Seventy-One Insane Asylums:: The Kirkbrides

By Wendell Ray Bertram

Seventy-One Insane Asylums: The Kirkbrides Thomas Story Kirkbride (1809 - 1883) was one of the earliest pioneers and advocates of mental health care in American history. A physician and a hospital superintendent himself, Kirkbride pioneered what would become known as "the Kirkbride Plan," which aimed to improve medical care for the insane, through the standardization of the buildings that housed patients. The Structural features of the hospitals that Kirkbride advocated and inspired were contingent on his theories regarding the healing of the mentally ill, in which environment and exposure to natural light and air circulation were crucial. The hospitals built according to the Kirkbride Plan generally had in cmmon the "bat wing" style floor plan, housing numerous wings that sprawled outward from the center. Kiribride considered this to be the optimal floor plan as it allowed all wings/wards and all of the rooms within them direct exposure to the sunlight and fresh air that he considered so crucial toward treating the insane. In addition to the intricate building design, Thomas Kirkbride also advocated the importance of "fertile" and spacious landscapes on which the hospitals would be built, with views that if possible, should exhibit life in its active forms. It should also be noted that Kirkbride also strongly advocated that no more than 250 patients should be housed in any one mental institution. Kirkbride was a strong advocate of "moral treatment," a philosophy based upon compassion and respect for the insane. He sought to create a humane environment where both rich and poor were treated with dignity. He believed patients responded to greater freedom with better behavior. So, while over time so many of the hospitals that his teachings and dictates inspired would ultimately totally deviate from his "moral treatment" philosophy, they all started out with the best of intentions for the patients and inmates that they were built to treat and house. In all, it is estimated that, over tme and throughout the 1800s, as many as 150 insane asylums were built in the United States. And of these, it is estermated that as many as 80 were Kirkbride facilities. All of the facilities contained within the pages of this book are those for which documentation and visual images still remain.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0F6CV3KFW
• ISBN13: 9798308898825
• Release Date: April 2025
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 157 Pages
• Dimensions: 6.0" x 0.4" x 8.5"