The Treatment of “Lunacy” at Central State Hospital: The Long Shadow of “Moral Therapy: and Eugenics on Public Perception of Mental Health Facilities
Faculty Mentor(s) Name(s)
Dr. Stephanie Jett
Abstract
Milledgeville, Georgia is infamous for what is now known as Central State Hospital (CSH). Originally founded as the Georgia State Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum in 1842, it quickly became the largest in-patient mental health facility in the Southeast. In its time, CSH was considered innovative in its approach to mental health treatment and its treatment of their patients. However, many of those treatments utilized methods that would be considered at best questionable and at worst barbaric through a modern lens. The shadow cast from the history of mental facilities contributed to the stigma for seeking mental health care today. I analyze the use of moral therapy and eugenics in CHS’s past and how they impact the public perception of mental health facilities today.
Start Date
27-3-2024 1:30 PM
End Date
27-3-2024 1:38 PM
Location
Arts and Sciences 2-72
The Treatment of “Lunacy” at Central State Hospital: The Long Shadow of “Moral Therapy: and Eugenics on Public Perception of Mental Health Facilities
Arts and Sciences 2-72
Milledgeville, Georgia is infamous for what is now known as Central State Hospital (CSH). Originally founded as the Georgia State Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum in 1842, it quickly became the largest in-patient mental health facility in the Southeast. In its time, CSH was considered innovative in its approach to mental health treatment and its treatment of their patients. However, many of those treatments utilized methods that would be considered at best questionable and at worst barbaric through a modern lens. The shadow cast from the history of mental facilities contributed to the stigma for seeking mental health care today. I analyze the use of moral therapy and eugenics in CHS’s past and how they impact the public perception of mental health facilities today.