From the Visitors' Reports 1914 -
1934
April
21st 1922
There is
a large number of mental deficients in the institution. These should be removed
into Mental Deficiency Homes. Our institution is a Mental Hospital and not
established for incurable cases. The act of 1913 should be brought into
operation and the attention of the Minister of Health directed to the
conditions under which our institution suffers.
The war
interfered with the provisions of the Act of 1913 but as we are now returning
to normal times we recommend this matter should be again taken up by the
Committee.
Addendum.....'Considering
some of the distressing cases and pitiable creatures I saw today I am more
convinced than ever that the time has now arrived for the county to take into
consideration the question of sterilization. There is no reason why our
Committee should not take the initiative. In my opinion the present system is a
continuation of the policy of "commencing at the wrong end".'
June 26th
1923
I am
sorry to find that the hospital is still without the services of a visiting
dentist. It is obvious that many patients require skilled attention in this
respect and it is possible that some would benefit both mentally and physically
from a thorough overhaul. Moreover, the high incidence and mortality from
Pneumonia might possibly be reduced materially by the prevention of oral
sepsis.
In 1923 X-Ray equipment was
installed in a room near the laundry and a Dental surgeon, Mr, Charles Hubbarb,
began weekly visits in 1924.
September 26th 1923
The site of the new X- Ray and
photographic room so excellently situated for use leads me to hope that the old
plunge bathroom will not long be allowed to remain useless, but that it will be
converted into " Operating Theatre" for which at a so small cost it
could be so easily adapted .
January 4th 1929
I talked to several patients from
Angelsey, who were glad to see me and were loud in their praise for all that
had been done for them at Christmas and the New Year. I brought with me a
gentleman from Angelsey who had never been here before, and after he had been
round with me he expressed himself as being astonished with what he had seen
and with all that was being done here for the relief of insanity.
Department Of
Electro-Encephalography (E.E.G.)
ECT AND NEUROSURGERY
The Mental Treatments Act was
passed in 1930 and a significant feature was that patients could now enter
hospital voluntarily, therefore the Asylum became a Hospital. As a result of
this a major change was the establishment of an Out-Patients Clinic in Bangor,
Wrexham and Dolgellau in 1935.
Various treatments were
introduced during this period, but many were short lived. However, in the
1930s, an investigation was carried out by Professor Ugo Cerletti at Rome into
the application of electricity to give a shock to the brain directly through
the skull. A Jewish doctor, fled Germany for Italy in 1933, where he witnessed
early experiments with ECT (electroconvulsive therapy, or electric shock
therapy). A mild electric current is applied to the brain to produce a seizure
similar to an epileptic convulsion
Later, he helped to introduce ECT
to France. He then moved to England and gradually worked to promote the use of
ECT with the British, including a paper in The Lancet in 1939. ECT treatment
was introduced at the Maudsley Hospital in 1940, and was rapidly taken up
throughout Britain.
It was adopted in the Denbigh
hospital in 1941, when the committee of visitors authorized the purchase of an
Ediswan electric convulsion therapy apparatus. The therapeutic principle was
the same as that of utilizing shock inducing drugs to produce a bodily
convulsion, which appeared to have a healing effect upon the mind.
The medical superintendent’s
explanation of the benefits over the ones induced by the use of the drug -
cardiazol: ‘First as there is immediate loss of consciousness, it is not
unpleasant. Secondly, it is milder so that mishaps are less liable to occur,
and its use can be extended to older patients. Thirdly, it is more convenient.’
The change it brought to therapeutic practice was so significant that within a year it was reported by Dr. Roberts that, ‘As a result of these relative advantages, treatment by cardiazol has been to all intents and purposes completely suspended.’
The change it brought to therapeutic practice was so significant that within a year it was reported by Dr. Roberts that, ‘As a result of these relative advantages, treatment by cardiazol has been to all intents and purposes completely suspended.’
Although ECT was initially
advocated for the treatment of schizophrenia, within a year Denbigh’s medical
superintendent was reporting that, ‘its chief field of usefulness is amongst
the Depressions.’
ECT Equipment
ECT Treatment
From the Medical Annual 1941:
Mental Conditions
Since the E.E.G. is accepted as
being in some way connected with the cerebral cortex and its activity, it might
be supposed that severe disorders of the mind would be reflected in the brain
potentials.
It can be imagined that there are
many pitfalls in recording the minute brain potentials through the skull. Not
least of these is the presence of several disturbing electrical artefacts,
particularly those associated with movements of the eyes.
From the point of view of the
patient, the method has great advantages. It is safe and brief and need be neither
alarming nor expensive. Its only drawback at present is that considerable skill
and experience are needed to build and maintain the equipment and still more to
interpret the records. Several points in the construction of the amplifiers and
recorders are unfamiliar even to expert electrical engineers, and the records
begin to acquire meaning only when several hundred have been attentively
studied and analysed. Interpretation is probably no more difficult than in
radiology, but of course the appearances are harder to relate to known anatomical
or physiological facts.
If the structure seems a little
lofty for its foundations, it should be considered as a scaffold giving access
to the more remote parts of old established knowledge.
1942 Newspaper Report of Electric
Shock Treatment
‘New Apparatus at Mental Hospital
Successful Results at Denbigh'
A valuable addition to the modern
methods of treatment employed at the North Wales Counties Mental Hospital in
the form of apparatus for the treatment of mental illness by electric shock,
has had most satisfactory results during the three months it has been in
operation, it was reported at last Monday's meeting of the Committee of
Visitors. Seven of the nine patients discharged as recovered that day had
received the treatment, it was stated, while another patient, who had been
transferred to the hospital after spending four years in another institution,
had made a complete recovery after three months of the new treatment.
It was used in cases of
schizophrenia, depression and excitement, and had largely replaced Cardiazol,
over which its chief advantage was its complete lack of unpleasantness to the
patient and its increased safety.
"With this remedy in our
hands,” went on the Chairman, "It becomes increasingly important that we
should receive our patients early, as much mental suffering can therefore be
saved. With each month that passes without treatment, the patient's chances of
recovery diminish."
Dr. John Jones, Chairman of the
House Committee, said he happened to know that the new treatment by electric
shock had 'worked wonders' in the case of a patient from the area he
represented. It was pleasing to note that the death rate at the institution was
very low, while the recovery rate was one of the highest in institutions of the
kind in the whole Kingdom - a very gratifying state of affairs.
It was felt that in North Wales
insufficient use was made of the provisions of the Mental Treatment Act, which
allowed of the admission of patients on a voluntary basis. Patients so admitted
could leave the hospital of their own accord on giving notice in writing.
In all spheres, increased liberty
was being granted to patients, went on the Chairman, and the parole system,
hitherto confined to men, had been extended to include women, many of whom
could now be seen doing their shopping in Denbigh. Voluntary patients could,
therefore, be assured that if their condition allowed it, they would be
permitted considerable liberty to come and go outside the hospital estate.
Three Kids Gripped By Evil By Polly Mullaney
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