Hospital of St Mary of Bethlehem has been a part of London since 1247, first as a priory for the sisters and brothers of the Order of the Star of Bethlehem. In 1330 it is mentioned as a hospital, and it admitted the mentally ill from 1377 though by1403 there were only nine inmates.
Early sixteenth century maps show Bethlehem as a courtyard with a few stone buildings, a church and a garden. Conditions were consistently dreadful, and the care amounted to little more than restraint. There were 31 patients and the noise was "so hideous, so great; that they are more able to drive a man that hath his wits rather out of them"'. Violent or dangerous patients were manacled and chained to the floor or wall. Some were allowed to leave, and licensed to beg. In 1598 an inspection showed neglect; the cesspool badly needed emptying, and the kitchen drains needed replacing. There were 20 patients there, one of whom had been there in excess of 25 years.
Between 1728 and 1852, Bethlehem's physicians all came from the Monro family -- James, John, Thomas and Edward Thomas They brought in a few therapeutic innovations -- cold and hot baths for instance -- but Bethlehem’s mainstays were the familiar purgatives (induced diarrhea) and emetics (induced vomiting), with a routine spring bloodletting using leeches, and manacles for the troublesome.
When Bethlehem was visited in 1814 by Edward Wakefield, he was shocked on encountering one patient.
James Norris:
A stout iron ring was riveted round his neck, from which a short chain passed through a ring made to slide upwards and downwards on an upright massive iron bar, more than six feet high, inserted into the wall. Round his body a strong iron bar about 12 inches wide was riveted; on each side of the bar was a ring; which was fashioned to and enclosed each of his arms, pinioned them close to his sides.
James Norris had been thus immobilized for twelve years.
Bethlehem Hospital became famous and infamous for the brutal ill-treatment meted out to the insane. In the 18th century people used to go there to see the lunatics. For a penny one could peer into their cells, view the freaks of the "show of Bethlehem" and laugh at their antics, generally of a sexual nature or violent fights. Entry was free on the first Tuesday of the month. Visitors were permitted to bring long sticks with which to poke and enrage the inmates. In 1814, there were 96,000 such visits, approximately 260 per day.
Let me tell a story that very well may have taken place in the 19th century
A man has a beloved son who often throws himself to the ground writhing and foaming at the mouth. The man takes his son to the local priest hoping against hope that something could be done. Didn’t Jesus Himself cast demons from a boy in a similar situation?
The priest prayers for days and performs exorcisms to no available.
The man, sadly, turns to Bethlehem as the only place to shelter his son.
The young man, perhaps named James Norris, spends the next twelve years as described above; sitting in his own feces with nothing to look forward to but the weekly visits of the town-folk with the their sticks and their jeers.
Today we have medications that allow epileptics to lead relativity normal lives. We know so much more about brain chemicals that James Norris would never have had to suffer as he did.
In a few years the average person will realize that depression is not “the blues” or just plain old “laziness” but a chemical imbalance that can be corrected
The name of the hospital was later shortened to “Bedlam”. Bedlam now means a place, scene, or state of uproar and confusion.
http://instruct.uwo.ca/english/234e/site/bckgrnds/maps/lndnmpbedlam.html
http://books.google.com/books?id=3EEOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29&dq=st+mary+bethlehem+hospital&source=web&ots=gTc9iMfXh1&sig=G-HZBAFCOewAOa0ewtphOWLkRj4&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result
