State Lunatic Asylum at Utica
Introduction
I stumbled upon this topic through the diary transcription of Isaac T. Hopper, in which Hopper mentions a patient whom was being sent to the State Lunatic Asylum at Utica. Not knowing much about such asylums during the mid-nineteenth century, I was curious to learn more. After learning that the State Lunatic Asylum at Utica was New York's very first state-run mental health facility, my interest was immediately caught. Throughout this narrative I incorporate the background of the establishment of the asylum, the director of the asylum who ran the facility, a journal which was published within, a patient story, the uniqueness of the establishment, and its care.
The History
The Utica Psychiatric Center, which is also known as Utica State Hospital, opened in Utica in 1843. Interestingly enough, it was New York’s very first state-run facility, which was designed to provide facilities for care for the mentally ill. It was also one of the first institutions in the United Sates providing mental health care within an institutional setting.[1] It was also the most costly asylum in the entire country at the time.[2] What was so unique about this particular asylum is that it was the doctor who was the first superintendent of the hospital believed in moral treatment within the asylum. Dr. Brigham classified moral treatment as resting, diet, care, quiet time, and he emphasized “non restraint” within the facility. To Dr. Brigham this meant that there were no chains or dungeons within the asylum.[3]
Treatment Plans
The concept of “moral treatment” began in 1830 and ended after the Civil War. This type of treatment was found to cure its patients, instead of the alternative which would be patients staying in the system and receiving heavy medical shock treatment.[4] Dorothy Miller, a research specialist and Esther Blanc, who is an instructor at the School of Nursing at the University of California Medical Center, define “moral treatment” as a study of psychological and physiological means. They say that “moral stemmed from a treatment ideology derived from the ideas that physician in charge offered to his patient ‘the vigilance of a kind and affectionate parent’ and ‘never lost sight of the principles of a most genuine philanthropy.’”[5] Miller and Blanc go on to say that doctors using moral treatment went about treating their patients in various ways. Some examples would be making their patients comfortable, speaking to them in a calm and gentle manner, promoting education, recreational activities within the facility, and working for pay. These doctors felt that their patients deserved respect, and they viewed their patients as human beings in distress who needed to be treated in a kind manner in order to heal. Such doctors understood mental care by the preservation of self-esteem and self-respect.
As Benjamin Reiss, a professor at Emory University points out, patients at the facility contributed in activities such as performing plays, reading, writing, and worshipping in chapel. These were all integral parts in the patients’ healing process. These activities were closely monitored, and patients were treated in a nurturing manner.[6]
The Utica Crib
Different from other facilities at the time, this asylum was the very first to invent the “Utica Crib.” Although the facility did stress the moral treatment of its patients, the crib was a form of restraint which entailed a wooden structure, very similar to a baby’s crib with a lid on top of the structure so a patient could not leave it and was forced to stay in one place.[7] Invented at Utica, the “Utica Crib” became an item that was widely used across all different hospitals throughout America.[8]
As Jennifer L. Bazar, a psychologist and a doctor at Waypoint Center for Mental Health Care, states: “The box was large enough to allow a person to lie straight inside with the lid closed. It has generally been described as no more than a restraint device used to confine patients in a recumbent position.”[9]
Design and Architecture
According to the National Register of Historic Places, the structure of the buildings at the Lunatic Asylum at Utica was designed by William Clarke, who was the chairman of the Board of Commissioners. The original plans of the buildings at Utica, called for four sizable buildings, which were all facing each other. Grey Limestone was the key building material. The architecture of the building was Classic Revival style, which was very fashionable at the time. The front of the building had enormous columns, making for an impressive front face of the building.[10]
Fascinatingly enough, the New York Times in 1988 stated that the Lunatic Asylum at Utica was ''one of the most powerful architectural statements in the Greek Revival style built during America's 19th century years.''[11]
Within the asylum there were many different sections throughout the property. Sections 1, 2, and 3 consisted of the Main Buildings, and the East and West Wings. These sections were used for administration, dining, and assembly. Sections 4, 5, and 6 were built at the same time and were known as the southern wings of the main block. These sections were for violent male patients. Section 7 of the asylum was also supposed to be for violent male patients, but a fire in 1857 severely damaged the interior of the asylum, so the plans for that sections changed. Section 8 was the women’s wing, where only women lived. Section 9 is known today as the Patient Cafeteria. And finally, Section 10, which was built in 1909, was the dining staff room and the kitchen.[12]
Interestingly enough, the Main Building closed in 1978, and the patients were moved to buildings on the ground that were much newer.[13] Mark Harf, who is a native of Utica, noted that the hospital very quickly filled making for a need for the increase of beds within the facility. By, 1850 the accommodations were listed as: 380 single rooms for patients, 24 for their attendants, 20 dormitories, 16 parlors or day rooms, 12 dining rooms, 24 bathrooms, 24 closets, and 24 bathrooms.[14]
Amariah Brigham
One might wonder why were patients treated so well here? And why were they found to be improving mentally and physically? The short answer to this question is the director of the facility, Amariah Brigham. As Dr. Benjamin Reiss, a professor in the English department at Emory University states, Amariah Brigham was a man who “became the nerve center of newly emerging psychiatric profession and one of the most innovative centers of the moral treatment movement.”[15] Amariah believed that the insanity of the patients at the asylum would be overcome through “diversion of the mind from morbid trains of thought.”[16] He believed that patients should be competent enough to leave their hallucinations and fixations behind and to be trained by professionals who would help them learn polite expression, exceptional rational, and order. One of the ways he helped promote this lifestyle was through a literary journal within the asylum, run by the asylum’s doctors, to which patients contributed.[17]
Patient A.S.M.
One of the many patients who succeeded at the asylum was a patient by the name of A.S.M. As Benjamin Reiss points out, the patient arrived at the State Asylum in 1843. At the asylum, A.S.M. “took full advantage of the cultural program at Utica: he joined the patients debating society; he spent long hours in the library; he composed speeches at asylum anniversaries and fairs; and he even found himself formal addressing Millard Fillmore on the president’s visit to the asylum in 1851.”[18] He then went on to become the editor of a new literary journal that was published within the facility titled The Opal. Shortly after that he became the biggest contributor throughout its existence.
The Opal
As Benjamin Reiss states, the Opal contained within it a variety of literary contributions, including religious writings, sketches, poetry, fiction, literary exercises, political commentary, “healing” narratives, cultural critique, and fiction writing. The Opal was a very important element of treatment within the facility.[19] It was patient-driven, and run by the doctors. Its first issue, which was distributed only to the asylum, was published in 1850. It was then next sold at the asylum fair, and by 1851 the Opal was published at the asylum’s printing press.[20]
Outcome of the Opal
The Opal was a way for patients to contribute to the journal and also be an active participant of society. It was Amariah Brigham’s goal to make the Opal a diversion from the horrible thoughts that were going through patient’s minds. In order to be able to publish work in the journal, patients were forced to ignore their bad thoughts and replace those with a polite and intelligent voice within the paper. This in itself was an integral part in the learning and “moral treatment” of the patients.[21]
Although the Opal did have success, there seemed to be a bit of hierarchy within being able to contribute to the Opal. I found the opportunity for contributing pieces to the Opal was more available to patients who were paying for their treatment rather than the wards of the state.[22]
Footnotes
[1] Yanni, Carla. The Architecture of Madness: Insane Asylums in the United States. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007.
[2] "Five Months in the New-York State Lunatic Asylum, Anonymous." In A Mad People’s History of Madness, edited by PETERSON DALE, 108-22. Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1982.
[3] "National Register of Historic Places Nomination Forms -- Part of the National Park Service." National Parks Service. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/71000548_text.
[4] Miller, Dorothy, and Esther Blanc. "Concepts of "Moral Treatment" for the Mentally Ill: Implications for Social Work with Posthospital Mental Patients." Social Service Review 41, no. 1 (1967): 66. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30020309.
[5] Miller, Dorothy, and Esther Blanc. "Concepts of "Moral Treatment" for the Mentally Ill: Implications for Social Work with Posthospital Mental Patients." Social Service Review 41, no. 1 (1967): 67. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30020309.
[6] Reiss, Benjamin. "Letters from Asylumia: The "Opal" and the Cultural Work of the Lunatic Asylum, 1851-1860." American Literary History 16, no. 1 (2004): 3. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3568005.
[7] "Five Months in the New-York State Lunatic Asylum, Anonymous." In A Mad People’s History of Madness, edited by PETERSON DALE, 108-22. Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1982.
[8] Bazar, J. L. (2015). The Utica crib: Biography of an unknown barbarous object. History of Psychology, 18(2), 132-145. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0038971
[9] Bazar, J. L. (2015). The Utica crib: Biography of an unknown barbarous object. History of Psychology, 18(2), 132-145. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0038971
[10] "National Register of Historic Places Nomination Forms -- Part of the National Park Service." National Parks Service. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/71000548_text.
[11] Rozhon, Tracie. "A Fight to Preserve Abandoned Asylums; Sales Seen as Threat to Landmarks Of Architecture and Idealism." The New York Times. November 18, 1998, https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/18/nyregion/fight-preserve-abandoned-as….
[12] "National Register of Historic Places Nomination Forms -- Part of the National Park Service." National Parks Service. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/71000548_text.
[13] "National Register of Historic Places Nomination Forms -- Part of the National Park Service." National Parks Service. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/71000548_text.
[14] "Utica State Hospital." Utica State Hospital (Historic Asylums). http://sites.rootsweb.com/~asylums/utica_ny/index.html.
[15] Reiss, Benjamin. "Letters from Asylumia: The "Opal" and the Cultural Work of the Lunatic Asylum, 1851-1860." American Literary History 16, no. 1 (2004): 3. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3568005.
[16] "Education: Essay." Disability History Museum--Education: Essay: Disability History Museum. https://www.disabilitymuseum.org/dhm/edu/essay.html?id=71.
[17] Reiss, Benjamin. "Letters from Asylumia: The "Opal" and the Cultural Work of the Lunatic Asylum, 1851-1860." American Literary History 16, no. 1 (2004): 3. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3568005.
[18] Reiss, Benjamin. "Letters from Asylumia: The "Opal" and the Cultural Work of the Lunatic Asylum, 1851-1860." American Literary History 16, no. 1 (2004): 3. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3568005.
[19] Reiss, Benjamin. "Letters from Asylumia: The "Opal" and the Cultural Work of the Lunatic Asylum, 1851-1860." American Literary History 16, no. 1 (2004): 3. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3568005.
[20] "Education: Essay." Disability History Museum--Education: Essay: Disability History Museum. https://www.disabilitymuseum.org/dhm/edu/essay.html?id=71.
[21] "Education: Essay." Disability History Museum--Education: Essay: Disability History Museum. https://www.disabilitymuseum.org/dhm/edu/essay.html?id=71.
[22] "Education: Essay." Disability History Museum--Education: Essay: Disability History Museum. https://www.disabilitymuseum.org/dhm/edu/essay.html?id=71.
[23] "Utica State Hospital: History". Asylums of New York State.
[24] Carolyn Pitts (February 14, 1989). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Utica State Hospital Main Building". National Park Service.