Asylum and community: the Athens Lunatic Asylum in nineteenth-century Ohio

Abstract

This paper examines the role of the village of Athens, Ohio, USA, in the founding and operation of the Athens Lunatic Asylum during the nineteenth century. Taking as its sources official, personal and popular culture documents, the paper focuses on the function of this Asylum as a participant in the economy of its surrounding community. The Athens Lunatic Asylum was deeply connected with its community, functioning as a market for local goods and services as well as an employer. Connections between the Asylum and the community were supported by a physical infrastructure of transportation and utilities as well as a political infrastructure that operated locally and at the state level. Implications for mental health care and for community are proposed.

The Life Course Paradigm as a Lens for Holistic Nursing Research in Older Adults Diagnosed With Schizophrenia

“…Deinstitutionalization. Historically, mentally ill older adult patients were cared for in asylums (Norris, 2017;Ziff, Thomas, & Beamish, 2008) and did not commonly live in the community. This model of care was replaced in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s by deinstitutionalization (Kim, 2016), with psychiatric patients released from mental health institutions and placed in community living (Slate, 2017).…”

“…Thus, deinstitutionalization and the discovery of antipsychotic medications may have had a salient impact on the lives of today’s OADWS. Contemporary OADWS may have experienced a lifetime of public stigmatization within a community setting (Leutwyler et al, 2014), whereas their forebears may have suffered stigma more privately, hidden away in institutions (Norris, 2017; Ziff et al, 2008). Today, OADWS may also have more physiological comorbidities than their predecessors did, due in part to their inability to access resources necessary to care for their physical ailments (Almeida et al, 2014; Hendrie et al, 2013).…”

“…Today, OADWS may also have more physiological comorbidities than their predecessors did, due in part to their inability to access resources necessary to care for their physical ailments (Almeida et al, 2014; Hendrie et al, 2013). Conversely, previous OADWS may have had their physiological ailments monitored more, because many of them were in more controlled environments such as asylums (Norris, 2017; Ziff et al, 2008).…”

Elder’s life course theory and person‐centered research: A lens for conducting ethical nursing research and mental health nursing practice with older adults aging with the diagnosis of schizophrenia

“…Older adults with schizophrenia are a vulnerable population for many reasons. Before deinstitutionalization, society recognized their vulnerability by providing care in asylums (Norris, 2017; Ziff et al., 2008), which included state hospitals. Older adults aging with schizophrenia may have experienced abuse; they may have been treated with stigma and shame.…”