A system of practical medicine. By American authors. Vol. 5 : $b Diseases of the nervous system
Science
A system of practical medicine. By American authors. Vol. 5 : $b Diseases of the nervous system
Medicine -- Practice
When insanity has actually appeared the same rules should govern its
management as in other diseases. If, like smallpox and diphtheria, it
is a great source of danger to others, the patient should be put in a
safe place; if, like typhoid fever arising from bad drainage, its cure
depends upon the removal of a given cause, the patient must leave the
infected locality or have the cause displaced; if, like rheumatism in
a damp cellar, it can be treated successfully only under different
conditions, the patient must be removed; and if poverty or other
conditions prevent the best possible treatment, the next best
practicable plan must be followed.
The first question which comes up in the care of the insane is with
regard to removal from home and commitment to an asylum; and here a
great many points must be taken into consideration. It is not always
that a home can be accommodated to the use of an insane member of the
family. There are not many in which there can be proper quiet and
seclusion without depriving the patient of that abundance of fresh air
and outdoor exercise which is so often required in treatment.
Frequently those nearest to him irritate him to the last degree, or he
has some aversion or delusion in regard to them rendering their
presence injurious. If the delusions and impulses of a patient are not
such as to endanger the lives of the household, his violence and
excitement and uneasiness or melancholia may make life simply
intolerable to his relatives, or his exactions may be exhausting to
their strength and his constant presence a means of making still
others insane. His noise may disturb a whole neighborhood. His
vagaries may require control, his indecencies concealment, his
enfeeblement help more than can be sufficiently given outside of a
hospital, his general condition more judicious care than his friends
can command, and his example may have a pernicious effect upon
children growing up with an insane diathesis. In many people a long
time insane much of their vicious conduct is due to habit or to
tendencies which they cannot or will not control without the steady,
kind discipline which cannot be got at home.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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