Dromokaition Psychiatric Hospital of Athens: from its establishment in 1887 to the era of deinstitutionalization

Abstract

Dromokaition Psychiatric Hospital opened its doors in 1887, following the donation made by Zorzis Dromokaitis from the island of Chios. Private donations and all forms of charities had contributed to a large extent in the establishment of hospitals across Greece, during the late 19th and the early 20th century. Dromokaition was one of them but it was also unique, as it was the first psychiatric hospital in Athens, admitting patients from every part of the country. This paper aimed at highlighting the long service of the institution through the different historical periods the country went through. We present the chronicle of its foundation, the development of its inner structure, and the medical and organizational influences which it received, along the way. The therapeutic methods used during the first decades of its operation reflected the corresponding European standards of the time. As a model institution from its foundation, it followed closely the prevailing European guidelines, throughout its historical path, either as an independent institution or as an integrated one within the National Health Service.

Locked versus open ward environments and restrictive measures in acute psychiatry in Greece: Nursing students' attitudes and experiences

“…Clinical placements of students who participated in the present study were provided by three psychiatric hospitals—two public psychiatric hospitals and a university research hospital—and four psychiatric departments in general hospitals. The wards of the first Greek Psychiatric Hospital are permanently open, 25 except at night for security. By contrast, the wards of the above mentioned university hospital and the second public psychiatric hospital of Athens are permanently locked, with the exception of one ward (out of 10) which operates with open doors 38 .…”

“…The locked door may be a source of patient safety and staff control 19 while the open door appears to strengthen the therapeutic alliance and improve considerably the ward atmosphere so necessary to instill hope in recovery 21,23 . On the other hand, PWMHPs in locked wards may feel confined to a prison‐like environment and become unnecessarily passive and dependent on staff or nervous, frustrated, and aggressive while open door policies ‐if not historically embedded 24,26 require conceptual shifts and organizational changes to be implemented 21,22 . Door locking is associated with some decrease 27 or no decrease in absconding and suicide rates 23 but also with increases in conflict, self‐harm, and medication refusal 28 …”

Freud under the Acropolis: The challenging journey of psychoanalysis in 20th-century Greece (1915–1995)

“…Up until the 1980s, Greece, a country of almost 10 million people, had only nine overcrowded, poorly-equipped and inadequately-staffed state psychiatric hospitals for a mixed population of psychotic and intellectually disabled patients (Karastergiou et al ., 2005). During the post-war period, there had been some attempts to modernise asylums such as Dromokaitio in Athens (Fafaliou, 1995; Fiste et al ., 2015) as well as to introduce some new mental health services like the medico-pedagogical centres in the 1950s (Kazolea-Tavoulari, 2001). However, these actions were not adequate to meet the mental health needs of the country.…”

On the Historical Development, Quiddity and Sociocultural Determinants of the Implementations of Hydrotherapy in the Field of Psychiatry

“…Yine sıcak suyun hassas sinir sistemi üzerindeki sakinleştirici etkisinden yararlanılmış; sülfür, cıva ya da maden tuzu atılmış olan sıcak suda hasta 30 dakika ile 3 saat arasında bekletilmiştir. 22 Öte yandan soğuk suyun uyarılmayı sağlayan etkisiyle hastalara soğuk banyo uygulaması yapılmıştır. Bölümde ayrıca ıslak çarşafa sarma ve duş gibi diğer hidroterapi teknikleri de uygulanmıştır.…”