Mental Disease and Defect 



43 



paralyzed; one child feeble-minded; one son in Central Insane 

 Hospital ; three boys incorrigible ; one child died of brain fever". 



TABLE XI Y. TRIE INSANITY— CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO 



CIYIL STATE 





MARRIED 



SINGLE 



TOTAL 



Males 



13 



6 



19 





20 



8 



28 



Total 



33 



14 



47 



The number now cared for in institutions is small, numbering 

 4 males and 13 females. Of those formerly in institutions, there 

 are 7 males and 6 females. The great number of recommitments 

 among these patients is a serious waste. Many have been returned 

 three or four times to the same institutions. Altho they are 

 usually withdrawn upon the urgent insistence of the family, all 

 too often they are released by the institution which because of 

 insufficient knowledge of the family situation, assumes that recov- 

 ery may continue at home. Follow-up work after a patient's dis- 

 charge and close supervision are necessary in almost every case, 

 to prevent a back-sliding into the former condition. A return 

 to life in the community is desirable when warranted by the 

 patient's condition, but these incurable cases whose periods of 

 improvement are transitory and short would seem better ofi^ and 

 safer to the community if held within the institution. 



Lucy G., age thirty-four years, is married and has 5 children. 

 She has paranoia and was formerly in an insane hospital for more 

 than a year. She has recently become so violent, her mania being 

 to burn and destroy, that her husband has again sent her to an 

 insane hospital. Her brother is also insane. 



Flora M. was sent to the hospital because of ear trouble and 

 enlarged glands of the neck. It was found that she was syphilitic 

 and insane. She caused trouble in the wards and threatened 

 suicide. Shortly after her discharge she was committed to an 

 insane hospital. She was discharged on furlough after two 

 months, recommitted and held four months, and discharged again. 

 Sh6 then married and moved to another section of the country. 

 What her history has been since her marriage is unknown. 



Lida M., age thirty-seven, gives the following family history: 

 her father was said to be very nervous ; one aunt is in an insane 

 hospital ; a brother died in a spasm ; one sister is in the Indiana 

 School for Feeble-minded Youth. The patient's institutional his- 

 tory is interesting. Her first commitment to an insane hospital 



