A psychiatric hospital , also known as a mental health hospital , a behavioral health hospital , or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe mental disorders . These institutions cater to patients with conditions such as schizophrenia , bipolar disorder , major depressive disorder , and eating disorders , among others.
45-663: Bangour Village Hospital was a psychiatric hospital located west of Dechmont in West Lothian , Scotland . During the First World War it formed part of the much larger Edinburgh War Hospital . The hospital was modelled on the village system of patient care, the best example of which is the Alt-Scherbitz hospital at Schkeuditz in Germany which was developed in the 1870s. It was designed by Hippolyte Blanc and officially opened as
90-568: A controlled environment due to their psychiatric condition. Patients may choose voluntary commitment , but those deemed to pose a significant danger to themselves or others may be subject to involuntary commitment and treatment . In general hospitals, psychiatric wards or units serve a similar purpose. Modern psychiatric hospitals have evolved from the older concept of lunatic asylums , shifting focus from mere containment and restraint to evidence-based treatments that aim to help patients function in society. With successive waves of reform, and
135-458: A more effective balance between inpatient hospital care and outpatient care through the development of community mental healthcare services. Since the 1970s, the majority of European countries have shifted away from institutionalised care in large mental hospitals to the integration of patients in their living environment through the provision of home and community care services. Germany, England, France and Italy deinstitutionalized psychiatric care in
180-506: A number of institutions specializing only in the treatment of juveniles, particularly when dealing with drug abuse, self-harm, eating disorders, anxiety, depression or other mental illnesses. In the United Kingdom, long-term care facilities are now being replaced with smaller secure units, some within hospitals. Modern buildings, modern security, and being locally situated to help with reintegration into society once medication has stabilized
225-445: A resident physician . At the beginning of the 19th century there were a few thousand people housed in a variety of disparate institutions throughout England, but by 1900 that figure had grown to about 100,000. This growth coincided with the growth of alienism , later known as psychiatry, as a medical specialism. The treatment of inmates in early lunatic asylums was sometimes very brutal and focused on containment and restraint. In
270-514: A time, though this practice still is periodically employed in the United States , India , Japan , and other countries. Modern psychiatric hospitals evolved from, and eventually replaced, the older lunatic asylum. Their development also entails the rise of organized institutional psychiatry . Hospitals known as bimaristans were built in the Middle East in the early ninth century; the first
315-602: Is far less risk of patients harming themselves or others. In Dublin , the Central Mental Hospital performs a similar function. Community hospitals across the United States regularly discharge mental health patients, who are then typically referred to out-patient treatment and therapy. A study of community hospital discharge data from 2003 to 2011, however, found that mental health hospitalizations had increased for both children and adults. Compared to other hospital utilization, mental health discharges for children were
360-505: Is felt that they are at immediate risk, then a doctor can use mental health law to hold people in the hospital for up to 72 hours. People who are detained by mental health law are referred to as formal patients . In Europe, the treatment of mental illness became a health policy priority under the impetus of the World Health Organization Mental Health Plan for Europe elaborated in 2005. This plan promoted
405-552: Is widely known for his comprehensive critique of the use and abuse of the mental hospital system in Madness and Civilization . He argued that Tuke and Pinel's asylum was a symbolic recreation of the condition of a child under a bourgeois family. It was a microcosm symbolizing the massive structures of bourgeois society and its values: relations of Family–Children (paternal authority), Fault–Punishment (immediate justice), Madness–Disorder (social and moral order). Erving Goffman coined
450-645: The Home Secretary can, under various sections of the Mental Health Act, order the detention of offenders in a psychiatric hospital, but the term "criminally insane" is no longer legally or medically recognized. Secure psychiatric units exist in all regions of the UK for this purpose; in addition, there are a few specialist hospitals which offer treatment with high levels of security. These facilities are divided into three main categories: High, Medium and Low Secure. Although
495-1136: The Isle of Man , and the Channel Islands , medium and low secure units exist but high secure units on the UK mainland are used for patients who qualify for the treatment under the Out of Area (Off-Island Placements) Referrals provision of the Mental Health Act 1983 . Among the three unit types, medium secure facilities are the most prevalent in the UK. As of 2009, there were 27 women-only units in England. Irish units include those at prisons in Portlaise, Castelrea, and Cork. Psychiatrist Thomas Szasz in Hungary has argued that psychiatric hospitals are like prisons unlike other kinds of hospitals, and that psychiatrists who coerce people (into treatment or involuntary commitment) function as judges and jailers, not physicians. Historian Michel Foucault
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#1733099800362540-514: The mental patient liberation movement . There are several different types of modern psychiatric hospitals, but all of them house people with mental illnesses of varying severity. In the United Kingdom , both crisis admissions and medium-term care are usually provided on acute admissions wards. Juvenile or youth wards in psychiatric hospitals or psychiatric wards are set aside for children or youth with mental illness. Long-term care facilities have
585-405: The 1973 academic investigation by Rosenhan and other similar experiments , several journalists have been willingly admitted to hospitals in order to conduct undercover journalism . These include: Voluntary commitment Voluntary commitment is the act or practice of choosing to admit oneself to a psychiatric hospital , or other mental health facility. Unlike in involuntary commitment ,
630-627: The Edinburgh District Asylum in October 1906. At the centre of the site was an Edwardian Baroque hall. The site also incorporated a power station, workshops, a bakery, stores, a kitchen and a laundry. The hospital was requisitioned by the War Office during the First World War but reverted to psychiatric work between the wars. A Romanesque style church, designed by Harold Ogle Tarbolton,
675-499: The aggression of some of the patients. In Western Europe , the first idea and set up for a proper mental hospital entered through Spain . A member of the Mercedarian Order named Juan Gilaberto Jofré traveled frequently to Islamic countries and observed several institutions that confined the insane. He proposed the founding of an institution exclusive for "sick people who had to be treated by doctors", something very modern for
720-929: The condition are often features of such units. Examples of this include the Three Bridges Unit at St Bernard's Hospital in West London and the John Munroe Hospital in Staffordshire . These units have the goal of treatment and rehabilitation to allow for transition back into society within a short time-frame, usually lasting two or three years. Not all patients' treatment meets this criterion, however, leading larger hospitals to retain this role. These hospitals provide stabilization and rehabilitation for those who are actively experiencing uncontrolled symptoms of mental disorders such as depression, bipolar disorders, eating disorders, and so on. One type of institution for
765-473: The difficulty of distinguishing sane patients from insane patients. Franco Basaglia , a leading psychiatrist who inspired and planned the psychiatric reform in Italy , also defined the mental hospital as an oppressive, locked, and total institution in which prison-like, punitive rules are applied, in order to gradually eliminate its own contents. Patients, doctors and nurses are all subjected (at different levels) to
810-505: The event of a nuclear, chemical or biological incident. This involved 250 volunteer "casualties" and 400 emergency staff. On 1 October 2015 Planning Permission for a residential and mixed use redevelopment of the former hospital site is being sought. The application notes some of the listed buildings at the site may be proposed for full demolition in a subsequent application. This may include villas 7,8,9 and 21, with other buildings potentially proposed for partial demolition. In early 2020, it
855-446: The first 23 refurbished flats within the existing listed buildings. The two companies also announced the sale of part of the site to Barratt Homes for further residential development. Psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals vary considerably in size and classification. Some specialize in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients , while others provide long-term care for individuals requiring routine assistance or
900-399: The focus in these units is to make life as normal as possible for patients while continuing treatment to the point where they can be discharged. However, patients are usually still not allowed to hold their own medications in their rooms because of the risk of an impulsive overdose. While some open units are physically unlocked, other open units still use locked entrances and exits, depending on
945-545: The fore in the 1960s has opposed many of the practices, conditions, or existence of mental hospitals; due to the extreme conditions in them. The psychiatric consumer/survivor movement has often objected to or campaigned against conditions in mental hospitals or their use, voluntarily or involuntarily. The mental patient liberation movement emphatically opposes involuntary treatment but it generally does not object to any psychiatric treatments that are consensual, provided that both parties can withdraw consent at any time. Alongside
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#1733099800362990-723: The goal of treatment and rehabilitation within a short time-frame (two or three years). Another institution for the mentally ill is a community-based halfway house . In the United States, there are high acuity and low acuity crisis facilities (or Crisis Stabilization Units). High acuity crisis stabilization units serve individuals who are actively suicidal, violent, or intoxicated. Low acuity crisis facilities include peer respites, social detoxes, and other programs to serve individuals who are not actively suicidal/violent. Open psychiatric units are not as secure as crisis stabilization units. They are not used for acutely suicidal people; instead,
1035-462: The hospital to use involuntary commitment procedures against the patient. People with mental illness can write psychiatric advance directives in which they can, in advance, consent to voluntary admission to a hospital and thus avoid involuntary commitment. In the UK, people who are admitted to hospital voluntarily are referred to either as voluntary patients or informal patients . These people are free to discharge against medical advice, unless it
1080-413: The introduction of effective evidence-based treatments, most modern psychiatric hospitals emphasize treatment, usually including a combination of psychiatric medications and psychotherapy , that assist patients in functioning in the outside world. Many countries have prohibited the use of physical restraints on patients, which includes tying psychiatric patients to their beds for days or even months at
1125-429: The introduction of effective evidence-based treatments, modern psychiatric hospitals provide a primary emphasis on treatment; and further, they attempt—where possible—to help patients control their own lives in the outside world with the use of a combination of psychiatric drugs and psychotherapy . These treatments can be involuntary. Involuntary treatments are among the many psychiatric practices which are questioned by
1170-410: The late 19th and early 20th centuries, psychiatric institutions ceased using terms such as "madness", "lunacy" or "insanity", which assumed a unitary psychosis, and began instead splitting into numerous mental diseases, including catatonia, melancholia, and dementia praecox, which is now known as schizophrenia . In 1961, sociologist Erving Goffman described a theory of the " total institution " and
1215-722: The lowest while the most rapidly increasing hospitalizations were for adults under 64. Some units have been opened to provide therapeutically enhanced Treatment, a subcategory to the three main hospital unit types. In the UK, high secure hospitals exist, including Ashworth Hospital in Merseyside , Broadmoor Hospital in Crowthorne , Rampton Secure Hospital in Retford , and the State Hospital in Carstairs , Scotland . In Northern Ireland ,
1260-531: The many 'pauper lunatics'. Nine counties first applied, the first public asylum opening in 1812 in Nottinghamshire . In 1828, the newly appointed Commissioners in Lunacy were empowered to license and supervise private asylums. The Lunacy Act 1845 made the construction of asylums in every county compulsory with regular inspections on behalf of the Home Secretary , and required asylums to have written regulations and
1305-471: The mental institution may be used for the incarceration of political prisoners as a form of punishment. One notable historical example was the use of punitive psychiatry in the Soviet Union and China . Like the former Soviet Union and China, Belarus also has used punitive psychiatry toward political opponents and critics of current government in modern times. In the United Kingdom, criminal courts or
1350-415: The mentally ill is a community-based halfway house . These facilities provide assisted living for an extended period of time for patients with mental illnesses, and they often aid in the transition to self-sufficiency. These institutions are considered to be one of the most important parts of a mental health system by many psychiatrists , although some localities lack sufficient funding. In some countries,
1395-405: The person is free to leave the hospital against medical advice , though there may be a requirement of a period of notice or that the leaving take place during daylight hours. In some jurisdictions, a distinction is drawn between formal and informal voluntary commitment, and this may have an effect on how much notice the individual must give before leaving the hospital. This period may be used for
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1440-528: The phrase "Maximum Secure" is often used in the media, there is no such classification. "Local Secure" is a common misnomer for Low Secure units, as patients are often detained there by local criminal courts for psychiatric assessment before sentencing. Run by the National Health Service , these facilities which provide psychiatric assessments can also provide treatment and accommodation in a safe hospital environment which prevents absconding. Thus there
1485-443: The process by which it takes efforts to maintain predictable and regular behavior on the part of both "guard" and "captor", suggesting that many of the features of such institutions serve the ritual function of ensuring that both classes of people know their function and social role , in other words of " institutionalizing " them. Asylums as a key text in the development of deinstitutionalization . With successive waves of reform and
1530-467: The running of the facility. A private railway line was built, branching from the former Edinburgh and Bathgate Railway line at Uphall, and terminating at Bangour railway station . It was authorised by the Edinburgh and District Lunacy Board Act of 30 July 1900, and it was opened to passengers on 19 June 1905. During the First World War the road network was improved, and the railway became unnecessary; it
1575-456: The same process of institutionalism. American psychiatrist Loren Mosher noticed that the psychiatric institution itself gave him master classes in the art of the "total institution": labeling, unnecessary dependency, the induction and perpetuation of powerlessness, the degradation ceremony , authoritarianism, and the primacy of institutional needs over the patients, whom it was ostensibly there to serve. The anti-psychiatry movement coming to
1620-514: The second half of the 20th century, but the speed and methods by which it was implemented varied, notably due to differences in social and political contexts. In Italy, the reform movement took place a little later. Until the 1968 Mariotti Law introducing voluntary internment, admission into a psychiatric hospital was only by compulsory commitment and was entered in an individual's criminal records. In some countries, voluntary patients are able to choose to decline treatment, but service users may feel
1665-570: The term " total institution " for mental hospitals and similar places which took over and confined a person's whole life. Goffman placed psychiatric hospitals in the same category as concentration camps , prisons , military organizations, orphanages , and monasteries. In his book Asylums Goffman describes how the institutionalisation process socialises people into the role of a good patient, someone "dull, harmless and inconspicuous"; in turn, it reinforces notions of chronicity in severe mental illness. The Rosenhan experiment of 1973 demonstrated
1710-455: The time. The foundation was carried out in 1409 thanks to several wealthy men from Valencia who contributed funds for its completion. It was considered the first institution in the world at that time specialized in the treatment of mental illnesses. Later on, physicians, including Philippe Pinel at Bicêtre Hospital in France and William Tuke at York Retreat in England, began to advocate for
1755-482: The type of patients admitted. Another type of psychiatric hospital is medium term, which provides care lasting several weeks. Most drugs used for psychiatric purposes take several weeks to take effect, and the main purpose of these hospitals is to monitor the patient for the first few weeks of therapy to ensure the treatment is effective. Juvenile wards are sections of psychiatric hospitals or psychiatric wards set aside for children with mental illness. However, there are
1800-631: The viewing of mental illness as a disorder that required compassionate treatment that would aid in the rehabilitation of the victim. In the Western world, the arrival of institutionalisation as a solution to the problem of madness was very much an advent of the nineteenth century. The first public mental asylums were established in Britain; the passing of the County Asylums Act 1808 empowered magistrates to build rate-supported asylums in every county to house
1845-531: Was built between 1924 and 1930. During the Second World War the hospital was occupied by the War Office again and the patients were evacuated to Hartwoodhill Hospital Temporary marquees and prefabricated huts were erected to cope with the demand for wartime bed space: the temporary facility became noted for its burns and plastic surgery unit which was established in 1940. After the war the temporary facility
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1890-617: Was built in Baghdad under the leadership of Harun al-Rashid . While not devoted solely to patients with psychiatric disorders, early psychiatric hospitals often contained wards for patients exhibiting mania or other psychological distress. Because of cultural taboos against refusing to care for one's family members, mentally ill patients would be surrendered to a bimaristan only if the patient demonstrated violence, incurable chronic illness, or some other extremely debilitating ailment. Psychological wards were typically enclosed by iron bars owing to
1935-478: Was closed on 1 August 1921, although passenger services probably ceased on 4 May 1921. The closed hospital was used as a filming location for the 2005 film The Jacket , starring Keira Knightley and Adrien Brody . During September 2009, the hospital grounds were used as the site for "Exercise Green Gate", a counter-terrorist exercise run by the Scottish Government to test de-contamination procedures in
1980-522: Was confirmed that five of the listed buildings on site were in very poor condition and were planned to be demolished, while the remaining ten buildings were due to be redeveloped for housing. In April 2024, RoundShield (an investment company) and the Ambassador Group (estate agents) announced that they had secured funding of £21 million for a large-scale residential development on the site. This would initially include 51 "energy-efficient" new homes and
2025-439: Was developed as Bangour General Hospital . After general medical services transferred to the newly-opened St John's Hospital in nearby Livingston, Bangour General Hospital closed in 1991. The Village Hospital also started to wind down after the opening of St Johns with the last remaining ward closing in 2004. When the hospital was built, road access was poor, and considerable volumes of coal and general stores were required for
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