The Old Hospital: Perceptions and Fates of Historic Asylums Post-Deinstitutionalization
The deinstitutionalization movement in the later half of the twentieth century resulted in many of those previously committed to psychiatric hospitals moving into the community, leaving the asylums that previously dominated mental health care with increasingly shrinking patient bodies. The changes in trends of mental health care during this period resulted in remaining psychiatric hospitals inhabiting historic campuses much larger than they needed and much more than they had the resources to maintain. For many of these hospitals, they were eventually shut down, being found unnecessary, harmful, or, as has been the case more recently for those that continued to be used well into the twenty-first century, because the buildings themselves became unusable.
The former historic asylums have since found a variety of purposes, some being renovated for new use, some being abandoned as they await potential development, and some eventually being demolished. They have also become a source of intrigue for many, with a variety of factors including their history, architecture, and rumors of paranormal activity becoming a motive for their preservation and for people to continue trying to interact with them.
Five specific case studies will be used to asses the varied fates of historic asylums and the ways that people react to them in order to understand why they have ended up the way that they have and how the history of these structures impacts the way that they themselves are viewed by the public. These case studies will include Western State Hospital and the DeJarnette Center in Staunton, Virginia; St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC; Fulton State Hospital in Fulton, Missouri; Allentown State Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania; and Pennhurst State School and Hospital in Spring City, Pennsylvania. Diverse in their past and present, these buildings can begin to give insight into wider trends in popular thoughts on the role of asylums in the history of American mental health care.
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The Old Hospital: Perceptions and Fates of Historic Asylums Post-Deinstitutionalization
The deinstitutionalization movement in the later half of the twentieth century resulted in many of those previously committed to psychiatric hospitals moving into the community, leaving the asylums that previously dominated mental health care with increasingly shrinking patient bodies. The changes in trends of mental health care during this period resulted in remaining psychiatric hospitals inhabiting historic campuses much larger than they needed and much more than they had the resources to maintain. For many of these hospitals, they were eventually shut down, being found unnecessary, harmful, or, as has been the case more recently for those that continued to be used well into the twenty-first century, because the buildings themselves became unusable.
The former historic asylums have since found a variety of purposes, some being renovated for new use, some being abandoned as they await potential development, and some eventually being demolished. They have also become a source of intrigue for many, with a variety of factors including their history, architecture, and rumors of paranormal activity becoming a motive for their preservation and for people to continue trying to interact with them.
Five specific case studies will be used to asses the varied fates of historic asylums and the ways that people react to them in order to understand why they have ended up the way that they have and how the history of these structures impacts the way that they themselves are viewed by the public. These case studies will include Western State Hospital and the DeJarnette Center in Staunton, Virginia; St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC; Fulton State Hospital in Fulton, Missouri; Allentown State Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania; and Pennhurst State School and Hospital in Spring City, Pennsylvania. Diverse in their past and present, these buildings can begin to give insight into wider trends in popular thoughts on the role of asylums in the history of American mental health care.
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