%0 Journal Article %T As good as it gets: an empirical study on mentally %A Ingemar Ottosson %A Louise Br£¿dvik %A Malin Appelquist %A Marie £¿sberg %J History of Psychiatry %@ 1740-2360 %D 2019 %R 10.1177/0957154X18822930 %X General hospital care and treatment of mentally ill patients in a Swedish town was studied in records for 503 patients, 1896¨C1905. Restraint was extremely rare; 65% left the hospital as healthy or improved. Non-psychotic and alcoholic patients spent fewer days in hospital than patients with psychosis or dementia. There was no evidence of a social status bias. For 36% of the patients a certificate for mental hospital care was issued, with additional information. The cause of illness was stated as unknown for 42% of these patients; adverse circumstances were recorded for 18%. Heredity for mental illness was found in 50% of the patients, particularly in those with mania. Patients with a higher social status were underrepresented %K Gender %K general hospital psychiatry %K history %K precipitating events %K sociodemographic factors %K state at discharge %K Sweden %K treatment %K 19th century %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0957154X18822930