Inside Mental Hospitals

We may then ask, what in fact are the present conditions within mental hospital walls? In the best, of course?and it may be fair to claim that some of the best are in this country?the conditions are as good as skilled psychiatrists, devoted nursing and congenial scenery can make them : every known form of treatment is available, the recovery rate is high, the patient care even of the chronic and incurable case is beyond all praise. But all this springs from inspiration and devotion, and it all costs money. It is not true of every hospital in the country : here and there inspiration flags, devotion is blunted, and too little money has been spent for years. It must be expected that if so, there may be some neglect or even callousness in the treatment of individual patients and that the surroundings will be grim and gloomy : if this is so, opportunities of recovery will undoubtedly be lost.