“PACKING” THE MENTALLY ILL

Several forms of hydrotherapy existed in the early 1900s as part of psychiatric treatment for the mentally ill. One such form of hydrotherapy were wet packs or wet sheet wraps, which were also known to some health care providers as “a humane sheet” when used for restraining purposes. Conversely, the wet packs were said to have been the most reviled by the patients in mental asylums across the United States. Many of the patients were confined in the wet packs for several hours to even a few days in order to sedate them and to treat their underlying mental illnesses. 

The wet packs had consisted of large blankets or sheets being dipped into either cold or hot water which were then tightly wrapped around the patient’s body. Once wrapped in a wet pack, the patients only had their head exposed with limited range of motion. In certain instances, some patients may have also been tied to the bed while wrapped in the wet pack. The patients were said to have defecated and urinated while being in the wet packs as they were left confined for long periods of time depending on their condition. Additionally, patients suffered from blistering on their bodies due to prolonged use of the wet packs. Wet packs were usually administered to patients who suffered from hyperactivity, anxiety, sleeplessness, or restlessness. Physicians and supporting providers usually reported that the wet packs calmed the patients, reduced their movements, and refreshed their nervous system. 

While in the wet packs, patients reported sensations of burning and suffocation due to the lack of ventilation. Additionally, an associated risk of wet packs was cardiac failure as a result of the physical exertion patients used to try and escape from the wet packs. In a 1919 hearing in regards to a California mental asylum, a patient reported that the wet packs were an inhumane form of treatment compared to the therapeutic value physicians claimed. The use of wet packs in mental asylums continued until the arrival of antipsychotic drugs in the 1950s. 

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Sources

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