Treatments Used for Insanity
Bloodletting
Dr. Benjamin Rush, "the father of modern psychiatry", believed that mental illness was caused by impurities and imbalances in the blood. To purify the blood, Rush used an ancient procedure called bloodletting which is the process of withdrawing blood from the patient's vein using a multitude of tools. Rush brought his beliefs to the first American asylums in the 1790's and the procedure of bloodletting was soon the most popular among psychiatric treatments. |
Gyrating Chair
In the mid-1700s, the gyrating chair was invented by the Dutch Dr. Boerhaave and was brought to the United States by Dr. Benjamin Rush. Spinning at speeds of up to 100 rpm, this machine was intended to shake up the blood and tissues of the brain to restore equilibrium and increase blood supply to the brain. In most cases, however, the patient would be rendered unconscious without any success. |
Pelvic Massage
The treatment of pelvic massage was the stimulation of the female genitals by hand, water, or other device in order to reach "hysterical paroxysm" and alleviate the symptoms of female hysteria. This cure for hysteria by reaching "hysterical paroxysm" was actually just bringing the patient to have an intense orgasm. |
Hydrotherapy
The treatment of hydrotherapy became popular in the United States in the 1840s by Dr. Joel Shew. Doctors such as Shew believed that the different uses of water on a mental patient would help cleanse the body as well as the mind, leading to a cured patient. Hydrotherapy involved many different methods including the patient being submerged in an enclosed tub filled with cold water for hours (pictured left), the patient being wrapped in wet sheets, the use of enemas, and high powered hoses. |
An excerpt from Dr. Joel Shew's Water-Cure Manual, published in 1852.