Reasons for Insanity and Admission to Insane Asylums in Late 1800s Minnesota

This research project examines the records from the first mental hospitals in Minnesota to determine the most frequent reasons for admission for treatment. The state hospitals were located in St. Peter, Rochester, and Fergus Falls. Admission data, patient records and psychiatric logs from the late 1800s were reviewed and were the source for archival data. The results indicate some common reasons for entering the hospitals were masturbation and sexual difficulties, delusions and hallucination, epilepsy, and intemperance. Frequencies of insanity causes and the forms of mental disorders are presented in table format. The report also includes brief explanations of how patents were treated for these various illnesses. Findings from this research can be used in future studies comparing mental illnesses and their treatments then and now