{"id":12855,"date":"2023-11-09T12:54:59","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T17:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/i-brooklyn.com\/?p=12855"},"modified":"2023-11-09T12:55:03","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T17:55:03","slug":"history-of-brooklyns-kingsboro-psychiatric-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-brooklyn.com\/en\/eternal-history-of-brooklyns-kingsboro-psychiatric-center","title":{"rendered":"History of Brooklyn’s Kingsboro Psychiatric Center"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As medicine has evolved, it has undergone tremendous transformations. Psychiatry is the area that has changed perhaps the most. There are many horror stories about the terrors of psychiatric hospitals. Brooklyn has its own history of a center for the mentally ill. Unfortunately, it includes horror stories about the use of electroshock on patients. Read more on i-brooklyn<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Center for the incurable<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first Brooklyn psychiatric center (BPC) originated in Kings County (Brooklyn), more specifically in the Flatbush neighborhood. In the 50s of the 19th century, laws allowed the county to purchase its own center to care for people with mental illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan was to build a large center with an administrative building and four wings. Due to insufficient funding and the speed of construction, only two wings were built. This haste was caused by an urgent need for a psychiatric center. It was opened in 1854. Within a month, there were 178 patients. Such a rapid occupancy of the center necessitated its expansion. With the institution already in operation, construction began again. As a result, four additional wings were built. The new plan surpassed the original grandiose plans of the builders. By 1869, the new premises were completely occupied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were other buildings around the main building, for example, the children’s department. It was originally built outside the adult wards. Due to its low occupancy, adult patients were transferred there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The low awareness of psychiatrists of the time led to the fact that mental health problems were considered incurable. Hence, the name Hospital for the Incurables was popularly used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Expansion and changes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1882, a fire broke out in the center. A fairly standard situation for such institutions. The men’s wing suffered the most. After the fire, the building was repaired. But no significant changes were made until 1911. At that time, the electrical wiring and plumbing were replaced. Fire escapes and systems were installed. The building itself was also strengthened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the center’s management realized they could no longer build new departments in Kingsboro, they began to look for additional branches. A farm was purchased in St. Johnland, 40 miles from Brooklyn. In 1885, patients began to be transferred from Kingsboro to the new department. They worked under the same wing for only five years. Later, St. Johnland became the Kings Park Psychiatric Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1895, Kings County Hospital was transferred to the state government. Until then, they were subordinate to the county. The main part of the medical institution continued to be in Flatbush. In 1916, the hospital was renamed Brooklyn State Hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state government invested heavily in Brooklyn Hospital. Its necessity and importance to the borough was more than overwhelming. In 1916, new construction began on a hospital for 150 patients and two inpatient wards with 400 beds each. In 1921, the hospital was already of considerable size. In 1974, the hospital officially became the BPC, and a year later, the Kingsboro Psychiatric Center (KPC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over time, Kingsboro became the main psychiatric center for the entire city and a significant medical institution in the state. Its main functions have always included treatment, counseling and rehabilitation of people with mental disabilities. Future psychiatrists also train here. In 1998, the KPC already employed 800 people. There were 340 patients on permanent care, plus patients who did not require long-term treatment. The staff was more than enough to provide quality services and conscientious supervision of patients. Combined with new technologies and treatment methods, Kingsboro became one of the best centers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As medicine has evolved, it has undergone tremendous transformations. Psychiatry is the area that has changed perhaps the most. There are many horror stories about the terrors of psychiatric hospitals. Brooklyn has its own history of a center for the mentally ill. Unfortunately, it includes horror stories about the use of electroshock on patients. Read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341,"featured_media":12635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4817],"tags":[5435,5432,5438,5437,5441,5436,5433,5434,5440,5439],"motype":[4825],"moformat":[88],"moimportance":[32,35],"class_list":{"0":"post-12855","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthy","8":"tag-expansion-and-changes","9":"tag-history-of-brooklyns-kingsboro-psychiatric-center","10":"tag-kings-county-hospital-was-transferred-to-the-state-government","11":"tag-the-building-was-repaired","12":"tag-the-kingsboro-psychiatric-center-kpc","13":"tag-the-mens-wing-suffered-the-most-after-the-fire","14":"tag-the-name-hospital-for-the-incurables-was-popularly-used","15":"tag-the-new-plan-surpassed-the-original-grandiose-plans-of-the-builders","16":"tag-the-state-government-invested-heavily-in-brooklyn-hospital","17":"tag-they-were-subordinate-to-the-county","18":"motype-eternal","19":"moformat-copywriting","20":"moimportance-golovna-novyna","21":"moimportance-retranslyacziya-v-agregatory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-brooklyn.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-brooklyn.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-brooklyn.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-brooklyn.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-brooklyn.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12855"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/i-brooklyn.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12856,"href":"https:\/\/i-brooklyn.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12855\/revisions\/12856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-brooklyn.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-brooklyn.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-brooklyn.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-brooklyn.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12855"},{"taxonomy":"motype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-brooklyn.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/motype?post=12855"},{"taxonomy":"moformat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-brooklyn.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moformat?post=12855"},{"taxonomy":"moimportance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-brooklyn.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moimportance?post=12855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}