Home » Languages » English (Sr. Secondary) » Essay on “A Visit to a Lunatic Asylum” Complete Essay for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Essay on “A Visit to a Lunatic Asylum” Complete Essay for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

A Visit to a Lunatic Asylum

 

I am a big girl in STD. VIII but, never before did I have an occasion of seeing a lunatic asylum. It was really beyond my little head’s understanding how, men and women can lose their senses, and I did of course feel pity for them.

A lunatic is a mad man/ woman who has lost all sense of any proportion. Madness is also of different degrees. Some mad people are quiet and submissive while others become violent and dangerous. Now what makes a person become mad, for this also there are a variety of reasons, each case being different from all others. Physically, we can say that, the brain, the organ that controls all actions, and gives us the capacity to think rightly, gets damaged somehow, and so, the patient loses mental balance. So much simply for the physical aspect of the malady of the brain but besides this, what causes the so called damage to the brain is to be analysed. Again for this also, there can be a variety of reasons. At times, an incident, a shocking incident, a piece of bad news mesmerizes a human being into an appearance of a clear vacuum. This feeling of a vacuum may make an individual absolutely dumb and as if lost.

Madness is of several kinds, some mad are just dumb, while others become violent and aggressive and even dangerous. It is, basically for the very bad and violent cases that, the lunatic asylums are meant for. This is because they cannot be handled at home without the expert hands of doctors who are trained to deal with such people. This is called an asylum because here the patients get succor and relief from the home, office, and the social atmosphere, that have  contributed in making him mad. Thus we can say that, the asylum is the place where people of unhealthy and unsound and disturbed brains go for treatment, just as patients suffering from a physical disease go to the hospital.

This year only, in the month of March, I got the chance of visiting a lunatic asylum. My friend’s elder brother was studying psychiatry and for that, he had to go very often to the asylum to study cases. One day, since my friend was going just to see it all, I also opted to go and have a look at this side of the world of the weak and unhealthy the mentally ill.

At the outset, the asylum looks like any other hospital where patients are kept in single rooms, dormitories or general wards. This is done on the basis of their paying capacity and also on the type and depth of their illness. Thus, the first impression I got was that, it was no different to a normal hospital. However, a few minutes were just enough to show me the plight of the patients and I saw an awful scene.

A woman was running halter shelter in the open area in front of the women’s wing. She was dressed as a bride and was continuously shouting unheard of abuses. Behind this woman, four or five men were running to catch her but were unable to. She was continuously throwing stones at them so, they were unable to control her. After some moments of commotion, I saw the hospital lady warden, an old lady come close to her, and the patient automatically quietened. She clung to the warden and cried her eyes out of their sockets. l was not able to understand or rather co relate the episode as one incident. With a confused mind I asked the hospital superintendent what it all meant. The story that followed put me in a quandary.

The story the Hospital Superintendent told me about this woman was frightening and, I thought that it was no wonder that she had become a nervous wreck and lost her mental balance the story was that, this girl had been happily for the last three years, and on the day of her third marriage anniversary she lost her husband in an accident This incident was enough to make her mad but, to add to it was her mother-in-law, and other members of her ‘ husband’s family. They just threw her out of the house saying that she had brought bad luck to the family. When she was thus turned out of her home, she obviously went to her mother’s house. Here also she had lived for just about two months and her mother died, and it was confirmed to her own family also that she was unlucky and they also turned her out. Now this was the last straw on the camel’s back and she broke down and lost mental balance. This is why, for one she remains dressed as a bride, and the old warden has to come in front of her and she quietness down. The old warden reminds her of her mother who had given her refuge and so she gets solace in her arms, and calms down.

Hearing this pathetic story of just one patient I was completely put off and wanted to return home. However, my friend wanted to see some more of it as, he was studying it all, and so we continued to go ahead to see some more of it. Some patients were seen sitting quietly in a pensive mood without a care in the world. They, we were told are the types who give no trouble at all, they do no work and just sit and brood days after days. For them, only courses of medication are followed here and they are here because there is no one to look after them. Some others were found shouting vigorously, some biting each other while some others were even bound in chains. Seeing this, an obvious question arose in my mind, and I asked the Superintendent as to why these young boys were tied with chains like dogs?

To this query I got the reply that, they are ferocious animals, so they are kept in chains. If such patients are like in the open and free, I was told that, they can be darlgeroeft even to the tune of committing murders. The cause for this: I was told is some rude shock, that has developed in their brains a hatred for mankind.

Seeing this much was more than enough for me to bear and, I just could not stay there any longer. After seeing this new face of human life and human remorse, with a heavy heart we all returned home. Never again would I venture to go to such a place. The sight there is so depressing and heart breaking to see our own kith and kin, our own brethren suffer so much was unbearable.

About

The main objective of this website is to provide quality study material to all students (from 1st to 12th class of any board) irrespective of their background as our motto is “Education for Everyone”. It is also a very good platform for teachers who want to share their valuable knowledge.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *