McLean Hospital facts for kids
Quick facts for kids McLean Hospital |
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| Mass General Brigham | |
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| Geography | |
| Location | Belmont, Massachusetts, United States |
| Coordinates | 42°23′37″N 71°11′28″W / 42.393658°N 71.191075°W |
| Organization | |
| Hospital type | Specialist |
| Specialty | Psychiatric hospital |
McLean Hospital is a special hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. It helps people with their mental health. McLean Hospital is known for having one of the biggest research programs in the world for brain and mental health. It is also the largest mental health facility connected to Harvard Medical School. McLean is part of Mass General Brigham, a big healthcare system.
Contents
History of McLean Hospital
McLean Hospital started in 1811 in a part of Charlestown, Massachusetts. This area is now part of Somerville, Massachusetts. It was first called the Asylum for the Insane. A group of important people from Boston created it because they wanted to help people who needed special care for their minds. The hospital was built around a mansion designed by Charles Bulfinch. Most of the other buildings were finished by 1818.
How McLean Hospital Got Its Name
Later, the hospital was renamed The McLean Asylum for the Insane. This was to honor John McLean, a generous person who gave a lot of money to the hospital. His gift helped build many parts of the hospital. In 1892, its name was changed again to McLean Hospital. This new name showed a more modern way of thinking about mental health care.
Moving to Belmont
In 1895, the hospital moved to a new location in Belmont, Massachusetts. This move was needed because new train lines and buildings were making the old Charlestown campus too noisy and busy. Famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted helped choose the new site. He also designed many famous parks, like New York's Central Park.
In the 1990s, the hospital decided to sell some of its land in Belmont. This was to help with money issues. A plan was made to keep some of Olmsted's original open spaces. It also allowed the town to build homes and businesses. This agreement was completed in 2005. Most of the Belmont campus, which is over 300 acres (120 ha), was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
Important People at McLean
In 2006, Irene Jakab was honored by the hospital. She was a psychiatrist known for using art to help people with learning difficulties and mental health challenges. She worked at McLean for forty years.
What McLean Hospital Does Today
McLean Hospital is well-known for helping teenagers. It is especially known for treating a condition called borderline personality disorder using a special therapy called dialectical behavioral therapy.
As of 2020, Scott L. Rauch leads McLean Hospital. He is known for using brain imaging to study how the brain works when someone has mental health issues.
Teaching, Treatment, and Research
McLean Hospital is one of the main teaching hospitals for Harvard Medical School. It stands out because it combines teaching, treating patients, and doing research. Many other hospitals focus on only one of these things.
McLean is home to the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center. This is the largest collection of brain samples in the world used for research. The hospital has also created ways to check for common mental health issues like depression. The Cole Resource Center, which helps people with mental health concerns, is also located at the hospital.
Hospital Rankings
McLean Hospital is highly respected:
- It is ranked as the number one psychiatric hospital in the United States by U.S. News & World Report.
- In 2017, McLean was among the top 20 independent hospitals worldwide to receive grants for research from the National Institutes of Health.
Famous People Treated at McLean
Many well-known people have been treated at McLean Hospital. These include:
- Mathematician John Forbes Nash
- Musicians James Taylor and Ray Charles
- Poets Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, and Anne Sexton
- Author David Foster Wallace
- Massachusetts politician and Civil War general Nathaniel P. Banks
- Author Susanna Kaysen
McLean Hospital in Books and Media
Many books and songs have been inspired by McLean Hospital:
- A book from 1853 describes the hospital's work and how it helped patients.
- Alex Beam's book, Gracefully Insane: Life and Death Inside America's Premier Mental Hospital, shares stories about the hospital.
- Memoirs about time spent at McLean include Sylvia Plath's novel The Bell Jar.
- Susanna Kaysen's book Girl, Interrupted was also made into a film starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie.
- Samuel Shem's novel Mount Misery was partly inspired by his experiences at McLean.
- The 1994 book Under Observation: Life Inside A Mental Hospital by Lisa Berger and Alexander Vuckovic describes typical events at McLean.
- James Taylor's song "Knockin' 'Round the Zoo" is about his stay at McLean as a teenager.
- Poems by Doug Holder, based on his work at McLean, are kept at Harvard University's Lamont Library.
See also
Images for kids
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Print of the McLean Asylum in 1853, in Somerville MA.
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Map of the McLean Insane Asylum from an 1884 atlas of Somerville, Massachusetts.
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The Administration Building at McLean Hospital.
