:McLean Hospital

File:Mclean Asylum 1853.jpg

image:Somerville Mclean asylum map 1884.jpg

McLean was founded in 1811 in a section of Charlestown, Massachusetts that is now a part of Somerville, Massachusetts. Originally named Asylum for the Insane, it was the first institution organized by a group of prominent Bostonians who were concerned about homeless mentally ill persons "abounding on the streets and by-ways in and about Boston". The effort was organized by Rev. John Bartlett, chaplain of the Boston Almshouse. The hospital was built around a Charles Bulfinch mansion, which became the hospital's administrative building; most of the other hospital buildings were completed by 1818.

The institution was later given the name The McLean Asylum for the Insane in honor of one of its earliest benefactors, John McLean, who granted enough money to build several such hospitals. A portrait of McLean now hangs in the present Administration Building, along with other paintings that were once displayed in the original hospital. In 1892, the facility was renamed McLean Hospital in recognition of broader views on the treatment of mental illness.

In 1895 the campus moved to Waverley Oaks Hill in Belmont, Massachusetts. Joseph Curtis (civil engineer) and Frederick Law Olmsted (the renowned landscape architect who also conceptualized the Emerald Necklace public spaces of Boston, New York's Central Park, and Hartford's Institute of Living) were consulted on the selection of the hospital site. The move was necessitated by changes in Charlestown, including new rail lines and other distracting development. Olmsted himself was eventually treated at McLean, but there is no evidence that he was responsible for the design of the grounds.{{cite news|url=http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-29/yourtown/29488029_1_olmsted-landscapes-landscape-architect-olmsted-firm/3 |newspaper=The Boston Globe |title=Olmsted's life, legacy fuel enduring fascination |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419103414/http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-29/yourtown/29488029_1_olmsted-landscapes-landscape-architect-olmsted-firm/3 |archive-date=April 19, 2012 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.olmsted.org/the-olmsted-legacy/frederick-law-olmsted-sr |title=Frederick Law Olmsted Sr.: Landscape Architect, Author, Conservationist (1822–1903)|website=Olmsted.org |access-date=30 June 2012}} Once hospital construction began, Curtis was hired by the hospital, and supervised the landscape work for many years.{{cite web |url=http://www.mclean.harvard.edu/about/history/ |title=McLean Hospital |website=Mclean.harvard.edu |access-date=30 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511015826/http://www.mclean.harvard.edu/about/history/ |archive-date=11 May 2012 |url-status=dead }}

In the 1990s, facing falling revenue in a changing health care industry, the hospital drafted a plan to sell a portion of its grounds for development in the Town of Belmont. The proposed sale of the land caused a divisive and somewhat baroque political debate in the town during the late 1990s. Ultimately a plan to preserve some of Olmsted's original open space and to allow the town to develop mixed residential and commercial real estate prevailed over a plan to create only high-end residential development. The deal was finalized in 2005, and land development was well under way by the end of the year. Most of the Belmont campus (more than {{convert|300|acre|ha}}) had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

In 2006, Irene Jakab, a psychiatrist and humanist at McLean who had achieved prominence for her use of art therapy in the diagnosis and treatment of learning disabilities and mental illness, was awarded the title of honorary staff psychiatrist by the hospital in recognition of her forty years of service, after having previously been honored by the hospital with the creation of an annual award bearing her name.Barlow, Kimberly K. "[https://www.utimes.pitt.edu/archives/?p=17195 Obituary: Irene Jakab]," in University Times, Vol. 43, Issue 22, July 7, 2011. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh, retrieved online March 31, 2023.

McLean is known widely for its treatment of adolescents, most specifically its treatment of borderline personality disorder using dialectical behavioral therapy developed by Marsha M. Linehan.{{cite web|url=http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/being-patient/201207/parents-sasha-menu-courey-talk-about-bpd|title=Parents of Sasha Menu Courey Talk About BPD|website=Psychology Today|access-date=21 May 2019}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/a-system-that-fails-troubled-teens/article12872291/?page=all|title=A system that fails troubled teens|access-date=21 May 2019|newspaper=The Globe and Mail}}

{{As of|2020}}, McLean is led by Scott L. Rauch,{{cite web|url=https://www.mcleanhospital.org/about/biographies/all|title=all - Staff Biographies - McLean Hospital|website=Mcleanhospital.org|access-date=21 May 2019}} President and Psychiatrist in Chief, who is known for his innovative work using brain imaging methods to study psychiatric dysfunction.

As one of the teaching hospitals of Harvard Medical School, McLean is differentiated from its New England peers (such as The Institute of Living and the Brattleboro Retreat) by its combination of teaching, treatment, and research; most other facilities focus on only one of these priorities. It is home to the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center, the largest "brain bank" collection of research specimens in the world.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sciencealert.com/welcome-to-the-world-s-largest-brain-bank|title=Welcome to The World's Largest Brain Bank|last=Nield|first=David|website=ScienceAlert|language=en-gb|access-date=2019-11-06}} The hospital developed and implemented national health screening methods for alcohol, depression, and memory disorders. The Cole Resource Center, a mental health consumer resource and advocacy center, is located at the hospital.

In addition to the main Belmont campus, there are four additional locations. The Arlington, Cambridge, and SouthEast (in Middleboro) provide outpatient services, and the SouthEast at Oak Street (in Middleboro) provides inpatient services. Note that the Arlington and Cambridge offices only provide child and adolescent services, while the SouthEast provide services to all ages. {{Cite web |title=McLean - Cambridge {{!}} Mass General Brigham |url=https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/patient-care/services-and-specialties/locations/mclean-cambridge |access-date=2024-09-16 |website=www.massgeneralbrigham.org}}{{Cite web |title=McLean - Arlington Campus {{!}} Mass General Brigham |url=https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/patient-care/services-and-specialties/locations/mclean-arlington-campus |access-date=2024-09-16 |website=www.massgeneralbrigham.org}}{{Cite web |title=McLean - SouthEast {{!}} Mass General Brigham |url=https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/patient-care/services-and-specialties/locations/mclean-southeast |access-date=2024-09-16 |website=www.massgeneralbrigham.org}}

Image:Administration Building, McLean Hospital, Belmont MA.jpg

• McLean Hospital is ranked 1st among all psychiatric hospitals in the country according to U.S. News & World Report.{{cite web |url=https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/ma/mclean-hospital-6142120/psychiatry |title=McLean Hospital Psychiatry |website=U.S. News & World Report}}
• In 2017, McLean ranked among the top 20 independent hospitals worldwide receiving National Institutes of Health grant support.{{Cite web|url=https://report.nih.gov/award/index.cfm|title=NIH Awards by Location & Organization|date=20 December 2017|website=NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools (RePORT)}}

Mathematician John Nash;{{cite news | url = https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nash/sfeature/sf_nash_08.html | title = Interview with John Nash: My aren | work = Salon.com | access-date = 2017-09-04 | archive-date = 2016-12-07 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161207174723/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nash/sfeature/sf_nash_08.html | url-status = dead }}{{cite web | url = http://education.yahoo.com/homework_help/cliffsnotes/the_bell_jar/2.html | title = About the Author - Chronology of Plath's Life | access-date = 2007-02-07 | work = The Bell Jar | publisher = CliffsNotes |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070313164034/http://education.yahoo.com/homework_help/cliffsnotes/the_bell_jar/2.html |archive-date = 2007-03-13}} musicians James Taylor,{{cite news|url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20060504/ai_n16344455 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221074407/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20060504/ai_n16344455 |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 21, 2009 |title=Ray Charles played piano all the time |date=May 4, 2006 |last=Sale |first=Jonathan |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=2007-02-07 }}{{cite news |url=http://www.james-taylor.com/text/globe-1-2002.shtml |title=Shrink Wrapped Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll Were Regular Features of Life at McLean Psychiatric Hospital in Belmont |date=November 26, 2001 |last=Beam |first=Alex |newspaper=The Boston Globe |access-date=30 June 2012}} and Ray Charles;{{cite magazine|url=http://www.harvardmagazine.com/on-line/010211.html |title=Ray Charles Plays the "Harvard Club" |date=January–February 2002 |magazine=Harvard Magazine |access-date=30 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201170256/http://www.harvardmagazine.com/on-line/010211.html |archive-date=1 December 2008 }} poets Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell and Anne Sexton; Massachusetts politician and Civil War general Nathaniel P. Banks; authors Susanna Kaysen and David Foster Wallace;{{cite news| author =Michiko Kakutani| author-link =Michiko Kakutani| title =David Foster Wallace Biography by D. T. Max| quote =Mr. Max notes that pieces of "Infinite Jest" date back to 1986, when they may have been written as stand-alone stories, "beginning with the playful, comic voice of his Amherst years, passing through his infatuation with postmodernism at Arizona," and ending with his backing away from ironic detachment in the wake of a stay at the McLean Hospital psychiatric institute and a halfway house.| newspaper =The New York Times| date = August 22, 2012| url =https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/books/david-foster-wallace-biography-by-d-t-max.html?pagewanted=all| access-date =January 24, 2015}}{{cite news| author = Katie Koch| title =A too-short life, examined| newspaper =Harvard Gazette| date = December 13, 2012| url =http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/12/a-too-short-life-examined/| access-date =January 24, 2015}};criminal Michelle Carter,{{cite news| author =Jan Ransom| title =Michelle Carter 'involuntarily intoxicated' by prescription before friend's suicide, psychiatrist testifies| newspaper =Boston Globe| date =June 12, 2017| url =https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/06/12/michelle-carter-ssri-hampered-her-ability-feel-empathy-make-good-decisions-psychiatrist-says/zCrOp77pYoDNZldPlT7TSI/story.html| access-date =February 12, 2019| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20190213064136/https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/06/12/michelle-carter-ssri-hampered-her-ability-feel-empathy-make-good-decisions-psychiatrist-says/zCrOp77pYoDNZldPlT7TSI/story.html| archive-date =February 13, 2019| url-status =dead}} and actress and singer Selena Gomez{{cite web | url = https://people.com/music/selena-gomez-recalls-first-time-opening-up-about-bipolar-diagnosis/ | title = Selena Gomez Recalls Her First Time Opening Up About Bipolar Diagnosis: 'It Gave Me Such Strength' | access-date = 2025-03-18 | work = People Magazine | author=Ryan Parker | date = 2022-11-02}} have been treated at McLean Hospital.

A story about the facility from 1853 describes the work underway and provides some statistics about the capacity and treatment outcomes.{{Cite book |last=Gleason |first=Frederick |url=http://archive.org/details/gleasonspictoria04glea |title=Gleason's pictorial |last2=Ballou |first2=Maturin Murray |date=1852 |publisher=Boston, Mass. : F. Gleason |others=Boston Public Library}}

One popular and anecdotal history of McLean is Alex Beam's Gracefully Insane: Life and Death Inside America's Premier Mental Hospital. More-factual and scholarly accounts of the history are recorded in the Little and Sutton books listed in "Further reading".

Memoirs of time spent within McLean's walls include Sylvia Plath's novel The Bell Jar, and Susanna Kaysen's Girl, Interrupted, which was made into a film of the same name starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie. Samuel Shem's roman à clef Mount Misery tells a story inspired at least in part by the author's experiences at McLean. The 1994 Under Observation: Life Inside A Mental Hospital by Lisa Berger and Alexander Vuckovic uses some fictional techniques (composite characters, etc.) to describe some of the typical events at McLean. James Taylor's song "Knockin' 'Round the Zoo" recalls his stay at McLean as a teenager.{{Cite book |title=James Taylor: James Taylor, His Life and Music |last=White |first=Timothy |year=2001 |page=[https://archive.org/details/jamestaylor00timo/page/16 16] |isbn=0-7119-8803-X |publisher=Omnibus |location=London |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/jamestaylor00timo/page/16 }} Poems of Boston and Just Beyond: From the Back Bay to the Back Ward by Doug Holder{{Cite web |url=http://hollis.harvard.edu/primo_library/libweb/action/error.do;jsessionid=CF700F862E60ABED9C09845E8C3C0FEA |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150302022851/http://hollis.harvard.edu/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=HVD&docId=HVD_ALEPH007991227&fn=permalink |archive-date=2015-03-02 |title=Poems of Boston and just beyond: from the Back Bay to the back ward |website=Harvard Library |access-date=2021-08-18 |url-status=live }} are based on his more than three decades working there, and are archived at the poetry room at the Lamont Library at Harvard University.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Middlesex County, Massachusetts

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Beam|first=Alex|author-link=Alex Beam|title=Gracefully Insane: The Rise and Fall of America's Premier Mental Hospital|url=https://archive.org/details/gracefullyinsane00alex|url-access=registration|publisher=Public Affairs|year=2003|isbn=1-58648-161-4}}
• {{cite book|last=Berger|first=Lisa|title=Under Observation: Life Inside the McLean Psychiatric Hospital|publisher=Tiknor & Fields|year=1994|isbn=0-14-025147-2}}
• {{cite book|last=Charles|first=Ray|author-link=Ray Charles|author2=Ritz, David|title=Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=2003|isbn=0-306-81335-1|pages=263–265}} (on his time spent at McLean Hospital)
• {{cite book|last=Little|first=Nina Fletcher|title=Early years of the McLean Hospital|publisher=Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine|year=1972}}
• {{cite book|last=Sutton|first=Silvia Barry|title=Crossroads in Psychiatry: A History of the McLean Hospital|publisher=American Psychiatric Press|year=1986|isbn=0-88048-253-2}}
• {{cite book|last=Weitz|first=Don|author2=Burstow, Bonnie|title=Shrink resistant: The Struggle Against Psychiatry in Canada|publisher=New Star Books|year=1988|isbn=0-919573-83-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/shrinkresistants0000unse/page/286 286–288]|url=https://archive.org/details/shrinkresistants0000unse/page/286}} (on his time spent at McLean Hospital)

• [http://www.mclean.org McLean Hospital website]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20121226194521/http://www.brainbank.mclean.org/ Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center]
• Boston Book Festival/ Oct,2014. Poets in the Asylum Panel: Poets of McLean Hospital. Audio File. Panelists: Alex Beam, Lois Ames, Kathleen Spivack, Wendy Ranan. Hosted by Doug Holder [https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.bostonbookfest.org/BBF+2014+Poets+in+the+Asylum.mp3 Poets of McLean Hospital Panel]

{{Hospitals in Massachusetts}}

{{Borderline personality disorder}}

{{Authority control}}

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Category:Psychiatric hospitals in Massachusetts

Category:Hospitals in Middlesex County, Massachusetts

Category:Belmont, Massachusetts

Category:Harvard Medical School

Category:Hospitals established in 1811

Category:1811 establishments in Massachusetts

Category:Hospital buildings completed in 1895

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Category:Historic districts in Middlesex County, Massachusetts