Buried by judgement

There aren’t many records kept in Ireland from pre-1700’s. There are a few reasons for this, one, official records began around 1880, also many documentations were destroyed in 1920 war of independence. We are really left with few records as to what conditions were like in Ireland. We equally do not know how mental health was treated through history but there are a few lingering stories, which may reflect a current mindset. 

The shame of history

In the 1700’s, before the Mental Asylums were put in place, families with family members who showed symptoms of lunacy were told to dig a hole in their cabin 3ft in width and 6ft in depth to contain the person. It was advised at the time to keep the person there for three days however this was usually extended for much longer periods of time. To secure the maniac or lunatic (labels used in those days) in the hole a harrow pin was used to ensure the person was kept there for the period, 3 days. A harrow pin looks something like a plough, which was placed over the hole to keep the family member in place, one can only imagine the sorrow sight of a family member looking through the mesh cage. They were kept usually with no food or water and with no toilet relief given. Before the Asylums were established in Ireland this was one of the treatments for mental health issues. Another report of a case in Roscommon pre 1700’s of a man having lunacy symptoms which had his feet and hands bound and was foaming at the mouth. A witch Doctor was called and claimed the man was Elf-Stricken and had been taken to fairy land and replaced by a horse. The subsequent treatment by the witch doctor was to feed the man dry oaths in order to keep the horse alive long enough to return the man from Fairy land, back to his own body, buckets of water was then thrown on him, known as water treatment, before he was exorcized. All of this was of course destined to fail and the man subsequently spent the rest of his life in the nearest hospital. 

In an attempt to solve this lunacy problem in Ireland the British, which ruled at the time, decided to create a similar system here in Ireland. One of the major Asylums in England at the time was called St.Bethlem, most commonly known as Bedlam, which was notorious for ill treatment of those with mental health issues. We may still hear the phrase today to describe a crazy event “It was Bedlam” meaning a crazy or erratic situation. After the success of building many Asylums throughout Ireland what failed was the approach in the treatment of mental health. 

 One Asylum had the practice of restraining patients by putting their hands under their knees, fastening them with manacles, fastening bolts about their ankles and passing a chain over their head. Their head was chained down to their knees and then fastening them to the bed. Other reports showed that patients were chained and left outside for days. Other Asylums had the practice of restraining patients with straitjackets or hand bounding them to the bed for lengthy periods of time. A lot of Asylums were little more than Dungeons and not too far away from leaving people in holes as a way of treatment for mental illness.

Not all bad

Not everything was doom and gloom for psychiatry at this point, a few sparks of hope existed. One especially from Cork, William Saunders Hallaran a leading asylum doctor who was well educated and well trained and put emphasis on diet, exercise, water treatments and engaging positively with the patients proved to yield good results. Halloran established 2 Asylums down in Co. Cork , one in Douglas (Bulls Asylum) in 1799 and Cork Lunatic Asylum 1790, which he proudly declared that no restraints were used in the treatment of mental illness, something that others Asylums would not dare to claim. Later inspections confirmed this with Halloran’s Asylum. The same declaration rang true in Waterford also due to Halloran’s influence however the rest of Ireland’s Asylums seemed very unhopeful during this period. Halloran has went down in history as having higher release rates, lower rates of deaths and more humane treatments in the Asylums he overseen. This highlights that knowledge, education and training yields positive results.

“History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and the common humanity, so that we can better face the future “

Robert Penn Warren

History shows a very bleak and dark time in the 1700’s for mental health treatments and understanding. There was obviously a clear lack of understanding mental health and the best medical intervention. A major mistake that many people made back in the 1700’s was that those with mental health issues were dangerous to others hence why people were buried in holes and put in Asylums. The language used was even derogatory towards mental health with the terms being used such as Lunatic, Maniac and even Idiots in some literature.

We can do better

We can learn from this because there may be some of us still stuck in the past in our understanding of mental health in society. Sometimes we see behaviours in others that we do not understand and jump to conclusions, sometimes these conclusions we make can be detrimental to the person. 

History shows us that when we leave people to their own devices in way of treatment and understanding mental health it can sometimes be terribly negative. With Mental health issues on the rise over the past few years effecting more of the adolescents and young adults, between the age category of 12-24 than ever before, are we paving a progressive way forward in dealing with and managing mental health in the workplace. With mental health affecting one in four people at some stage in their life, it is forcing us to understand and deal with mental health effectively and sensitively.

Stepping into someone else frame of reference and understanding their perspective comes in especially important in terms of understanding mental health issues, as to understand another’s problem we need to walk in their shoes. Empathy is a useful tool for this as it allows you to understand how and why a person is upset, tormented or suffering. We do not need to diagnose, or overthink the situation we just need to understand, a healthy conversation will usually provide positive results. If we lack empathy, we potential lack understanding and leave ourselves open to unproductive and unhealthful judgements.

 “When the other person is hurting, confused, troubled, anxious, alienated, terrified or doubtful then understanding is called for. The gentle and sensitive championship of an empathic stance provides illumination and healing “

Carl Rogers

The New Future

Learning from the past and how people with mental health were treated needs to stay in the present and let us be cautious of how it can present itself in the current climate. We are a million miles away from locking people up with mental health difficulties or burying them in holes, but we are still very susceptible to lack of tolerance and understanding. Instead of burying people who show behaviours we do not understand in holes, we may bury them in intolerance, ignorance and in some cases contempt. Instead of locking someone away in an Asylum we may lock them up in perceived notions about their condition and uneducated judgements, leaving us very prone to unhelpful viewpoints and unhelpful behaviours towards that person. We have to be very careful to not bury someone in uneducated judgements.