'Women trouble', immorality and post traumatic stress from fighting in the civil war: The reasons patients were admitted to a lunatic asylum in the 1800s

Records from West Virginia mental institution reveal society's attitudes

Sprawling estate housed thousands of patients subjected to lobotomies and other shock treatments



From 'feebleness of intellect' to 'women trouble' the reasons a patient could be admitted to a lunatic asylum in the late 1800s reveals inequality and a poor understanding of mental health issues.



While the startling list of reasons for admission at Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum may give only a glimpse of what caused the patient to be sent there, it reveals a lot about society's attitudes.



The sprawling West Virginia institution was closed in 1994, after more than 100 years of lobotomies and cold bath treatments for its patients, many of whom just had the misfortune to have been abandoned by their families.



Locked away: West Virginia's Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum was open to the 'feeble minded'

A theme quickly emerges in the list, which was published on Usvsth3m.com , showing how women in particular were at the mercy of their husbands and families.



'Marriage of son', 'desertion by husband' and 'domestic trouble' all stand out as examples of inequality masked by a very different attitude to women's rights between 1864 to 1889, when the list was compiled.



'In 1872 ... if [a woman's] husband had a mistress or if she had inherited money ... he could bring her here,' a guide at the former asylum told the Los Angeles Times .



'He could sign her in and leave her until he decided to come back and get her - or until she died, whichever came first.'

Women's health issues were also seemingly neglected under a catch all of lunacy. 'Imaginary female trouble', 'suppression of menses' - which could be the case of being pregnant out of wedlock, or caused by an eating disorder or other illness - and hysteria.

The weaker sex, as women were defined at the time the asylum first opened, also meant a strong attitude could land them in trouble, with 'nymphomania' and 'seduction and disappointment' reasons for admission.

Admitted: A list shows the reasons given for having a patient moved to the asylum from 1864 to 1889

Construction of the asylum, which is nearly quarter of a mile long, began in 1858. It was originally intended to house '240' souls, but at its peak in the 1950s 2,400 patients were crammed in together.



Although records show many people were admitted for sexual deviance or promiscuity, others were admitted for 'bad company' or even 'bad whiskey'.

Suspicions of crime or suicide are also alluded to. Among the admissions are entries for gun shot wounds, shooting a child and 'rumor of husband murder'.

The effects of the civil war, and even office work, also appeared to have had its toll on West Virginian residents, with possible early cases of post traumatic stress syndrome and nervous breakdowns appearing.



Entries for 'The War', 'exposure in army' and 'fell from a horse in the war' appear, alongside 'business nerves' and 'over taxing mental powers'.

Patients at the hospital would have been exposed to methods that were considered ground breaking in their day, but cruel by today's standards.



Foreboding: The West Virginia asylum, with its long, stark corridors, has been empty since 1994

Tours: The only people admitted to the hospital now are tourists wanting to hear grisly details about its past from the guides who dress as nurses

A nurse recalled being present as a doctor performed a lobotomy with an ice-pick type instrument, and other patients were subjected to cold bath treatments in an attempt to stop their hysteria.



Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum finally closed in 1994, as attitudes and the treatment of patients with mental health issues changed.