Od izolacji do leczenia
From Isolation to Treatment

Evolution of Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill in the Nineteenth-Century Prussia, as Seen in the Case of the Provincial Department for the Mentally Ill in Darłowo (1841–1900)

Summary/Abstract: The situation of the mentally ill changed significantly at the end of the eighteenth and in the nineteenth century, the era that saw a gradual dissemination of humanitarian ideas. In Prussia, the humanitarian reforms began in the early nineteenth century and resulted in the establishment of several institutions for the mentally ill, which were to appear in all provinces of the Hohenzollern monarchy. One of these facilities was the institution in Darłowo (Rügenwalde), which was established in 1842. The aim of the paper is to answer the question whether the humanitarian proposals were implemented in practice. To date, Polish researchers have studied these issues only in the context of the Province of Silesia and Province of Posen. The application of the comparative method and the analysis of the documents, including rules and guidelines for the facility in Darłowo, have demonstrated that the implementation of the reforms in the Province of Pomerania was significantly delayed. The facility in Darłowo was not meant as an institution for treating patients with mental illness until the 1860s. The organisation of the staff, little or no variety in categorising patients, and slim chances of leaving the facility indicate that its main aim was to isolate patients from the society. The humanitarian ideas can be deemed to have been implemented only as of 1863, i.e. after the institution had been reorganised. It was then that the main task of the facility became to effectively and non-violently treat the mentally ill and enable their return to society.

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