Family and monastery nursing
The everyday life of the mentally ill
Our knowledge of the everyday life of the mentally ill in the past
is meagre, since there are few documents about this topic. During
antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages a lot of the psychically
ill were nursed at home. In ancient Israel, for example, mad persons
from rich families lived a protected family life, but their legal
status was that of incompetence. However, during periods of recovery
these persons enjoyed normal legal status. The religious prophets
were often viewed as mad, but they were rescpected because of their
special talents. The circumstances of poor, mad individuals were
considerably harder. They were often mocked and ridiculed and even
stoned in the streets. Similar conditions prevailed in Greece and
the Roman Empire.
Christian hospitals helped the mentally
ill
 In
the medieval era, when Christianity was established, many mentally
ill persons congregated near churches. These persons were poor mad
individuals who were allowed to wander freely about among other
homeless, unless they were violent. Even chronically ill individuals
who were disruptive and who could not be nursed at home, gathered
around the churches. The psychically ill might then be placed at
Christian hospitals and monasteries.
The Order of the Holy Ghost cared for
the ill and poor
During the twelfth century the first Swedish hospitals for insane
as well as other ill persons were founded. The hospitals were lodging-houses
created by an order called the Helgeandsorder (that is the Order
of the Holy Ghost). In London a corresponding shelter named Bedlam
was formed in 1247. It was founded by the Order of Mary of Bethlehem.
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