Treatments: Employment and Moral Management

This encompassed a broad spectrum of therapies

that were not what we might now regard as

medical or clinical treatment. It involved some

physical activities and also aimed to promote

strict routine, good behaviour and self-discipline

according to Christian principles. In the 1890s

and around the turn of the century, the Victorian

ethics of hard work and Christianity underpinned

both the structure of society and consequently

the management of institutions such as asylums

like Prestwich. The inclusion of a church on the

Prestwich site reflected this.

Employment was a key part of a patient’s

treatment - distraction through routine or

productive work in pleasant surroundings helped

relieve the symptoms of depression (melancholia)

and promoted self-control. Where a patient was fit

and capable of light physical activities, they may

be given supervised work tasks. For the female

inmates, tasks would include sewing, making

clothes for the patients, laundry work or cleaning.

Activities for male patients might include

carpentry, gardening or other outdoor work on

the farms. The attendants who supervised patients

were often employed because they had vocational

skills such as gardening, joinery or agricultural

skills which could be utilised to help provide

occupational therapy for patients.

While the work given to patients was part of

their care and treatment, this utilisation of

what was effectively a captive labour