HUMANITARIAN APPROACH ESTHER 1114360

                                             HUMANITARIAN APPROACH

During the later stages of middle ages  more importance was given to human concerns and interests this movement was called ''humanism".Superstitious beliefs was an hindrance in understanding the therapeutic treatment of mental disorder began to be challenging.Parcelus was a Swiss physician .He told that dancing mania was not a form of possession but a disease .He advocated that a conflict between spiritual and instincts of humans was the cause for mental illness.He also gave a treatment for this which was called as 'hypnosis'.

ESTABLISHMENT OF EARLY ASYLUMS

In 16th century asylums came into existence .Earlier asylums were meant as a place to individuals who were troublesome in the society and who were not able to take care of themselves.It was the storage places for insane.It was unfortunate that these residents were treated in a cruel way.In the early asylums people were not treated like humans.The techniques which were used to treat were aggressive to restore the balance of both body and mind .These included  electric shocks ,powerful drugs .A violent patient would be immersed into ice water ,the patient's hand and feet were chained .There was little attention paid to whether they were fed with good food or bad food .The cells where they stayed were never swept .No one visited them except at the time of feeding .There was lack of humanity.By 18th century ,mental hospitals in Europe and America were in need of reform.

HUMANITARIAN REFORM

After french revolution Pinel conducted an experiment.He removed the chains from some inmates .His opinion was that patients should be treated with kindness .He provided them with rooms which had proper lights ,previously it was noisy and abusive which was now replaced by peace .Kindness had a positive outcome in the mentally ill patients .He employed  humane methods to treat the patients .He had issued orders to the staff to avoid beating up of patients .

TUKES WORK IN ENGLAND

William Tuke set up a pleasant house where mental patients lived and rested in a kind atmosphere which was called york retreat .They believed in treating all insane with kindness .They view that kindness would help the mentally ill people to recover.They provided mental treatment for 200 years..In 1841 Hitch introduced trained nurses .These innovations improved the care provided to the patients .It also changed attitudes  of the public towards the mentally ill people.

RUSH AND MORAL MANAGEMENT

The humanitarian experiments of Pinels and Tukes  changed the treatment of mental patients throughout the western world.Rush was the first to organize a course in psychiatry .He invented a device for treatment which was called ''the tranquilizing chair'',which was torturous .This was thought to decrease the flow of blood to the head and the muscles relaxes During the period of humanitarian reform, moral management came into existence.Moral management is defined as the treatment that focuses on the patients social ,individual needs .This approach came from the works of Pinel and Tuke .Moral management emphasizes on the patients moral and spiritual development rather than on mental disorders .The treatment  was through manual labour and humane treatment.