August 14, 1892
A native of South Carolina, Peter Bryce in 1860 became the first superintendent of what was then called the Alabama Insane Hospital (AIH) in Tuscaloosa and served for 32 years. Consistent with the predominant belief of the time, Bryce practiced “moral treatment,” which held that insanity was caused by the interplay of genetics and environmental/social factors and that these factors should be filtered out to give the mind time to “heal,” leading patients to an understanding and acceptance of “right” behavior. This was considered preferable to the forced idleness that previously characterized mental healthcare. When Bryce died at the age of 58, he was buried on the grounds of AIH, which was later renamed Bryce Hospital.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
Peter Bryce (1834-1892) was Alabama’s first state psychiatrist. Bryce served for 32 years as the medical superintendent of the Alabama Insane Hospital, which later was named Bryce Hospital in his honor. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Birmingham Public Library Archives)
Bryce Hospital (the Alabama Insane Hospital) employed a work-centered approach to mental health care based on the idea that physical activity would heal sick minds. The treatment method helped fund the facility but also drew public criticism as being exploitative in the 1970s. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of University of Alabama at Birmingham Archives)
Peter Bryce believed in physical labor as a tool for therapy, useful in taking a patient’s mind off of his or her mental condition. Patients worked at gardening and building household goods, which supplemented state financial support of the Alabama Insane Hospital. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of University of Alabama W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library)
Patients working in the laundry at Bryce Hospital, a mental care facility founded in Tuscaloosa in 1859. Patient engagement in manufacturing and chores were central to the facility’s approach to mental health treatment. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama Libraries)
Bryce Hospital, opened in 1861 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is Alabama’s oldest and largest inpatient psychiatric facility. (The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)
Autoclaves were used to sterilize medical equipment. This large example is located at Bryce Hospital on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)
Bryce Hospital, opened in 1861 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is Alabama’s oldest and largest inpatient psychiatric facility. (The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
