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How Lincoln led a revolution in psychiatric care

The city's asylum was the first to ban restraints.

For more than 160 years The Lawn in Lincoln was used as a psychiatric hospital.
It opened in 1820 as the Lincoln Lunatic Asylum and was the first institution of its kind in the country to ban the use of mechanical restraints, such as straitjackets and shackles, on its patients.
Although the asylum pioneered the humane treatment of people with mental health issues, its contribution to the development of psychiatric care is now largely forgotten.

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5 minutes