Mental Asylum

[samanthamaddie]

A very quick and possibly rather silly question...
Did you have to have mental health problems to be in a mental institution?

On my Great-Grandparents death certificates, each of them are being treated in mental institutions in Dublin where they subsequently died.

My Great-Grandfather died in 1961 at St Brendans, which was a psychiatric hospital. The cause of death was Colon Cancer.
My Great-Grandmother died in 1981 at St Ita's hospital, which was a 'mental asylum'. The main cause of death was a stroke. 

Does anybody know if the hospitals treated patients who were ill or were they just for those with mental health problems?
And do you have any information about these hospitals?

Help clearing this up would be much appreciated!

[Sinann]

The key word here is asylum not mental, if you couldn't cope for any reason you ended up in one of these hospitals.
This piece on St.Brendan's explains the time quite well.
http://www.privatehomecare.ie/news-d.asp?ART_ID=280

[Oliverd]

They were NOT general hospitals for illness they were Psychiatric hospitals.

The sending of people into institutions was not always because people were suffering from a Mental illness, people were often sent there by family because of disputes over property or because they were wayward or even things like Post Natal depression or depression. There had been a rule that person who signed you in would be who signed you out but reality was people left there and forgotten.The list goes on and on.

At St Itas patients who died and not claimed by Family were buried either in Graveyard in Portrane overllooking the sea where there is no gravestones or in St Patricks Graveyard in Donabate.

[samanthamaddie]

The article that you posted Sinann was really helpful. It gave me a much better sense of the St Brendan's hospital. I do not know the full circumstances of why my Great-Grandfather went there, but I have found where the records for the hospital are held so hopefully I will find some more information from there.

[Sinann]

Glad it was useful, it's very sad and quite disturbing to read but at least there is hope for the future.
I hope you can find out more, assuming  your great grandfather was quite young when he went there 60s or 70s perhaps (as his wife lived for another 20 years after him) I'd be inclined to think he wasn't dumped there but went for some reason that at that time was considered a legitimate reason.

His wife may have had smaller strokes before the one she died from, add the natural confusion of old age and it's easy to see why she could have ended up in St.Ita's
 Of course we don't know how long before they died either of them were there.
Good Luck with your search.

[Oliverd]

Spoke to my mum and she has indicated that records of everybody that was buried in St Ita's Graveyard in Portrane are still held within Portrane Hospital.

Wonder what the rules are for making them available.