MENTAL HOSPITALS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 286, 27 August 1908, Page 4

MENTAL HOSPITALS.

STATISTICS. OF LUNACY. INSPECTOR-GENERAL'S' -ANNUAL ' <\ REPORT. , r , The roport of Dr. Ffiint Hay, Inspe'ctoi - - Qeno-:al of Hospitals, for tho year endod Docomber 81, 1907, was laid before Parliament oil Tuesday. He state:; that on December 31 last the number, .of "persons. known to bo of unsound mind/f;ron?. .the .fact they had beoh;so found and .'that, tllEjjiy lianas on the .register, 'vms 3240 (males ;. 1909, .females 1331). At the samor date of tho proviqus_y^i>. tho nuiplicr was a2Q6 /males 1900, femalos 130G),' an inereaso,,of .only ,34 (males 9, females 25) in tlio year; - In the previous .five years : the :average, residuum (omitting' fractions) 'wad "86 (males 49, ''females 37), and in the previous ten'years 89 (males 61, fotnales 3S), while tho increasein 1906 was 9'1 # (males 64, females 30). "For figures approximating the gratifying small addition to tho. inimbdr in th<? mental hospitals 'at the 'eild of'the year," says Dr. Hay, "one has to go back to 1890, when tho increase was .36 and. when thri actual admissions numbered 381 against 6CO in: 1907." •

RATIO OF INSANE TO POPULATION. On Dec'etnber 31 the nuinber of the patients on the register stood in.th<?.fpllowing -ratio to the^estimated goiieral population:— The prqp9xtion..of.t!LQ..total, i!i3aiiq total population was :~Exclusivo of Maoris, 34,47 per 10,000, or 1 in' 290; ihchisivo of Maoris, 33.15 per 10,000, or 1 in 302 v For a ratio as low as. tho present, one has to go back to som'o period during the year 1900 when the proportion of insano to population (exclusive of -Maoris): rose from 1 in 296 at' tho •bcginning-4a-4.-in'2Bß~3t-ther-cnd-of tho year.' Tho highest- prpportibn N was in 1903-r-yiz., l..in 284. These ratios aro practically the same as those, in Great Britain (that of England .and. Wdlcs.on .January 1, 1907, was 1 to 282). RATIO OF MiISSiON TO POPULATION. ' Excluding - the- Native -race and—patients" transferred from.:one institution -to another,. the proportion of- total admissions'to tli(5 r estimated population at the, end'af'-the year was 6.39 to 10,000 j a sliar'p" fall tlfter an: apparently progressive rise, tHe ratio for the previous ten years being 6.56, for tho previous five 6_.76, a.ad„in tho previous year 7.16. As a. matter of fact, the progresshas not been altogether- orderly qnd -'un-; broken; but,''apart froiir the low ratio in•1907, for-a parallol to which one has to'goto 1900, there has been an advance. -Howfar this is duo to increased immigration;, how far to a more sympathetic conception of mental hospitals as places ' rather; for treatment than incarceration, and- how far,-if'at all, to increased irisanity, it is impossible, to, state with any degree pi; accuracy. RECOVERIES. Tho percentage of recoveries on admissions in ! 1907 was 49.67 (m., 44.29; f., 57.68) against 42.94 (m ; , 39.75; f., 47.73) in tho previous year. One (male) ~ transferred patient wljo rtSovered has been omitted from the Tho recovery-rate, in 1907 is the highesVsince 1888, when oiir. record wag reachc'd- t -nanicly, 57.62 per:;cent. .Previous to jthafr year there "'had''/been ..'thrco higher percentages" than, tho' Cprescnt—-tlioTo.. for the and .ISIB/tla'jjJtcS being 57.56 per■- per'cent.;" and 60 per cent, .respec'tiyely. '-''. v--

i MARRIAGE AND INSANITY. Dr. Hay refers to tho Act passed last year taaking ground for divorco insanity, if deemed,to' baj'.ncurable, which lias'lasted-for ten years'in the' twelve preceding tho filing of the petition.; "It would bo out of placej JVho says/-"for nriticiso'so:-recent\an Act; biftiflaturallyrl must' regret it patients' standpoint. A caso • was recently, Drought to "myt ;husbajid of a patient whose recovery had • been retarded by gossiping, discussions of tho Act among her .. fell.qw-pqtients raising -.suspicion,/as'\to< bis fidelity • and . intentions. It-.'".''has; been argued that this Act would limit tho procreation of. tho unfit/'A~niiscoMe"ptiou dies hard, and that statement has been repeated, so often and by such- responsible persons that one is in duty bound to''p6fx&ont its irrelevancy; In ;so far as a.'serious? attack upon heredity is expected to ;,be tho consequences of the Act, ths'^ct.-is -merely paring the'jiails of tho.monster... In the 'year undor revipwi299Ypersons..(in./160; f., 139) were discharged as recovofed,. and r returii(>d to their homes as-free agents; and of this number, including-four age -of. 'pij.s, berty, - 258';'(m.; 147; f., 109).- wcr6' able -to re;' produce theirr kind; and\ of'rtheso only one unmarried; niaii and onoi hiai'ried : Chinamali'' fulfilled tho condition of having Ikon : "ihsan6 for ten years during tho preceding-tTrslve. True, the :ono married man may have-.beon divorced, and . may hive remained -a" celibate; but what of the other 255! Hero is a real prohldm,,but'one, I fear, which, must be left for somo future generation to solve."' ACCOMMODATION-;- • -. - The accommodation in the" mental hospitals is'being considerably taxed. The 'average number resident during tlio year was 3136 (m., 1851;"f., 2185); whereas accomm'odation giving the cubic space'wo desire was only adequate for 3105- (ni.-j--1875; f.-, 1230) —that is to say, on an averago takon over all tho mental hospitals, though "tliero were .vacant cies for twenty-four ,iVi6rr, had to acoommodation. •

The, Inspector-General expresses gratification at tlio readiness with which' tho Minister (tho.' Ho'n.;,G; Kowlds) approved of tho schcmo for";fanother "mental hospital; ;(toi.;bo developed on spuhd--princip'als,:'»ntli situated where may bo rolieved. " "The" sito. mustVpossess natural features-contributing to future, economy .in management, and the estate ninst'bo sufficiently largo for n • mental hospital'; made up of detached:.'buildings,' therefore': capable of very con3iderable'-extension,Vartd apart from tho'' mental hospitnl^other institutions:or •'eblohics'- vbe placed hereafter under ths; control 'of this Departments." ■ ■ ' j THE' STAFF. 1 - . . , "For members of. the nursing staff ..tlio year should bo memorable, .because those who fulfilled the conditions had 'tho'-privilego of being enrolled on tho Register of Mental Nurses.' It is expected,that' this will' provo a lover to raise their status and a stimulus to intellectual, interest in their calling.''; - Dr. Hay goes on'to plead for •special-con-sideration' for tlio service: he represents "in conncction with tho Public Service superannuation scheme, in view of-the arduous, reeponsible, _ and sometimes dangerous character of their'work; He also asks that medical superintendents should .be granted, say six' months' leave of absence every' few years, for.' recreation, with an additional, three months for study abroad. _ . . Dr. Hay.' gives satisfactory, reports ■ of, visits to tho Pofirua and Wellington Mental Hospitals. .... . . A SAD : CASE.

The Medical Superintendent of the Auclc-: land Mental Hospital (Dr. R. M. Beattie) mentions in his annual rej3ort_tho fact, of certain patients being admitted and discharged again and again. "A sad case," he savs, "is that of a girl under twenty years "of. ago and married, whose father co.ni-' mittcd suicide, who hits' one sister ' in' J the' To Oranga Home and another nrho.",was:.tiricp, an inmate here, and who a few months after her lasti release married a gum-digger, and has since given birth to twins. ; Tho present inmate will recover, and as she is married it is an easy task to forecast the future. If sterilisation is' not the rational remedy in such a case, I know of no other. I am' fully aware that such • a courso, of, action, is in opposition to present humanitaririism, arid is an interference with the liberty-of. the individual; but humanitarianism is sometimes Bickly scntimeiitalism, and, the liberty ,pf the individual too often means the liberty to work irreparable" mischief, v I ■ trust that something may bo dono 1 ultimately—short of radical measures—to lessen the inflow of hereditary cases by the association,.with ,that object iri view, of the Mental Hospital Medical Superintendents and tho Medical School Inspectors. WHcn medical school-inspection becomes fully established, the children of insane and highly neurotic parents must receive special consideration."