Chemical Restraint at Callan Park Hospital for the Insane in Sydney, New South Wales, 1877 to 1920

Abstract

The management of the behaviour of the insane by psychotropic medications began to be known as ‘chemical restraint’ from the late nineteenth century. The use of chemical restraints and their effects on patients at a major insane asylum in Sydney, New South Wales, in the late colonial and early Federation period are examined. Sedated patients required less labour to feed, toilet, and control and, unlike physically restrained patients, were less likely to attract adverse comment from visitors. Although the rapid growth of asylums in this era of ‘moral management’ would have been impossible without the use of chemical restraints, it is questionable as to whether this approach was beneficial to the patients.