Centracare: A history of the New Brunswick Provincial Lunatic Asylum

Abstract

T story of the New Brunswick Provincial Lunatic Asylum reflects the evolution of mental health care in the Maritime provinces and in developed countries in general. The origins of the asylum demonstrate a burgeoning awareness of mental health as a priority for the provincial government, and the institution’s decline in the latter half of the twentieth century coincides with changing conceptions about the origins of mental illness, as well as its management. This article summarizes the history of the facility now known as Centracare, beginning with its inauguration as the oldest mental health institution in British North America and following the changes brought on during the deinstitutionalization movement that reshaped mental health services in New Brunswick and beyond.