Psychiatric Drugs: Hazards to the Brain (original) (raw)
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Sozial- und Pr�ventivmedizin SPM, 2002
Objectives: Examine whether an overconsumption of tranquillisers exists in prison and discuss possible reasons. Methods: Comparative study during three weeks at Geneva: prison outpatient service and Medical Policlinic (MP) of the University Hospital. Results: When comparing the 113 (prison) and 151 (MP) male patients younger than 39 years, we found important differences concerning the quality and quantity of prescriptions of psychoactive drugs: ten times more prison patients than patients from the MP were treated with benzodiazepines (BZD). The differences persisted even when considering only prisoners who were not known to be street drug, alcohol or long time BZD consumers. Conclusions: The differences cannot be explained by the high percentage of drug addicts in prison. Our results suggest the importance of factors related to the prison environment.
The Kingdom in Miniature: Public Mental Asylums from the 1860s
Mental Health in Historical Perspective
The colossal building with its seemingly infinite rows of windows at the corner of the valley leans with its back to the forest-covered mountains stretching behind; from the heightened terrace, its facade proudly looks down on the valley and, beyond it, on the double town, 1 as if it wanted to say: "what the defective machine of your social life muddled up, I put in order." 2 This chapter captures the nineteenth-century milieu of public asylum life by focusing on doctors, patients and practices. It deals mostly with Lipótmező Royal National Lunatic Asylum and reconstructs different aspects of life and treatment within its walls. Through introducing Lipótmező's five directors in the period between 1868 and 1920, I first discuss asylum space, treatment, nursing, patient occupations and questions of escape and the use of coercion and restraint. Then, as a result of a systematic study of contemporary legal regulations of mental health issues, I juxtapose the ideal of admission, discharge and guardianship proceedings with the actual practice in asylums and hospital psychiatric wards. After its establishment, Lipótmező Royal National Lunatic Asylum 3 gave rise to powerful metaphors in psychiatric writings as well as in the public imagination. 4 Whether only in the asylum director Gusztáv
A Space of Their Own Chapter Four The Changing Face of Insanity and the Rise of the Lunatic Asylum
As indicated in Chapter One, the lunatic asylum of the nineteenth century was not simply a collection of buildings. It was intended to be a curative institution supporting the treatment of the insane person, who would be returned to sanity and re-introduced into society. The idea of the lunatic asylum as a curative environment and as an appropriate place for the care of the insane is fundamentally linked to two emerging movements in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries: moral treatment and non-restraint. Moral treatment focussed on the removal of the insane from their homes to an appropriate environment where, under the direct influence of the treating doctor 1 , the insane would be brought back to sanity. The non-restraint regime sought to replace chains and appalling living conditions with a new system of management that structured the lives of patients and used the attendant and treating doctor in such a way that restraints were no longer required (Hill 1838; Conolly 1856). These two treatment regimes required similar rooms and spaces and similar arrangements of the parts of the lunatic asylum to facilitate their operation. Moral treatment offered the hope of a cure in an appropriate environment away from the exciting causes of the home environment (Hill 1838: 6), while non-restraint, which also emphasised the appropriate environment, sought to make life within the asylum more bearable and humane. These two treatment regimes formed part of the background against which the concept of the 'ideal' lunatic asylum appeared.
The Locked Ward: Memoirs of a Psychiatric Orderly
The British Journal of Psychiatry, 2012
This is a potentially fascinating account of life in a Scottish intensive psychiatric care unit. The author was an English teacher for many years before leaving to work as a psychiatric orderly. He worked in the Locked Ward for over 7 years. The problem is that 'the people [in the book] are fictions', as are the staff, so this is not strictly a memoir. This detracts from the authenticity of O'Donnell's descriptions: he might have been better writing a work of fiction based on his experiences.
A Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit in a Psychiatric Hospital
The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 1989
This paper describes the operation ofa psychiatric intensive care unit in a provincial psychiatric hospital. Its introduction led to a decrease in staff and patient accidents, a decrease in constant observation and seclusion hours, and a decrease in the number ofnursing hours lost to injuries at work. It had no effect on nursing absenteeism. The ICU was well liked by nursing staff who preferred to work in its more consistent and controlled environment. In addition, it was also felt that the ward environment in other parts of the hospital became more therapeutic. We therefore conclude that psychiatric ICU's are useful additions to psychiatric settings with important cost and patient care implications.