
Who introduced moral treatment in the United States?
Terms in this set (6) Moral Treatment was promoted by Dr. Phillipe Tinel and Samuel Tuke Moral Treatment was introduced to the U.S by Benjamin Rush Moral Treatment philosophy stressed
What is the moral method of treatment?
The radical nature of moral treatment made waves on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. When the moral method reached the shores of the United States, doctors understood it to be a comprehensive way of treating mentally ill people by working on their social, individual, and occupational needs.
Why did the moral treatment movement fail?
Moral treatment. The movement is particularly associated with reform and development of the asylum system in Western Europe at that time. It fell into decline as a distinct method by the 20th century, however, due to overcrowding and misuse of asylums and the predominance of biomedical methods.
Is moral treatment really a new form of moral oppression?
In the 1960s, Michel Foucault renewed the argument that moral treatment had really been a new form of moral oppression, replacing physical oppression, and his arguments were widely adopted within the antipsychiatry movement.

Who invented moral treatment?
In the United States, the first proponent of moral treatment was Benjamin Rush. A Philadelphia physician, Rush had been one of the signers of the American Declaration of Independence. For Rush, the hustle and bustle of modern life contributed to mental diseases.
Who led the moral treatment movement?
Moral therapy originated in the Gheel colony, Belgium, during the 13th century, but it came to fruition in the 19th century through the efforts of Philippe Pinel (see Salpêtrière) and Jean Esquirol (1772–1840) in France; William Tuke (1732–1822) in England; and Benjamin Rush (1745–1813), Isaac Ray (1807–1881), and ...
How did moral treatment work?
The moral treatment system was a new approach to mental healthcare that influenced many of the reforms of the 1800s. The system aimed to treat people with mental illness like rational beings. Towards the end of the 1700s, William Tuke (1732-1822), founded a private mental institution outside York called The Retreat.
Why was moral treatment significant?
Its most important contribution, certainly, was fighting the dehumanisation of the mentally ill – by recognising the rationality of sufferers and the power of compassion in helping them, moral treatment changed the face of mental health care forever.
Was moral treatment successful?
Moral treatment was short-lived, enjoying popularity for less than fifty years. Despite this fleeting success, it is evident that the movement from constraint and repression to kind treatment and perceiving the mad as rational beings was a fundamental transition in the history of psychiatry.
Why does moral treatment fail?
They found that overcrowding, insufficient funds, a decline in public opinion, and the emergence of new treatment theories led to the shift from moral treatment to mistreatment in American asylums.
How did they treat mental illness in the 1800s?
In early 19th century America, care for the mentally ill was almost non-existent: the afflicted were usually relegated to prisons, almshouses, or inadequate supervision by families. Treatment, if provided, paralleled other medical treatments of the time, including bloodletting and purgatives.
What was considered insane in the 1800s?
Drunkenness and sexual intemperance, having venereal disease or deviant sexuality, which was the Victorian phrase for homosexuality, were seen as significant drivers of madness. Other listed conditions included mania, dementia, melancholy, relapsing mania, hysteria, epilepsy and idiocy.
What is moral treatment?
Moral treatment was a product of the Enlightenment of the late eighteenth century. Before then people with psychiatric conditions, referred to as the insane, were usually treated in inhumane and brutal ways. In France, England, and the United States, people who cared for the insane began to advocate for more kindly treatment. In France Philippe Pinel instituted what he called traitement moral at the Bicêtre hospital in Paris. According to Pinel, insane people did not need to be chained, beaten, or otherwise physically abused. Instead, he called for kindness and patience, along with recreation, walks, and pleasant conversation. Around the same time that Pinel called for his reforms, William Tuke, an English Quaker, founded the York Retreat for the care of the insane. Rejecting traditional medical intervention, Tuke emphasized the rural quiet retreat where insane people could engage in reading, light manual labor, and conversation. Never having more than thirty residents, the York Retreat remained small and hence able to focus on the individual needs of its residents.
Who was the first person to advocate moral treatment?
In the United States, the first proponent of moral treatment was Benjamin Rush. A Philadelphia physician, Rush had been one of the signers of the American Declaration of Independence. For Rush, the hustle and bustle of modern life contributed to mental diseases.
Why did the dream of moral treatment die?
The dream of moral treatment died because of a combination of overcrowded hospitals along with the advent of eugenics and Freud around the turn of the twentieth century.
What did Dix insisted on?
Dix insisted that hospitals for the insane be spacious, well ventilated, and have beautiful grounds. In such settings, Dix envisioned troubled people regaining their sanity. In the 1840s and 1850s there was much optimism for the cure of insanity through kind treatment without restraints.
Who advocated for more kindly treatment?
In France, England, and the United States, people who cared for the insane began to advocate for more kindly treatment. In France Philippe Pinel instituted what he called traitement moral at the Bicêtre hospital in Paris.
Who founded the York Retreat?
Around the same time that Pinel called for his reforms, William Tuke, an English Quaker, founded the York Retreat for the care of the insane. Rejecting traditional medical intervention, Tuke emphasized the rural quiet retreat where insane people could engage in reading, light manual labor, and conversation.
When was the moral treatment movement?
The Moral Treatment Movement (1800–1850) The moral treatment movement was introduced in the United States by mental health workers who either had studied or had visited Europe where they became acquainted with moral treatment principles. However, unlike Pinel's version of the moral treatment movement, which made no reference to religious morality, ...
Who was the father of moral treatment?
Chief among those who spearheaded introduction of the moral treatment movement in the United States were Benjamin Rush , Dorothea Lynde Dix, Thomas Scattergood, and Thomas Story Kirkbride. Benjamin Rush was a physician and also Surgeon General of the Continental Armies. 47 He is also recognized today as the father of American psychiatry.
What were the first principles of occupational therapy?
The above analysis indicates that the first principles of occupational therapy, as developed by Dunton, were derived from the moral treatment movement, the arts and crafts movement, pragmatism, and medicine.
What was the purpose of Dix's crusade?
She was enraged with this lack of concern for these patients and thus began her crusade for the improvement of mental health institutions, a crusade that led her eventually to England and a meeting with Queen Victoria and Pope Pius IX. 35. Dix's crusade led to expansion of mental health institutions and other reforms.
Where was the first hospital in the United States built?
This hospital was called the Friends Asylum and was constructed in Frankford, Pennsylvania.
Who were the leaders of mental health reform?
Leading among these reformers were the Quakers, and their efforts were to a large extent guided by principles developed by William Tuke in England.
Who proposed the idea of a mental asylum?
Upon his return to the United States, he presented a proposal to the Society of Friends to establish a mental asylum. After a while, Thomas Scattergood, along with Benjamin Rush, spearheaded the construction of the Friends Asylum, whose doors opened for the first time in 1817. Its physical structure and the methods of treatment were modeled along ...
What is moral treatment?
Introduction to Moral Treatment. Moral treatment was the main way that the Asylum treated patients. As an 1825 history of the Asylum explained, “Although the use of drugs and medicaments is allowed, in almost every case, to be indispensible, less weight is attached to it in the Friends’ Asylum, than to moral treatment” ( Waln 15 ).
Who said moral treatment is a way to help mentally ill Quakers?
Historian Anne Digby countered that Quakers have always placed great importance on self-control, and she argued that moral treatment's coercive tactics would have seemed like a natural and familiar way to help mentally ill Quakers regain that self-control ( 68 ).
Why are Quakers supposed to focus on moral treatment?
Quakers are supposed to focus on the importance of inward changes of heart and making one’s behavior match one's inner life. For Godlee, moral treatment’s focus on the comfort of other people, as opposed to the cure of the patients, made moral treatment seem deeply un-Quaker.
Why is moral treatment considered cruel?
Moral treatment was widely believed to be kinder than other types of treatment available to the mentally ill because it limited the use of physical restraint and did not condone corporal punsishment.
What does it mean to treat patients like rational beings?
Treating the patients like rational beings meant using restraint only as a last resort, to ensure the safety of the patient and those around him or her, not as a punishment. Under moral treatment, the superintendent and keepers treated the patients as individuals, and helped them to try to regain control of themselves.
Was moral treatment at the Asylum non-violent?
Although moral treatment at the Asylum was non-violent and focused on getting the patients to try to take control of their lives again, some of moral treatment’s manifestations could be cruel. For some examples of the cruel side of moral treatment, see the stories of Nathan Y. and Abraham S. in the Case Studies.
Moral Treatment: A New Therapeutic Model
Organized sports and bicycling were also popular. These activities were believed to assist recovery, as they broke up the monotony of asylum life.
Bibliography
Baehre, Karl Rainer. The Ill-Regulated Mind: A Study in the Making of Psychiatry in Ontario, 1830-1921. ProQuest Dissertations and Thesis (1985).
Where did the first mental health reform take place?
But it was in Paris, in 1792, where one of the most important reforms in the treatment of mental health took place. Science Museum calls Pinel “the founder of moral treatment,” which it describes as “the cornerstone of mental health care in the 1800s.” 9,10 Pinel developed a hypothesis that mentally unhealthy patients needed care and kindness in order for their conditions to improve; to that effect, he took ownership of the famous Hospice de Bicêtre, located in the southern suburbs of Paris. He ordered that the facility be cleaned, patients be unchained and put in rooms with sunlight, allowed to exercise freely within hospital grounds, and that their quality of care be improved.
Who developed the theory of talking cures?
A major figure in that progression was Sigmund Freud. The famous Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist developed his theory of psychoanalysis, which gave rise to the practice of “talking cures” and free association, encouraging patients to talk about whatever came to mind. Freud’s theory was that the avenues of conversation would open a door to the patient’s unconscious mind, granting access to any kind of repressed thoughts and feelings that might have compelled the mental instability.
What did Freud do to help people with mental health problems?
Mainstream psychology may not have thought much of psychoanalysis, but the attention Freud’s work received opened other doors of mental health treatment, such as psychosurgery, electroconvulsive therapy, and psychopharmacology. These treatments originated from the biological model of mental illness, which put forward that mental health problems were caused by biochemical imbalances in the body (an evolution of the “four humors” theory) and needed to be treated like physical diseases; hence, for example, psychosurgery (surgery on the brain) to treat the symptoms of a mental health imbalance.
What is the oldest medical book?
Two papyri, dated as far back as the 6th century BCE, have been called “the oldest medical books in the world,” for being among the first such documents to have identified the brain as the source of mental functioning (as well as covering other topics like how to treat wounds and perform basic surgery). 4.
What were the causes of mental illness in ancient times?
Ancient theories about mental illness were often the result of beliefs that supernatural causes, such as demonic possession, curses, sorcery, or a vengeful god, were behind the strange symptoms. Remedies, therefore, ran the gamut from the mystical to the brutal.
When did Freud's psychoanalysis become popular?
Freud’s psychoanalysis eventually went the way of the moral treatment method, being widely criticized and eventually discarded for lacking verifiability and falsifiability, but it proved a popular form of mental health treatment until the mid-1900s.
When did Lithium become a drug?
But that changed in 1949 when an Australian psychiatrist introduced the drug Lithium into the market. The drug did not cure psychosis but proved better at controlling the symptoms than any other method that had been tried. It was the earliest sign of the rise of (modern) psychopharmacology and changed the landscape of mental health treatment.
Trephination
Trephination dates back to the earliest days in the history of mental illness treatments. It is the process of removing a small part of the skull using an auger, bore, or saw. This practice began around 7,000 years ago, likely to relieve headaches, mental illness, and even the belief of demonic possession.
Bloodletting and Purging
Though this treatment gained prominence in the Western world beginning in the 1600s, it has roots in ancient Greek medicine. Claudius Galen believed that disease and illness stemmed from imbalanced humors in the body. English physician Thomas Willis used Galen’s writings as a basis for this approach to treating mentally ill patients.
Isolation and Asylums
Isolation was the preferred treatment for mental illness beginning in medieval times, which may explain why mental asylums became widespread by the 17th century.
Insulin Coma Therapy
This treatment was introduced in 1927 and continued until the 1960s. In insulin coma therapy, physicians deliberately put the patient into a low blood sugar coma because they believed large fluctuations in insulin levels could alter how the brain functioned. Insulin comas could last one to four hours.
Metrazol Therapy
In metrazol therapy, physicians introduced seizures using a stimulant medication. Seizures began roughly a minute after the patient received the injection and could result in fractured bones, torn muscles, and other adverse effects. The therapy was usually administered several times a week. Metrazol was withdrawn from use by the FDA in 1982.
Lobotomy
This now-obsolete treatment won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1949. It was designed to disrupt the circuits of the brain but came with serious risks. Popular during the 1940s and 1950s, lobotomies were always controversial and prescribed in psychiatric cases deemed severe.
What is the history of psychotherapy?
History of Psychotherapy. We tend to think of psychotherapy — the treatment of emotional or psychological problems — as a modern, 20th century invention. Yet people wanting to help others’ emotional trauma and difficulties can be traced back far further in history.
When was psychotherapeia first used?
While there were scattered references to the value of “talking” in the treatment of emotional problems, the English psychiatrist Walter Cooper Dendy first introduced the term “psycho-therapeia” in 1853.
How many different types of psychotherapy were there in the 1960s?
By the late 1960s there were over 60 different types of psychotherapies, ranging from psychodrama (using drama techniques) to guided imagery (using mental pictures and stories). The next major style of psychotherapy was developed not as the result of new ideas, but due to economic issues.
What did Freud do to the world?
Sigmund Freud developed psychoanalysis around the turn of the century, and made profound contributions to the field with his descriptions of the unconscious, infantile sexuality, the use of dreams, and his model of the human mind.
Who were the first to identify mental illness as a medical condition?
The ancient Greeks were the first to identify mental illness as a medical condition, rather than as a sign of malevolent deities or gods. While their understanding of the nature of the mental illness was not always correct (e.g., they believed that hysteria affected only women, due to a wandering uterus !), and their treatments rather unusual (e.g., bathing for depression, blood-letting for psychosis), they did recognize the treatment value of encouraging and consoling words.
What is eclectic therapy?
Most therapists today use an approach called “eclectic” therapy, which is combining techniques from various schools of therapy tailored to each individual person’s needs and insight.
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