What is moral treatment?
In psychiatry, the era of moral treatment refers to a special swing of attitudes to the treatment of mentally ill people from the end of the 18th century to the first half of the 19th century. For the first time practiced in England by a group of religious Quaker Group, moral treatment meant healing prisoners of psychiatric asylums with respect and giving them routines to watch every day. This quieter, softer way of interacting with those suffering from mental illnesses was in sharp contrast to the previous method that was supposed to lock people without doing every day to keep their illness from others in society.
Quakers are a religious group that has carried out charity acts as part of their religious beliefs. At the end of the 18th century, the Quakers group operated psychiatric asylum in York, England under a new system of rules called moral treatment. Previously, in England and in places such as the United States were ascels of places where people with mental diseases were locked and in some casesCH were permanently tied. Although some asylum prisoners managed to improve and get out of imprisonment, the general opinion was that most cases of madness were not curable, and so a small effort to cure patients was developed.
Moral treatment has brought a massive shift in the way in which psychiatric institutions were operated since the 18th century. Quakers in York treated patients with respect and allowed them to talk to psychiatrists as the individuals they cared about. The boredom and lack of stimulation, which could have worsened many cases of illness, was replaced by a structured daily routine.
This routine included performing productive work, such as growing vegetables in the garden or sewing. Patients also spent time by performing interesting leisure activities, such as reading. In this way, Quakers wanted to support the feeling of calm and safety in patients, and also so that patients behave as much as possible and haveEven a chance to adhere to adopted standards of social behavior.
other countries have recognized the benefits of moral treatment of the previous cruel and chaotic system and began to perform it in their own institutions. For example, Americans accepted moral treatment at the beginning of the 18th century. Psychiatric asylums were built in a soothing landscape and patients received properly nourishing food and intellectual stimulation. These key concepts of moral treatment are still used in modern psychiatric institutions.