A tour of one of Indiana’s remaining Psychiatric Hospitals
What's in a name?
The battle of nomenclature within State hospitals is not new. Very early on in the history of the hospital, the name of Eastern Indiana Hospital for the Insane fell into disfavor. Employees and locals began to preferentially refer to it by the unofficial name of "Easthaven," a name that embraced the concept of a tranquil country getaway as opposed to a warehouse for the mentally ill. And as far back as 1927, Indiana was attempting to rebrand all of the State Hospitals. While in other states, psychiatric hospitals went by such names as "Arkansas State Lunatic Asylum," Indiana passed Chapter 47 in the General Assembly, effectively renaming all of the Indiana "Hospitals for the Insane." Therefore, the Eastern Indiana Hospital for the Insane became Richmond State Hospital.
But despite the rebranding, Richmond State Hospital retained two central core philosophies that continue to this day: 1) That psychiatric illness is a neuro-medical condition, not a character flaw, not poor judgment, not a religious stigmata and 2) that persons with psychiatric illness are first and foremost human beings, and as such shall be treated with dignity and as one would treat a member of one's family. Therefore, the hospital employed state-of-the-art medical technologies for the time to provide the best treatment, but also was a self-sufficient working farm and factory that employed patients in meaningful work that gave them new skills, a new sense of identity as someone other than an invalid, and a sense of pride in a job well done.
As a center of scientific excellence, Richmond State Hospital was already by 1916 one of the leading medical laboratories in the study of syphilis in its relation to mental disease, and for some time, the Richmond venereal disease treatment clinic was located on our campus. The medical staff also recognized that psychosis due to cerebrovascular disease was the number-one ailment treated at the hospital, and so there was much focus placed on vascular health. Electroconvulsive therapy, still considered one of the most successful treatments ever in the medical world, replaced hydrotherapy, metrazole, and insulin shock as a way to improve treatment outcomes. The hospital also offered a full gamut of medical specialties and treatment on campus, including full emergency room capability, medical and surgical services, radiological services, and dental services. But there was also a firm understanding that the patients needed far more to reach recovery than surgical and medical skill. By 1912, the concept of occupational therapy in the treatment of those with psychiatric illness was deemed no longer experimental, and every State Hospital held records of persons who recovered from their illness due to “Industrial Activities.” The mill that was constructed in 1919 had produced within just 9 months 119,692 pounds of flour and 14,988 pounds of corn meal. The vineyard of 1,600 vines yielded 15,511 pounds of grapes. Turkeys were raised for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at the hospital. Cows were raised, milked, and slaughtered for consumption by patients and staff. And if you will allow me, I can take you on a tour of Richmond State Hospital that will show you the principles upon which State Hospitals were built, upon which they operated in the past, upon which they operate in the present, and upon which they can serve in the future.
