. Conolly, at Hanwell. About the same time, the Northampton Asylum was opened, and Dr. Prichard, not aware at that time, I believe, that the experiment had been elsewhere tried, adopted, from the commence- ment, the non-restraint system. The Royal Asylum of Glasgow was the first in Scotland to adopt this improvement, all restraints having been abolished in that insti- tution in the month of June 1841, by order of the present talented and philanthropic Physician. At that period, and for some time previously, I had the honour of filling the office of House Surgeon in the Establishment; and I had thus an opportunity of comparing the advantages of the two opposite systems of treatment, the respec- tive merits of which have given rise to much controversy in various medical publications. To this circumstance, the following Observa- tions owe their origin; and however hastily they have been thrown together, and however imperfect they may in other respects be, they have, at least, the merit of being the results of actual experience and •personal observation. This experience and observation have forced me to the conclusion, that in a well-regulated institution for the insane, physical or instrumental restraint is not only unnecessary, but positively injurious. Such has been the result of the reflections suggested to me by very extensive opportunities of witnessing the working and operation of the two systems; and that, too, although the restraint previously pursued was of the mildest and most modified description. I may remark, also, that this conclusion was arrived at under circumstances by no means favourable to the new system. Everything was against its receiving a fair trial. The building -was not constructed in such a manner as to afford facility for its proper operation, and the attendants were altogether unused to it. Hence arose at first many difficulties, which only those who are familiar with the management and details of similar establishments can pro- perly appreciate; but, notwithstanding all these drawbacks and dis- advantages, a very short time sufficed to convince me of the great benefits resulting from the total abolition of restraint in such institu- tions. It is, however, only to institutions specially devoted to the