Introduction
Today most of the countries have the mental health hospital services. However, mental health services must be assessed, re-evaluated and reformed to provide the best available treatment and care. Some of the crucial issues for service reorganization include the degree of collaboration between mental health hospital services and other non-health services, the availability of essential psychotropic drugs, methods for selecting mental health interventions, and the roles of public and private sectors in developing interventions.
History
There could be multiple claims to which are the best known mental health hospitals. We could even have a list of best few mental health hospitals around the world but to identify the best known mental health hospital is not an easy task.
According to Wikipedia, Broadmoor hospital is the best known hospital among high security mental health hospitals in England. It is located at Crowthorne in the Borough of Bracknell Forest in Berkshire. There are in fact three high security mental health hospitals in England. The other two high security mental health hospitals are located at Ashworth and Rampton.
Features
The mental health hospital at Broadmoor has a capacity for 260 patients. The in-mate facility is exclusively for males since women’s facility was moved in 2007 to Southall. Most of the patients admitted here suffer from extreme mental disorders and they are mostly the ones convicted of serious crimes. While there are patients here that have stayed for over 30 years, the average stay is approximately six years.
The top mental health hospitals are known for their unique therapies. This hospital is recognized for using art as a therapy
Tips and comments
The mental health hospitals were earlier identified as lunatic asylums. However, with the change in better understanding of mental disorders and discovery of revolutionary drugs, a change in attitude is reflected in the change in nomenclature. So, Broadmoor criminal lunatic asylum is now known as Broadmoor hospital.
Historically, there have been many famous and notorious “insane asylums”. These include Danvers State Hospital, McLean Hospital, Pilgram Psychiatric Center, Topeka State Hospital, Bethlem Royal Hospital and several others. These hospitals are recognized for their intriguing past.
Today, some of the best known mental health hospitals are either independent mental health hospitals or a part of the general hospital existing as mental health departments within the hospital. These include John Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore), Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston), McLean Hospital (Belmont), New York Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell (New York), Menninger Clinic (Houston), Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital (Baltimore), Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA (Los Angeles) among several others.
It is unfortunate that people with mental disorders are even today treated in a variety of settings, some of which are unscientific and old fashioned. Today the mental health hospitals are equipped with latest technique and infrastructure to deal with even the most difficult cases.
In contrast to the long years of stay or even permanent stay in mental asylums of the past, today the focus is on early intervention and shortened stays in mental health hospitals. Besides, the best mental health hospitals keep track of the patients based on successful discharge planning.
