"Melancholia Chronica"?

[xe...@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu]

A relative of mine died in Flatbush NY in 1891. The cause of death, as
best as I can make out from the handwriting, is listed as "Morhin Cardis
Valvatorum", which I presume is some kind of heart disease. At the time
of his death, the man was a resident of the King's County Insane Asylum,
diagnosed with "Melancholia Chronica". That sounds like a synonym for
"chronic depression", but it doesn't seem like that alone would be
enough to get a person committed to an asylum back then. Has anyone out
there ever encountered the term "Melancholia Chronica" before, or have
any idea what kind of symptoms a person with this disorder might
exhibit?

- d boucher

[Jim Elbrecht]

xe...@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu wrote;

> diagnosed with "Melancholia Chronica". That sounds like a synonym for
> "chronic depression", but it doesn't seem like that alone would be
> enough to get a person committed to an asylum back then.

Melancholia was still the term used for depression as late as 1943
(when my medical dictionary was published), and I think as late as the
1960's. If you've ever known anyone that was clinically depressed
(that ain't just having a bad day, or being very sad for a specific
reason-- it is an all encompassing, drowning sorrow for no particular
reason) you would understand why it is probably still one of the most
common reasons for someone to be hospitalized for mental reasons.
Some folks spend their days crying, and others just vegetate. Some
try to kill themselves, though usualy when they start ot get better.
When they are really ill, they just don't have the energy to, even if
they keep insisting "I wish I were dead."

Now we have drugs and other therapies available. Then it was just a
matter of keeping them away from the rest of the world, and trying to
ensure that they ate enough to stay alive.

As for 'enough to get them committed'; All it took was the Dr.'s
word. Folks were sometimes committed because they had become a burden
to their family. When I worked in a state facility 15 years ago, the
charts on some of the folks that were admitted into the system as
children in the 1930's would make you cry. One that sticks with me
was a 12yo who was admitted with a diagnoses of 'moral imbecile'.
She had gotten pregnant. Later entries in the chart seemed to point
at her uncle (who was still quite free) for the father of her child.
Because it was 'all the same system' she stayed in the hospital,
raised her child (in the hospital) and now both of them are diagnosed
as "mentally retarded due to environment."(that is not the exact term,
but it's been quite a few years since I was working there)

jim

[EAPlummer]

Melancholia translated litterally is "sadness." Melancholia is a mental
disorder characterized by marked depression, physical and mental apathy,
brooding, mournful and doleful notions and inhibition of activity
according to Tabers Medical Dictionary. You may be looking at a case of
chronic severe depression.

[H. Dowda]

> there ever encountered the term "Melancholia Chronica" before, or have
> any idea what kind of symptoms a person with this disorder might
> exhibit?
>
> - d boucher

Your assumptions are correct on both counts. Institutionalization
likely occured because of self-destructive acts or failure to care for
him/her self.