Inpatient mental health care in the first world war

Abstract

The rising casualty rates during the first world war caused a major problem for the British government. As the numbers of soldiers affected grew, the War Office began requisitioning large public psychiatric asylums to be used as war hospitals to treat soldiers. One after another the institutions were emptied, often rapidly. The patients were dispersed to other public asylums across the country. This article investigates the impact of this policy on inpatients and nursing staff in asylums.