Use of physical restraints in a nineteenth-century state hospital

Archival records of physical restraint usage at the St. Louis Insane Asylum (now the St. Louis State Hospital) were examined from January through June 1885. The demographics of restrained patients were determined from archival admission records. In the 6-month (181-day) sample period, 53 patients accounted for the total of 2,537 incidents of night restraint. Sixty percent of the restrained patients were women and 53% were immigrants. By far most (98.5%) of the incidents of restraint were brought on by violent behaviour (fighting, destroying property, injury to self) while most incidents in modern hospitals result from verbal threats or shouting. When these records were combined with day restraint records from the same 6-month period in 1889, an overall incidence rate of 9.7% per month was estimated. This is similar to rates reported from modern psychiatric hospitals. Possible reasons for the discrepancies and similarities in the types of patients restrained and the activities which brought on restraint in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are discussed.