Images of Bethlem Royal Hospital:
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The seal of the priory of Saint Mary of Bethlem is said to have represented the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which was used by Bethlem Royal Hospital until 1948.
The seal of the priory of Saint Mary of Bethlem is said to have represented the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which was used by Bethlem Royal Hospital until 1948.
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== Current Hospital: 1990 to present ==
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In 1999, Bethlem Royal Hospital became part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (or "SLaM"), along with the [[Maudsley Hospital]] in Camberwell. Later, in 2001, SLaM sought planning permission for an expanded Medium Secure Unit in 2001 and extensive further works to improve security, much of which would be on Metropolitan Open Land. Local residents groups organised mass meetings to oppose the application, with accusations that it was unfair most patients could be from inner London areas and therefore not locals and that drug use was rife in and around the Hospital. Bromley Council eventually refused the application, with Croydon Council also objecting. However the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister overturned the decision to refuse in 2003, and development started.
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The new 89-bed, £33.5m unit (River House) opened in February 2008. It is the most significant development on the site since the hospital was formally opened at Monks Orchard in 1930. River House represents a major improvement in the quality of local NHS care for people with mental health problems. The unit provides care for people who were previously being treated in hospitals as far as 200 miles away from their families because of the historic shortage of medium secure beds in South-east London. This, in turn, was intended to help the NHS to manage people's progress through care and treatment more effectively.
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The Hospital Trust still owns land throughout England, often left to it as a bequest. It owns a lease in Piccadilly for which it has paid the same peppercorn rent for over 200 years. This property is let out to shops and a hotel, which contributes to funding the hospital proper.
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=== National Psychosis Unit ===
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The National Psychosis Unit specialises in evidence-based treatment for people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other similar disorders, particularly where local treatment has been unsuccessful or only partially successful in relieving symptoms. Anyone receiving NHS treatment can access the service free of charge following a referral by the person’s psychiatrist or general practitioner.
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The service provides second opinions on medication, diagnosis or any other aspect of care. The service has an outpatient clinic and 24-bedded inpatient facility. As well as pharmaceutical treatments, there is a strong focus on psychological treatments, rehabilitation and recovery, and reducing the risk of readmission through exploring what has led to breakdowns in the past and how to avoid this happening in future. The Unit also hosts research into the treatment of psychosis, including clinical trials of new treatments for psychosis. The National Psychosis Carers' Group, which meets monthly, supports the carers and families of people with psychosis and allows them a forum for discussion.
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The National Psychosis Unit has strong links with the Department of Psychosis Studies at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. The Unit also has longstanding links with mental health charities, including Rethink and SANE.
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=== Institute of Psychiatry ===
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The Institute of Psychiatry (IOP) is a research institution dedicated to discovering what causes mental illness and neurological diseases of the brain. In addition, its modern aim is to help identify new treatments for them and ways to prevent them in the first place. The IOP is a school of King's College- London, England. The Institute works closely with South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Many senior academic staff also work as honorary consultants in clinical services for the National Psychosis Unit at Bethlem Royal Hospital.
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== Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives and Museum ==
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Since 1970, there has been a small museum at Bethlem Royal Hospital, which is open to the public on weekdays. The museum is mainly used to display items from the hospital's art collection, which specialises in work by artists who have suffered from various mental health issues, such as former Bethlem patients William Kurelek, Richard Dadd and Louis Wain. Other exhibits include a pair of statues by Caius Gabriel Cibber known as Raving and Melancholy Madness, from the gates of the 17th century Bethlem Hospital. 18th and 19th century furniture, and documents from the medical archives are also on display. However, due to the size of the museum only a small fraction of the collections can be displayed at one time, and the exhibits are rotated periodically for public view.
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Bethlem Royal Hospital also possesses extensive archives from the [[Maudsley Hospital]] and [[Warlingham Park Hospital]], all in South London, and some of the archives of Bridewell Hospital. There are documents dating back to the 16th century, as well as full modern patient records (although these are not open to publiv viewing). The archives are open for inspection by appointment, and are subject to the laws of confidentiality governing recent patient records. The Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives and Museum is governed by a registered charity called the Bethlem Art and History Collections Trust. The museum is a member of the larger collaboration of the 'London Museums of Health & Medicine'.
== Tom O'Bedlem ==
== Tom O'Bedlem ==
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"Tom O' Bedlam" is the name of renown anonymous poem written in the 17th century about an inmate at Bethlem. It was apparently first published in 1720 by Thomas d'Urfey in his 'Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy'.
"Tom O' Bedlam" is the name of renown anonymous poem written in the 17th century about an inmate at Bethlem. It was apparently first published in 1720 by Thomas d'Urfey in his 'Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy'.
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The term "Tom O' Bedlam" was used in Early Modern England, as well as following, to describe beggars and vagrants who had or feigned [[Insanity]] for alms. They claimed, or were assumed, to have been former inmates at the Bethlem Royal Hospital . It was commonly thought that inmates were released with authority to make their way by begging, though this is probably untrue. If it happened at all the numbers were certainly small, though there were probably large numbers of mentally ill travelers who turned to begging, but had never been near Bedlam. It was adopted as a technique of begging, or a character. For example, Edgar in King Lear disguises himself as mad "Tom O'Bedlam".
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The term "Tom O' Bedlam" was used in Early Modern England, as well as following, to describe beggars and vagrants who had or feigned [[Insanity]] for alms
. This practice is similar to that of the English [[Abraham-men]]
. They claimed, or were assumed, to have been former inmates at the Bethlem Royal Hospital
, who had been released and now composed the insane poor of the city
. It was commonly thought that inmates were released with authority to make their way by begging, though this is probably untrue. If it happened at all the numbers were certainly small, though there were probably large numbers of mentally ill travelers who turned to begging, but had never been near Bedlam. It was adopted as a technique of begging, or a character. For example, Edgar in King Lear disguises himself as mad "Tom O'Bedlam".
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It was a popular enough ballad that another poem was written in reply, "Mad Maudlin's Search" or "Mad Maudlin's Search for Her Tom of Bedlam" (the same Maud who was mentioned in the verse "With a thought I took for Maudlin / And a cruise of cockle pottage / With a thing thus tall, Sky bless you all / I befell into this dotage." which apparently records Tom going mad, "dotage") or "Bedlam Boys" (from the chorus, "Still I sing bonny boys, bonny mad boys / Bedlam boys are bonny / For they all go bare and they live by the air / And they want no drink or money.")
, whose first stanza is:
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It was a popular enough ballad that another poem was written in reply, "Mad Maudlin's Search" or "Mad Maudlin's Search for Her Tom of Bedlam" (the same Maud who was mentioned in the verse "With a thought I took for Maudlin / And a cruise of cockle pottage / With a thing thus tall, Sky bless you all / I befell into this dotage." which apparently records Tom going mad, "dotage") or "Bedlam Boys" (from the chorus, "Still I sing bonny boys, bonny mad boys / Bedlam boys are bonny / For they all go bare and they live by the air / And they want no drink or money.").
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For to see Mad Tom of Bedlam,
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Ten thousand miles I've traveled.
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Mad Maudlin goes on dirty toes,
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For to save her shoes from gravel
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== Images of Bethlem Royal Hospital ==
== Images of Bethlem Royal Hospital ==
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{{image gallery|[[Bethlem Royal Hospital Image Gallery|Bethlem Royal Hospital]]}}
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File:Bedlam1.jpg
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File:Bedlam2.jpg
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File:Bedlam3.jpg
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== Related Links ==
== Related Links ==
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*[http://www.bethlemheritage.org.uk/ Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives]
*[http://www.bethlemheritage.org.uk/ Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives]
*[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=O56120 UK National Archives]
*[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=O56120 UK National Archives]
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*[http://www.beckenhamhistory.co.uk/flashNifties/gallery1.html Historical images of Bethlem In Monks Orchard Album]
*[http://bethlemheritage.wordpress.com/ Blog about Bethlhem Hospital]
*[http://bethlemheritage.wordpress.com/ Blog about Bethlhem Hospital]
*[http://www.medicalmuseums.org/Bethlem-Royal-Hospital-Archives-and-Museum/ Medical Museum- Bethlehem Royal Hospital]
*[http://www.medicalmuseums.org/Bethlem-Royal-Hospital-Archives-and-Museum/ Medical Museum- Bethlehem Royal Hospital]
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*[http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jan/20/bedlam-mental-health-exhibition 'Bedlam' exhibition traces the meandering history of mental health]
*[http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jan/20/bedlam-mental-health-exhibition 'Bedlam' exhibition traces the meandering history of mental health]
*[http://www.thetimechamber.co.uk/beta/sites/asylums/asylum-history/the-history-of-the-asylum Asylum History: Bethlem]
*[http://www.thetimechamber.co.uk/beta/sites/asylums/asylum-history/the-history-of-the-asylum Asylum History: Bethlem]
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*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02387b.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Bedlam]
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*[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=O56120 Archival material relating to Bethlem Royal Hospital listed at the UK National Archives]
[[Category:England]]
[[Category:England]]
[[Category:Active Institution]]
[[Category:Active Institution]]
[[Category:Pre-1854 Plans]]
[[Category:Pre-1854 Plans]]