Historical Maltreatment of Psychiatric In-Patients | Quick Homework Help

Historical Maltreatment of Psychiatric In-Patients
Many patients who are unable to care for themselves or are dealing with problems in their lives are sent to a confined institution where they are to find help before they rejoin the society. It is always a tendency to consider that psychiatric patients pose a threat to the society and the people around them. However, cases have been reported of incidences where a psychiatric patient was maltreated at the hands of people who were to help them deal with issues affecting their lives. These reports date as far back as the eighteenth and nineteenth century when the practice was still rampant. Zimbardo (2007) asserts that, the mistreatment of psychiatric patients is a practice that dates back to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Since they were rejects in the society, these patients were never checked up on or visited with their kin leading them at the hands of physicians and other medical practitioners. This paper, therefore, presents an essay on the historical maltreatment of psychiatric patients.
According to Butcher, Hooley, and Mineka (2014), physical and sexual abuses are some of the experiences that patients in these institutions have been forced to undergo. The medical staffs in the hospitals have taken advantage of the situations of the patients. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are considered a mark in history where many immoral practices were being practiced. A high number of such reports were made in the public areas and centers where such habits could be prone like brothels. However, cases in the hospitals and other care centers were also reported where patients were raped many times by their care providers.
The setting of the hospitals was designed to house the psychiatric patient in the farthest corner of the building. The notion at the time was that the psychiatric patients could be a threat to other patients. Similarly, the people who were tasked with the responsibility of taking care of the psychiatric patients were to operate on directions of the head that was less often present. Therefore, the head of the area who could suppress the continuation of the habit was not present during the times when such habits were being practiced.
However, in learning about the reasons behind these habits, a number of factors are highlighted. Among the leading factors to consider as the cause of maltreatment of patients are personal factors. The care providers who treated the patients badly are considered to have participated in such behaviors on their own. People perceive a situation differently, and their actions are also different considering their background or sheer pleasure. Similarly, curiosity can be attributed as another trigger for the caretakers to indulge in such activities.
However, according to Zimbardo (2007), the background of the patient is considered a great influence in their habits and characters. The ability of an individual to empathize with a fellow is strongly related to their backgrounds and the way they were brought up. On the other hand, an individual can sympathize with a fellow in problem but will never take the step to help. A similar account is seen in the situation where the people who practiced such behavior on patients who were helpless could have been treated the same when they were young.
The tradition during the eighteenth and nineteenth century in a large part was supportive of immorality and unethical behaviors. Very few institutions took seriously cases of immorality or mistreatment. The victims were threatened and for fear of their lives, they had no other avenue to channel their grievances. In the psychiatric wards and hospitals, the patients were poorly treated and then promised an early release or privileges that the other patients were not afforded. However, these promises were never fulfilled, and the same mistreatment done to the patients repeatedly. The perpetrators lacked strict supervision and monitoring for their behaviors, which promoted their indulgence in these habits.
A large part of the blame falls on poor management of these institutions and the employees. Butcher, Hooley, and Mineka (2014) state that, when the system of management is operates freely with every individual operating at their will, the system is deemed to fail in its objectives. The night shifts were some of the times when many victims were harassed by the staff members in the facility. At such times, the institutions were under less monitoring and less busy leaving the patients with the few caretakers on shift. The system of managing these institutions was done in shifts where one member of staff could not meet with the others except if they were in the same rotation. The working shifts promoted these activities, and the perpetrators were not easily identified, as they were not present in the day. Therefore, it was hard to identify, which staff member mistreated a patient.
Situational factors such as the health of the patient increased the chances of being mistreated in the institutions. The perpetrators took advantage of the situation of the patients and their inability to identify with their environment and the place they were being held. Similarly, the psychiatric institutions were not near the public and the other sections of the hospital. Therefore, the perpetrators participated in these practices in the belief that what happened in the wards would never get to the public ears or the institution management. Similarly, patients could not report of these incidences as they had a hard time convincing the head of the institution or the other members of staff that one staff member mistreated them.
The institutions, also failed to teach their staff members on morality and upholding ethical standards. Butcher, Hooley, and Mineka (2014), comment that, the ethical standing of an individual is dependent in a large part on their environment and the institutional efforts to change these situations. Continued emphasis on the ethical standards and defining the activities of every staff member in an institution is primary in the establishment of a system that supports ethical standards. The institutions where there were reports of mistreatment were where the staff members of staff were never trained on ethical standards with the conception that as adults they were socially responsible and could make sound judgment.
In conclusion, maltreatment of psychiatric patients in the eighteenth and nineteenth century was rampant with the victims of these practices unable to stand for themselves. The caretakers in these institutions took advantage of the health situation of the patients and mistreated them. Other factors such as cultural, situational, and ethical are considered a trigger for the mistreatment of patients in the psychiatric institutions. Similar cases have been reported in many other institutions in the present world to suggest the continued practice of similar characters. Interventions should be devised to help in the revolutionizing of such characters in psychiatric and other institutions.

References
Butcher, J. N., Hooley, J. M., & Mineka, S. M. (2014). Abnormal Psychology. Boston, Massachussets: Pearson Publishers.
Zimbardo. (2007). Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: A Lesson in the Power of Situation. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 53(30), B6.