Presenter(s): Rachel McGill
Faculty Mentor(s): Kristin Yarris
Oral Session 2 SW
Mental health affects all individuals directly or indirectly and remains a significant problem within the global burden of disease. As there is not a test for a schizophrenia diagnosis, nor a direct form of treatment, it has proved difficult to diagnose and control in patients even now. When looking to analyze the history of mental health, the Morningside Hospital in Portland provides original documents of patient records with various psychiatric diagnoses, with a heavy concentration of schizophrenic patients. Morningside Hospital ran from 1883- 1986, and through a contract with the US Interior, Alaskan patients were transported to Morningside as a mental illness was seen as a crime in Alaska. By using patient records from 1955-1958 donated by Dr. William Burke, a doctor at the hospital, diagnostic coding, and interviews, an outline of patient treatment were analyzed. Shown through the findings with patients being treated with ECT, electroshock therapy declined from 1955 to 1958 and the use of Thorazine increased during this period. While we have moved away from the controversial treatment of shipping mentally ill patients from Alaska to Morningside, the mental health industry is still facing financial problems, many state hospitals are now closed, and community outreach programs are stretched to the breaking point. Through this research, there is optimism that recognizing the past will be used to model the future. In the future, it will remain paramount that how mental disorders are perceived, diagnosed and treated continues to evolve and grow to reduce mental health’s global burden of disease.