Terminology and Reasons Why Patients Were Admitted to the St. Peter Insane Asylum in the Late 1800s

By Maryn Somerville

Imagine you are back in the late 1800s. You are thirteen years old and striving for freedom, so your family decides to move from Europe to the United States to live a free life. During this adventure, you are extremely exhausted from all the traveling and struggling to adapt to the time change in Minnesota, leading you to sleep deprivation and hallucinations. Well, it’s your lucky day because you are headed to the St. Peter Insane Asylum for our family declaring you mentally insane, and your cause of insanity is “sea voyage”! This post will dive into the harrowing reasons and terminology used to describe and admit patients into Minnesota's first hospital for the insane.

Background

In 1866, the Minnesota State Legislature passed an act to establish a hospital for the insane to respond to the increasing need for asylum. St. Peter marketed its city as the most suitable place for this hospital, and the town even paid 7,000 dollars to buy a 210-acre farm to lend to the state. A hospital opened in December of 1866, accepting a few dozen patients. Three years later, a north wing was opened, and by the end of 1872, more than 1,050 patients had been admitted. A judge ordered patients to be mentally insane, then was escorted by a sheriff to the hospital, and very seldom was voluntary.  In 1911, the facility decided to build an asylum for the dangerously insane, and by 1957, they changed their name to the Minnesota Security Hospital because of the past stigmatizing name. The hospital had 3,100 patients crowded into the facility, and psychiatry was yet to boom to find effective treatments for mental illness, so they focused on control rather than fixing illnesses. By the 1970’s the United States started to create a brighter image of mental diseases and gradually began to believe in a future for treatment.

Terminology

I have always been wary of the terminology used to describe mental illnesses, as many of the words are now forbidden in society to use. In the 1600s, the term “insane” was first referred to as an unhealthy mind or body and was used as a synonym for madness (Dalby p. 363). The term “lunatic” was also used in the 16th century and was used to describe cyclical insanity rather than chronic insanity (Dalby p. 363). “Idiocy” was used to denote the lowest rank of intelligence and functional ability, and this classification was coined in the 19th century (Harret p.57) . These are inappropriate terms used in psychological practices today. Still, I want to point out some language you may see in the data I am showing. Throughout this post, I am going to focus on the data and files from 1864 through 1894, as during this time, the records were kept the most detailed and organized. Benjamin Rush’s work heavily influenced the diagnosis at St. Peter. Rush was one of the first American psychiatrists, and he pointed out that insane people usually have an over-activity of the blood vessels.

Reasons for Admission

In the late 1800s, the number of mental health physicians was limited, and one of the reasons for this was the increase in the population due to immigrants. The causes of insanity included heredity, immorality, religion, sexuality, or an excess of emotions, which were thought to be the root causes. There was a broad lack of knowledge in causation because most diagnoses were based on hearsay rather than facts. Some of the most bizarre reasons for admission between 1864 and 1894 included desertion of a spouse, disappointed affection, religious and political excitement, prolonged lactation, and one of the strangest is consulting a fortune teller.

Sexual differences were prominent in reasons for admission to the St. Peter Hospital. Women were said to have insanity, attributing to irregularities in menstruation and pregnancy. There were 34 women during this period to have been admitted for symptoms of childbirth, prolonged lactation, “change of life”, disorders of menstruation, masturbation, and nymphomania. During this period, 15% of women and 6% of men were believed to be admitted for insanity or sexual behavior. The data shown report women were twice as likely to be admitted due to marital problems or the death of a spouse than men. Men were also allowed to drop off their spouses for having “dementia,” with the only symptoms being delusions, and in some cases, there could be no symptoms of insanity at all.

The history of the terminology within the field of mental illness is fascinating, and the more research I have done, the more disturbing it has become. The research that I have done has made me recognize how far the field of psychology has gone, especially within terminology. From terms like "lunacy" and "insanity" to more modern terms such as "mental illness" and "psychological disorder," the terminology reflects not only changes in diagnostic criteria but also evolving perspectives on mental health and illness. I hope this blog has made you appreciate the mental health services we have today.

References

Divinest sense. New Page. (n.d.). https://websites.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/madness/terminology.html

Erickson, W. D. (2009). The Great Charity, Minnesota’s First Mental Hospital at St. Peter, Minn. 1866-1991. 

Harett, S. (n.d.). Disability in time and place. https://historicengland.org.uk/content/docs/research/disability-in-time-and-place-pdf/

YouTube. (2018, August 17). State of mind | A history of Minnesota’s first State Hospital. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEum-YZScIE