While Shocking by Today’s Standards, America’s First Public Mental Hospital Was a Step Forward
Last month marked 241 years since America’s first public mental hospital opened in Williamsburg, Virginia. The Public Hospital for Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds took in its first patient on Oct. 12, 1773, at a time when the colonies still belonged to England. Treatment at the hospital could be brutal. One procedure called for dunking patients in […]