The Foundation of the First Western Mental Asylum
2010; American Psychiatric Association; Volume: 167; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.09030371
ISSN1535-7228
AutoresLorenzo Livianos Aldana, Pilar Sierra, Luís Rojo Moreno,
Tópico(s)Medical History and Research
ResumoBack to table of contents Previous article Next article Images in PsychiatryFull AccessThe Foundation of the First Western Mental AsylumLorenzo Livianos Aldana, M.D., Ph.D., Pilar Sierra San Miguel, M.D., Ph.D., and Luis Rojo Moreno, M.D., Ph.D.Lorenzo Livianos AldanaSearch for more papers by this author, M.D., Ph.D., Pilar Sierra San MiguelSearch for more papers by this author, M.D., Ph.D., and Luis Rojo MorenoSearch for more papers by this author, M.D., Ph.D.Published Online:1 Mar 2010https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.09030371AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail On the morning of Feb. 24, 1409, while Friar Jofré (1350–1417) was heading to the Cathedral of Valencia to preach the sermon on the first Sunday of Lent, he saw a crowd mistreating and making fun of a mentally ill man. Outraged, he spoke in his sermon about the need for an institution for the mentally ill (1, 2). Ten merchants offered to provide the necessary funds to carry out Friar Jofré's request, and on March 15, 1410, the building of a hospital, Spital Dels Folls, Orats, e Ignocents (Hospital of the Lunatics, Insane, and Innocents), began (2).Friar Jofré rescued Christian captives as a Mercedarian friar in North Africa. In his missions he may have heard about hospitals for the mentally ill that already existed in the Arab world (3). He may also have met Christians admitted to such hospitals suffering from pellagra (2). Although some hospitals in England and Germany admitted mentally ill patients, this hospital was the first one built only for that purpose (4). The Spanish humanistic tradition regarding the mentally ill spread throughout Iberia and then to the Hispanic Americas (5, 6). Philippe Pinel would later praise the occupational therapy used for treatment in this institution (7). For over six centuries, the Spital Dels Folls, Orats, e Ignocents of Valencia has been a beacon institution for the treatment of mental illness.Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Sierra, Psychiatry Service, Hospital la Fe, Avda. de Campanar 21, Valencia 46009, Spain; sierra._pil@gva.es (e-mail). Painting reproduced with the permission of the Diputación de Valencia, Valencia, Spain (Fray Gilabert Jofré amparando a un loco [Father Gilabert Jofré protecting an insane person], by Joaquin Sorolla Bastida, 1887, oil on canvas, 202×150 cm). Image accepted for publication May 2009.References1 Ramajo Alista F : Vida y Obra del Padre Juan Gilabert Jofré. Valencia, Spain, Diputación de Valencia, 1998 Google Scholar2 Tropé H : Del Hospital de los Inocentes (1409–1512) a la Casa de los Locos del Hospital General (1512–1699), in El Manicomio de Valencia del Siglo XV al XX. Edited by Livianos L. Madrid, Paradox, 2006, pp 15–117 Google Scholar3 Ackernecht EH : A Short History of Medicine. Montreal, Maxwell Macmillan, 1970 Google Scholar4 Rumbaut RD : The first psychiatry hospital of the western world. Am J Psychiatry 1972; 128:1305–1309 Link, Google Scholar5 López-Ibor JL : La fundación en Valencia del primer hospital psiquiátrico del mundo. Actas Esp Psiquiatr 2008; 36:1–9 Medline, Google Scholar6 Delgado Roig J : Fundaciones Psiquiátricas en Sevilla y Nuevo Mundo. Madrid, Paz Montalvo, 1945 Google Scholar7 Pinel P : Traité médico-philosophique sur l'aliénation mentale, ou la Manie (an IX). Paris, Richard, Caille & Ravier, 1801 Google Scholar FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited byThe Lions of Granada MaristanJesús Pérez, M.D., Ph.D., Fernando Girón-Irueste, M.D., Ph.D., Manuel Gurpegui, M.D., Ross J. Baldessarini, M.D., and Jose de Leon, M.D.1 February 2013 | American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 170, No. 2From Sin to Science: Fighting the Stigmatization of Mental Illnesses1 August 2012 | The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 57, No. 8Psychiatric Quarterly, Vol. 83, No. 4 Volume 167Issue 3 March 2010Pages 260-260 Metrics PDF download History Accepted 1 May 2009 Published online 1 March 2010 Published in print 1 March 2010
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