The History of Territorial Psychiatric Hospitals in Russia

The establishment of district psychiatric hospitals in the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th-early 20th century is one of the most important stages in the development of domestic psychiatry. In fact, it was the first experience in the design and construction of psychiatric hospitals as large specialized autonomous complexes aimed not only at isolation of patients, but also at therapy of their condition. The idea of building such institutions was suggested by reality itself: city houses for the mentally ill under the jurisdiction of provincial and then zemstvo authorities were overcrowded, but there was a lack of specialized doctors, since psychiatry in Russia in the first half of the 19th century was only beginning to gain scientific prestige. In a sense, the development of Russian psychiatry and the evolution of the project of district hospitals for the mentally ill pushed each other: leading psychiatrists of their time took a most enthusiastic part in the development of the project, and the hospitals established through their efforts provided enormous practical material for studying mental diseases and methods of their therapy.