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Questions for Thursday Sept. 9, 2021
1. Kirkbride was a big advocate of “routine” (Tomes –pgs. 199-200) with scheduled activities that included physical and mental exercise. He also implemented asylum patients’ daily activities “according to their affluence.” (201) This approach reminds me of how the military trains and sustains internal obedience and self-discipline while carefully maintaining the rank structure of officers and enlisted. Thoughts on Kirkbride’s visionary approach to keeping order?
2. I thought it was so interesting that: “Kirkbride tried to use the shame and guilt that individuals came to feel about their past behavior to increase their determination to resist or overcome their insane impulses.” (218) Apparently, it was sometimes successful. What do you think of this approach to behavior modification?
3. Tomes states, “early asylum therapy might be regarded as a secularized version of the conversion experience.” (222) What does this say about the Second Great Awakening in American Culture? Is this “mortal treatment” more or less humane than the way mental patients are treated in the 21st century?
Submitted by Bonnie Akkerman I pledge…
1. In Chapter 5, we learn that confinement was a regular procedure in the Kirkbride model for those who caretakers deemed “destructive” or capable of self-harm. Was this humane to do? Does Tomes make a stance on this practice?
2. As we have seen in Tomes' book, entire centuries of medical/psychiatric practice were defined by individuals. Why does this not seem to be the case today? How will future historians label our current overarching attitude toward mental health?
Submitted by Theron Gertz I pledge…