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December, 1940 TREND OF MENTAL DISEASE—WATKINS quickly and proportionately affected by the prosperity or lack of it as represented by the great corporations of the country as a whole. In 1893-94 there was a panic. In the first year the applications jumped up 4 per 100,000, but in 1894 they were down 5. In 1896 there was a smaller panic, and the applications were up 1.3 per 100,000. In 1897, when the panic was practically over, they increased nearly 9. There was a panic in 1907 and the applications jumped 9.2. In 1908, while the panic was still on, they remained about the same, but in 1909, when prosperity returned, it climbed another 7.9. Our entrance into the World War, with all of its emotional shocks, did not cause an increase over 1916, the two years being almost identical. But in 1918, while the war was still on, there was a drop of nearly 9. A part of this drop can probably be accounted for by the large number of young men in the army. By 1919 the number had again climbed up to where it was in 1916-17. In 1920, the first year of prohibition, there was a drop of nearly 7. This marked drop was also noted in Massachusetts, and Dr. Dayton attributed it to the influence of prohibition. But in both North Carolina and Massachusetts by 1921 it had again begun to climb, our own figures showing an increase of nearly 11. Some of us will remember that by 1921 home-brewed substitutes had been found. The figure climbed rather rapidly until 1923, and then dropped somewhat. In the greatest of all our panics, that of 1929 and ’30, there were almost exactly the same number of applications as for the supposedly prosperous year of 1928. In 1932, when our prosperity really scraped bottom, there were 6.6 fewer applications per 100,- 000 than for 1928. Our high water mark for all time was reached in 1937, a year which we have recently looked upon as fairly prosperous. On the whole, I think we can say that in North Carolina so-called prosperity and depression cycles of the nation affect our applications very little. Is it not possible that much of this relative increase in the number of applications has been due to the gradual breaking down of the dread of a State Hospital? Is it not possible that the hospitals have become more attractive and that the stigma of having been in a State Hospital has grown less? But assuming that this more friendly attitude of our population towards the State Hospital does not account for all the increase in ap- plications, and that there is an actual slight increase in mental diseases, cannot it be accounted for by the startling revelations in the Massachusetts findings? We think of youth as being the dangerous period for insanity. When our youth have gotten through the twenties with clear minds we sigh with relief. Undoubtedly, much of our mental disease originates in youth, but this is because there are so many young people. The Massachusetts figures show that a man of eighty to ninety is 19 times as likely to lose his mind as is a youth in his teens. From sixty years up is really the dangerous time, every decade becoming rapidly more dangerous. Not in a single decade from youth to old age does the liability decrease rather than increase. From fifty to sixty it is over 5 times as great as in the teens, and from forty to fifty it is 4.9 times as great. In other words, the older the average population the greater the incidence of mental disease. Quoting Lombard for Massachusetts (1933) : “Two generations ago the average age at time of death of all individuals in Massachusetts was about 31 years. Today it is around 54, a gain of some 20 years.” As this was being written, a brochure came through the mail from The National Physicians Committee for the extension of medical service which states that the life span of the average man is now 62 years. The analysis of this first chart has attempted to answer the question of the medical man as a scientist and the humanitarian question of the philanthropist. Now we turn to a chart which concerns our pocket books. Up until now we have considered the population as static, but in reality North Carolina is a very rapidly growing state. This increase in the number of our people increases the demands on our State Hospitals. The next chart climbs much more rapidly. The average or median line of this chart does not follow a straight line as did the other, but presents a curve. The curve, unfortunately, does not show a tendency to straighten out and eventually become less, as would a circle, but the climb seems to be ever steeper. In 1886 there were about 150 applications for the year. We did not reach 200 applications a year until 1893. It stayed at about this level until sometime in 1894. Nine years later, or in 1903, we had reached 300 applications a year. A little over eleven years later, or in 1914, we had reached 400 a year. Eight years later, in 1922, we had reached
Object Description
Rating | |
Fixed Title * | NCHH-17: North Carolina Medical Journal [1940-2001] |
Document Title | North Carolina Medical Journal [1940-2001] |
Subject Topical Other | Public Health -- Periodicals.; Physicians -- North Carolina -- Directory.; Societies, Medical -- North Carolina -- Periodicals. |
Description | Includes Transactions of the Society, -1960; 1961- , Transactions issued separately, bound in.; Includes Transactions of the auxiliary to the Medical Society of the State of North Carolina and Proceedings of the North Carolina Public Health Association. Official organ of the Medical Society of the State of North Carolina, 1940-May 1972; of the North Carolina Medical Society, June 1972-. Vols. for 1940-May 1972 published by the Medical Society of the State of North Carolina; June 1972- by the North Carolina Medical Society. |
Contributor | Medical Society of the State of North Carolina. Transactions.; Medical Society of the State of North Carolina.; North Carolina Medical Society.; North Carolina Medical Society. Transactions.; North Carolina Public Health Association. Proceedings. |
Publisher | [Winston-Salem] : North Carolina Medical Society [etc.], 1940- |
Repository | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Health Sciences Library. |
Host | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Date | 1940 |
Identifier | NCHH-17-001 |
Form General | Periodicals |
Language | English |
Rights | This item is part of the North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection. Some materials in the Collection are protected by U.S. copyright law. This item is presented by the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for research and educational purposes. It may not be republished or distributed without permission of the Health Sciences Library. |
Digital Collection | North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection |
Sponsor | The North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection is an open access publishing initiative of the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Financial support for the initiative was provided in part by a multi-year NC ECHO (Exploring Cultural Heritage Online) digitization grant, awarded by the State Library of North Carolina, and funded through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). |
Volume Number | 1 |
Health Discipline | Medicine |
Digital Format | JPEG 2000 |
Print / Download PDF Version | http://archives.hsl.unc.edu/nchh/nchh-17/nchh-17-001.pdf |
Document Sort | all; nchh-17 |
Volume Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/identi/searchterm/NCHH-17-001 |
Title Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/documa/searchterm/NCHH-17 |
Catalog Record link | http://search.lib.unc.edu/search?R=UNCb1306322 |
Revision History | done |
Description
Fixed Title * | Page 641 |
Document Title | North Carolina Medical Journal [1940-2001] |
Subject Topical Other | Public Health -- Periodicals.; Physicians -- North Carolina -- Directory.; Societies, Medical -- North Carolina -- Periodicals. |
Description | Includes Transactions of the Society, -1960; 1961- , Transactions issued separately, bound in.; Includes Transactions of the auxiliary to the Medical Society of the State of North Carolina and Proceedings of the North Carolina Public Health Association. Official organ of the Medical Society of the State of North Carolina, 1940-May 1972; of the North Carolina Medical Society, June 1972-. Vols. for 1940-May 1972 published by the Medical Society of the State of North Carolina; June 1972- by the North Carolina Medical Society. |
Contributor | Medical Society of the State of North Carolina. Transactions.; Medical Society of the State of North Carolina.; North Carolina Medical Society.; North Carolina Medical Society. Transactions.; North Carolina Public Health Association. Proceedings. |
Publisher | [Winston-Salem] : North Carolina Medical Society [etc.], 1940- |
Repository | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Health Sciences Library. |
Host | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Date | 1940 |
Identifier | NCHH-17-001-0677 |
Form General | Periodicals |
Page Type | all; article |
Language | English |
Rights | This item is part of the North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection. Some materials in the Collection are protected by U.S. copyright law. This item is presented by the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for research and educational purposes. It may not be republished or distributed without permission of the Health Sciences Library. |
Filename | northcarolinamed11940medi_0677.jp2 |
Digital Collection | North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection |
Sponsor | The North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection is an open access publishing initiative of the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Financial support for the initiative was provided in part by a multi-year NC ECHO (Exploring Cultural Heritage Online) digitization grant, awarded by the State Library of North Carolina, and funded through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). |
Volume Number | 1 |
Issue Number | 12 |
Page Number | 641 |
Health Discipline | Medicine |
Full Text | December, 1940 TREND OF MENTAL DISEASE—WATKINS quickly and proportionately affected by the prosperity or lack of it as represented by the great corporations of the country as a whole. In 1893-94 there was a panic. In the first year the applications jumped up 4 per 100,000, but in 1894 they were down 5. In 1896 there was a smaller panic, and the applications were up 1.3 per 100,000. In 1897, when the panic was practically over, they increased nearly 9. There was a panic in 1907 and the applications jumped 9.2. In 1908, while the panic was still on, they remained about the same, but in 1909, when prosperity returned, it climbed another 7.9. Our entrance into the World War, with all of its emotional shocks, did not cause an increase over 1916, the two years being almost identical. But in 1918, while the war was still on, there was a drop of nearly 9. A part of this drop can probably be accounted for by the large number of young men in the army. By 1919 the number had again climbed up to where it was in 1916-17. In 1920, the first year of prohibition, there was a drop of nearly 7. This marked drop was also noted in Massachusetts, and Dr. Dayton attributed it to the influence of prohibition. But in both North Carolina and Massachusetts by 1921 it had again begun to climb, our own figures showing an increase of nearly 11. Some of us will remember that by 1921 home-brewed substitutes had been found. The figure climbed rather rapidly until 1923, and then dropped somewhat. In the greatest of all our panics, that of 1929 and ’30, there were almost exactly the same number of applications as for the supposedly prosperous year of 1928. In 1932, when our prosperity really scraped bottom, there were 6.6 fewer applications per 100,- 000 than for 1928. Our high water mark for all time was reached in 1937, a year which we have recently looked upon as fairly prosperous. On the whole, I think we can say that in North Carolina so-called prosperity and depression cycles of the nation affect our applications very little. Is it not possible that much of this relative increase in the number of applications has been due to the gradual breaking down of the dread of a State Hospital? Is it not possible that the hospitals have become more attractive and that the stigma of having been in a State Hospital has grown less? But assuming that this more friendly attitude of our population towards the State Hospital does not account for all the increase in ap- plications, and that there is an actual slight increase in mental diseases, cannot it be accounted for by the startling revelations in the Massachusetts findings? We think of youth as being the dangerous period for insanity. When our youth have gotten through the twenties with clear minds we sigh with relief. Undoubtedly, much of our mental disease originates in youth, but this is because there are so many young people. The Massachusetts figures show that a man of eighty to ninety is 19 times as likely to lose his mind as is a youth in his teens. From sixty years up is really the dangerous time, every decade becoming rapidly more dangerous. Not in a single decade from youth to old age does the liability decrease rather than increase. From fifty to sixty it is over 5 times as great as in the teens, and from forty to fifty it is 4.9 times as great. In other words, the older the average population the greater the incidence of mental disease. Quoting Lombard for Massachusetts (1933) : “Two generations ago the average age at time of death of all individuals in Massachusetts was about 31 years. Today it is around 54, a gain of some 20 years.” As this was being written, a brochure came through the mail from The National Physicians Committee for the extension of medical service which states that the life span of the average man is now 62 years. The analysis of this first chart has attempted to answer the question of the medical man as a scientist and the humanitarian question of the philanthropist. Now we turn to a chart which concerns our pocket books. Up until now we have considered the population as static, but in reality North Carolina is a very rapidly growing state. This increase in the number of our people increases the demands on our State Hospitals. The next chart climbs much more rapidly. The average or median line of this chart does not follow a straight line as did the other, but presents a curve. The curve, unfortunately, does not show a tendency to straighten out and eventually become less, as would a circle, but the climb seems to be ever steeper. In 1886 there were about 150 applications for the year. We did not reach 200 applications a year until 1893. It stayed at about this level until sometime in 1894. Nine years later, or in 1903, we had reached 300 applications a year. A little over eleven years later, or in 1914, we had reached 400 a year. Eight years later, in 1922, we had reached |
Digital Format | JPEG 2000 |
Print / Download PDF Version | http://archives.hsl.unc.edu/nchh/nchh-17/nchh-17-001.pdf |
Document Sort | all; nchh-17 |
Article Title | A Report On The Trend Of Mental Disease In The Western State Hospital District Of North Carolina |
Article Author | F B Watkins |
Volume Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/identi/searchterm/NCHH-17-001 |
Title Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/documa/searchterm/NCHH-17 |
Catalog Record link | http://search.lib.unc.edu/search?R=UNCb1306322 |
Revision History | done |
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