Inside the Bethlem Royal Hospital and the Horrors Behind Closed Doors.

Bethlem Royal Hospital was the only institution in Europe that was handling society's mentally or criminally unwell, for the vast majority of European history. The hospital was severely overcrowded and under supported.

The hospital didn't treat the patients with kindness, they instead subjected to horrendous cruelty, experimentation, neglect, and humiliation. These were all socially acceptable up until the 20th century.

The chaos and confusion was defined by the word "bedlam." It was coined as a descriptor for the asylum during the height of its malfeasance.

The Founding of Bethlem Royal Hospital

Bethlem Royal Hospital was established in 1247, and it was the first of its kind in Great Britain. There was never a place for those with mental illness, physical; disability, and a criminal history to be safely locked away from society.

The building was an architectural marvel during the time and it was rebuilt in the 1600s and designed with Louis XIV's Tuileries Palace in Paris in mind. The hospital featured tree-lined gardens and walkways.

Even though it was described as a palace, it was quickly known for the happenings on the inside.

Patients were coming to Bethlem with complaints such as "chronic mania" or "acute melancholy" and others were admitted for crimes such as infanticide, homicide, and even "ruffianism."

Once they were admitted, that didn't mean they were on their way to be rehabilitated. Treatment at the facility implied more than isolation and experimentation.

If a patient was able to survive the asylum, they and their families were worse by the end of their stay. Patients were subjected to "treatments" such as "rotating therapy," this was when patients were seated in a chair that was suspended from the ceiling and spun in as 100 rotations per minute.

The purpose of this was to induce vomiting, this was a popular purgative cure for most ailments during the period. Medieval physicians believed that mental disorders actually lived in the body and not in the brain. So, it could only be exorcised through rigorous activity.

But, the result was vertigo, and the patients contributed in a large body of research in contemporary vertigo patients.

Bedlam

The hospital was descended into mismanagement and chaos by the 1600s. It was the only mental health facility in Britain and it was dependent upon government funding and patient donation.

But, it was poorly funded by the government and so, it was heavily dependent on the patients' families and private donors, but, many of those admitted came from poverty or middle class families.

The hospital was so notoriously abusive that it became referenced in plays by Shakespeare and Thomas Middleton.

The hospital became less of a hospital and more of a sideshow by the 18th century. People visited the hospital from all over to see the patients, some would even arrange holidays around it.

The hospital saw 96,000 visitors a year.

None of these patients were "freaks", but the hospital was reliant upon the money it was getting from guests that would pay to see them, so the patients were certainly driven to behave outlandishly.

The population was booming causing the hospital to fall into disrepair. The 1601 Relief or the Poor act stated that poor people that were unable to work could be cared for by the church, while the others had to go to workhouses or prisons. Beggars and petty criminals started to feign insanity in order to avoid being sent there, this caused overcrowding in the already chaotic Bedlam.

The "Bedlamites," were what the patients were nicknames, they were subjected to horrific treatments. They were both experimental and cruel. The patients were often only desired for the study of their corpses, others were simply tossed into a mass grave on Liverpool Street.

It wasn't until more recently that researches have discovered how disturbing the conditions in the hospital truly were. Construction workers at the hospital unearthed a mass grave of some 20,000 patients. The oldest dated back to the 1500s.

Attempts to Turn the Hospital Around

In 1815, county asylums, private institutions, and charitable asylums were examined to see how they were treating their patients. The results of the examinations were shocking.

Thomas Monro, the Principal Physician at Bedlam, was consequently forced to resign once it was discovered that he was "wanting humanity" towards the patients.

William Hood, a physician in residence at Bethlem, decided that the hospital needed to be changed. He wanted to create rehabilitation programs that would help the hospital's patients rather than the administrators.

He pushed for the separation of patients who were mentally ill and those who were institutionalized for crimes. He was later on knighted for his service to this post.

During World War II, the hospital was moved to a more rural location, this was meant to improve the patient's lives. This move would also help rid the institution of its horrendous legacy.

Many patients were photographed upon admission, a note or two would also be written about their "diagnosis."

Today, the hospital does not hide it's history, it instead features an art gallery that displays work of current and former patients.