My g.uncle went into a mental hospital in 1907 aged 27 and died there in 1964. I only have the admission page and one other page of his records, as it is not 100 years after 1964 yet and that is all the archives would send to me and that was after a lot of correspondence with them.
On admission he was well nourished and fit looking, the diagnosis given was mania and delusions. However, it would seem that after his initial admission, he settled down as after 2 months, the record states "has settled down and now gives little trouble. Very demented" and the last entry one month later states - To Annexe.
I would assume that a patient being sent to the annexe meant they weren't a danger to themselves or others. As he was a butcher and had got to the age of 27 before becoming ill, I'm sure that in this day and age, he would have got treatment and been living a happy life in the community. My mum says she remembers visiting him when she was in her early teens. (He was her mother's brother). She said she was really worried before seeing him, imagining all sorts of things. In reality, he was quiet and calm and working as a gardener in the asylum grounds.
I don't know what demented meant on his notes. He was only 27, apparently hadn't been ill previously and couldn't have been suffering from general paralysis of the insane due to syphilis as he lived for another 57 years in the asylum. The only other history in the family of someone being mentally ill, was my g.g.uncle (uncle to the one above) but he was suffering from syphilis related illness and was 52 when he was admitted, and died only a short time after his admission. In his case, too, the initial diagnosis was that he was demented, but they did realise the true cause of his illness before he died.
Was demented used as a diagnosis, as they didn't know any better?
Lizzie
