TREATMENT OF THE INSANE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 35, 11 February 1914, Page 2

TREATMENT OF THE INSANE

IMMENSE STRIDES. (PRESS ASSOCIATION.) AUCKLAND. 10th February. In the psychological medicine and neurology section at tho Medical Congress, the presidential address of Dr. Chisholm Ross was read by Dr. Godfrey, of tho Hospital for Insane (Melbourne). The address reviewed tho progress made in the treatment of mental disorders during the last thirty yeare. Dr. Ross contrasted the conditions when he started asylum work, in 1884, with the methods and appliances of the present day, illustrating the immense strides made in the matter of administration and treatment within that period. He laid especial emphasis on the value of efficient staffing, and pointed out the great improvement that had taken place in our mental hospitals in this respect. In the old days a home for the retention of the inBane was an asylum in the simplest acceptation of the term, whereas mental hospitals Were now subdivided into numerous departments. A particularly important feature of these institutions was the establishment of receiving houses for the observation of borderline caaes. The President, in summing tip the situation, compared the work and study on mental disorder in Australasia with the methods in other countries, and contended that tho mental hospitals of Auetralia compared very favourably today with those of England and the Continent of Europe. A psychological paper of deep interest to the profession was one read by Dr. Andrew Davidson on "the universal recognition by medical schools of neurology and mental disorders as a. compulsory subject." The theme was dealt ■with along necessarily technical lines, but claims wide interest as illustrating the increasing hold which the psychological aspect is obtaining among men of medicine in their combat 'with mental and nervous disorders.