Anoka insane asylum past to present

Anoka Insane Asylum: A Journey Through Time

Exploring the Past and Present

Original Building

Modern Facilities

While it is unknown why Dunnel's plans for the Asylum was never used most of the builds now that we see that havent been tampered with were made by Clarence H. Johnston.

The build was made with six main buildings, an administration building, two cottages for male patients, one cottage for female patients, and two intermediate wards. There was also two more cottages, one for men and one for women, that was used for those they deemed to be chrocially or incurably insane.

The cottages are now being used as a department of corrections and they are renovating the inside and outsides of it to better fit their uses of the buildings.

Its not well know as to what the buildings look like now on the inside unless you work or are a patient/ resident there as they are still being renovated and you have to schedule a visit.

Treatment Methods

Hormones that affected people in the mental institution

The Anoka Insane Asylum did treatment methods like EST (Eletric Shock Therapy ), lobotomies, Hydrotherapy, they also had a seclusion room, the asylum had many different therapy groups too.

Dopamine

Original idea for the build

Hormones affect people every day as their emotions and behaviors are impacted by them. There are many different types hormones. Hormones play a huge role in people's mental health. We thought that this would be a good section to add because this is a presention about the anoka asylum which was surrounded around people's mental health.

Dopamine is a type of monoamine neurotransmitter. It’s made in your brain and acts as a chemical messenger, communicating messages between nerve cells in your brain, and your brain and the rest of your body. Dopamine is repsonsibls for giving peson feelings of pleasure, satifaction and motvation. Dopamine is also important to the body and helps with controlling memory, mood, sleep, learing, concentration, movement and other body functions.

Historical Practices

Hydrotherapy was invented in 1829 and started getting used on patients at the asylum in the 1950s as well as Lobotomies and ESTs. These acts were used as punishment and treatment to patients 'illnesses'.

They would also strap patients down and just leave them there for however long they seemed suited for as punishment as well.

The original architect, Warren B. Dunnel, had originally wanted the Asylum's build to be based off a modern cottage plan that specified to leave the buildings rather plan with a with a touch of gothic architecture. His design he wanted for the buildings was for them to be made bricks or stone and be only two stories high. He aso wanted the buildings to feel separate but still be able to move patients and staff around when needed so he wanted to have narrow, one story corridors connecting the buildings to eachother.

Serotonin

Serotonin plays several roles in your body, including influencing learning, memory, and happiness as well as regulating body temperature, sleep, sexual behavior, and hunger. Lack of enough serotonin is thought to play a role in depression, anxiety, mania, and other health conditions.

Early Years

The Asylum didn't get female patients untill 1906 when 115 female patients had been transferred to the hospital from the facility in St. Peter. The hospital then decided to only admit female patients and the state hospital in Hastings would admit the male patients. After construction, in 1925, the hospital began admitting male patients again.

Patient story #2

Patient Stories

A different patient expressed how helpful the hospital was and even said “It saved my life. My first psychiatrist literally saved my life.” They expressed how the unit they were in was good for them. “There were people just like me,” they remarked. They did though explain how they didn't want to get tied down because of their PTSD so they said they didn't act in ways that would get them tied down. They mentioned how they experienced a chain reaction from their peers if one person acted out then about 15 others would as well. They did PTSD work, DBT, Relationship Groups, and Chemical dependency groups. “I figured that if I was stuck there then I was going to work on me and I gave myself a chance and I gave myself 6 months”. They got discharged on March 4th. “They kicked me out because I was doing too good and I fought to stay in.” they gave them a nurse to help them stay out of the asylum.

Establishment

The Asylum isnt just one big building it happens to be twelve cottages, the asylum had tunels under the grounds that they used to move patients to different cottages.

1900 the beginning

Patient story #1

One past patients story remarks on how traumatizing their time at the asylum was but suprisingly a different patient expressed how helpful the asylum was to them.

One past patient said they didn't even know why they were brought to the mental hospital in the first place and didn't know why they were ‘in trouble’. They also noted how there was an incident that was never documented and it was a restraint situation. It happened during the late shift and it was never reported. They restrained the patient and forgot about them. They rushed the patient up the stairs and changed their clothes before restraining them pressuring them to keep their mouth closed. They mentioned how traumatic it was for them. They had about 5 staff that were screaming at them to start taking accountability. They mentioned how they tried not to think about the event as they remember just laying there in their own piss.

The Anoka Insane Asylum opened in the 19th centry. The Asylum was for adults and children that were struggling with their mental health and determined to be "insane." It was the first state asylum for the insane. On March 14th, 1900, the asylum got a hundred male patients that all came from St. Peter State Hospital and were considered to be "chronic, incurables".