Bedlam

As a student at Trinity College, Cambridge (1810-1812), the English mathematician Charles Babbage (1791-1871) was a member of the Extractors Club, dedicated to liberating its members from the madhouse, should any be committed to one.

Of course, at the time the most famous psychiatric institution was the Bethlem Royal Hospital in London, variously known as St. Mary Bethlehem, Bethlem Hospital, Bethlehem Hospital and Bedlam.

Bedlam became notorious for the brutal ill-treatment meted out to the mentally ill. In the 18th century people used to go to Bedlam to stare at the lunatics. For a penny one could peer into their cells, view the freaks of the “show of Bethlehem” and laugh at their antics. Entry was free on the first Tuesday of the month. In 1814 alone, there were 96,000 such visits.

The word “bedlam” became synonymous with an insane asylum, or any place or situation of noisy uproar and confusion.

One might be confused and noisy indeed if one were involuntarily committed to such an institution and forcibly given psychiatric drugs, as happens frequently today. The fact is, every 1¼ minutes, someone in the U.S. becomes the next victim of involuntary incarceration in a psychiatric hospital.

While involuntary commitment laws enrich the psychiatric industry, they not only deprive individuals of their freedom of choice, but milk millions of health insurance dollars annually from private, state, national and military health plans.

For more information about involuntary commitment, download and read the CCHR booklet Involuntary Psychiatric Commitment – A Crack in the Door of Constitutional Freedoms.

A Living Will lets you specify decisions about your health care treatment in advance. Should you be in a position where you are to be subject to unwanted psychiatric hospitalization and/or mental or medical treatment, a Letter of Protection from Psychiatric Incarceration and/or Treatment directs that such incarceration, hospitalization, treatment or procedures not be imposed, committed or used on you. Download the document and follow the instructions now.

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