Psychiatric hospital

A psychiatric hospital (also called a mental hospital, mental ward, asylum, and occasionally insane asylum , funny farm) is a hospital specialising in the treatment of persons with mental illness. Psychiatric wards differ only in that they are a unit of a larger hospital.

Related Topics:
Hospital - Mental illness

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Psychiatric hospitals have a number of differences from other hospitals. First, they often have elaborate procedures to prevent patient suicide (for example, appliances with power cords are not allowed, and access to stairways and high, open windows is restricted). Second, they attempt to reduce the amount of sensory stimulation that patients receive. Contrary to popular belief, psychiatric hospitals are generally quiet, even boring places. Third, psychiatric hospitals often try to provide as normal an environment as possible. For example, unlike most other hospitals many or most patients in psychiatric hospitals wear everyday clothes rather than patient examination garments.

Related Topics:
Suicide - Power cord

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In the United States, psychiatric hospitals in the past were often set up as separate institutions with funding and administrations separate from those of general health care. Since the development of effective therapies in the 1950s there has been an increasing move towards integration of psychiatric treatment within the general health sector. Psychiatric wards in general hospitals and various community-based treatments are replacing the old asylums worldwide.

Related Topics:
United States - 1950s

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In the United Kingdom during the late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, county authorities were expected to provide their own asylums, for the care or incarceration of lunatics. Private institutions had existed before this, and provided the only care available. Throughout this period, private institutions continued to exist and be founded for so called idiots and imbeciles, who were usually those who today would be said to have mental retardation or learning disabilities. The county asylum structure was nationalised in 1948, when the institutions were absorbed into to the NHS in 1948. As in the U.S. and worldwide, most psychiatric hospitals have been replaced by Care in the Community and psychiatric wards in general hospitals.

Related Topics:
Lunatics - Idiots - Imbeciles - Mental retardation - Learning disabilities - NHS - Care in the Community

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It was only until relatively recently that incarceration was mandatory for all with considerable mental health problems. Today, secure and medium-secure units care for those who require more support or supervision.

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Today, in both countries, if a patient had been admitted to the hospital on a voluntary basis, the patient is often allowed to check him or herself out of the hospital against medical advice. In most jurisdictions, to leave requires at least a day's notice. This is so in the event a doctor decides the patient would still present a danger to self or others, there is time to commence involuntary commitment procedures.

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Since the 1960s, efforts have been made to improve mental health care. Nevertheless, many problems remain in those countries where free health care is not available or where funding is limited. This especially affects those with little money to pay for expensive facilities. Limited funding of hospitals can lead to a lack of adequate staff and resources which can lead to the use of restraints and medication for punishment rather than treatment. Procedural deficiencies such as a lack of documentation for involuntary treatment and other serious deficiencies remain all too common in some countries.

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