Tuke focused
treatments
towards
personalized attention and kind
heartedness.
He believed that
compassion,
not
cruelty,
could help cure
those afflicted
with many mental
illnesses.
Occupational
therapy
was
introduced, with
patients encouraged
to
engage
i n
mild labour in
the fields, giving
them
a
sense of worth
and reminding
them of the
lives they used
to live. In the
picturesque and
tranquil settings
Tuke’s treatments
began to take effect.
In addition to the personalized therapies there was a strong
community bond built within The
Retreat based upon trust and order.
Everyone felt part of the community
and could help contribute to daily
life. Patients wore their own clothes
and were treated as people who
had temporarily lost social behaviours but that they could recover
them through moral strength and
self-restraint.
Tuke focused treatments
towards personalized attention
and kind heartedness. He believed
that compassion, not cruelty,
could help cure those afflicted with
many mental illnesses.
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