The lunatic asylum, insane asylum or mental asylum was an institution where people with mental illness were confined. It was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. Modern psychiatric hospitals evolved from and eventually replaced the older lunatic asylum.

Here are 18 places where you can explore the ghosts of psychiatric history. An abandoned asylum where patients have been forgotten but their possessions remain. The abandoned husk of a mental...

A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe mental disorders.

Oct 13, 2016 · The late Dr Oliver Sachs writes an introduction to Payne’s book Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals. We tend to think of mental hospitals as “snake pits”—places of nightmarish squalor and abuse—and this …

Aug 5, 2023 · Before modern psychiatric hospitals, insane asylums detained countless mentally ill patients, criminals, and other "undesirables" in brutal conditions. Some of these facilities held 10 times as many patients as they were meant to accommodate, with some unruly inmates being kept in cages in hallways.

Mar 14, 2019 · While the number of current public hospital psychiatric beds represents about 3 percent of the 1955 peak, people with serious mental illness are found in many locations providing 24-hour care, including nursing homes, jails, prisons, general hospital psychiatric units, private psychiatric hospitals, contracted intermediate and long-term care ...

Jul 13, 2018 · Kirkbride hospitals represent the most classic and numerous of the asylums constructed in the 19th century. The structural features of Kirkbride hospitals reflected Dr. Kirkbride's approach...

Haunted asylum tours draw hundreds, even thousands, of people into the crumbling halls of abandoned psychiatric hospitals in hopes of seeing something spooky. The hype draws thrill-seekers from all over the country.

May 25, 2021 · When a person has a mental-health crisis in America, it is almost always law enforcement—not a therapist, social worker, or psychiatrist—who responds to the 911 call. But most officers aren’t...

From the grand architecture of early 20th-century asylums to the more austere structures of mid-century hospitals, these abandoned places offer a unique glimpse into the evolving landscape of mental health care and medical treatment in America.