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Hydrotherapy became a popular therapy at Fairfield State Hospital. It was considered to be kinder and gentler than restraints or seculusion. Use of Hydrotherapy at FSH cut down on restraints and seclusion but it could also be debated that these therapies were a form of the same. Many times hydrotherapy was given against a patient's will. Two of the most common therapies were the continuous bath and the cold sheet pack. The continuous bath would require the patient to lie in a canvas hammock within a suspended bathtub with another canvas sheet with a hold cut for their head over them and strapped in around the underside of the tub. Warm or cold water would be run in the tub for as long as hours to provide a theraputic benefit. Sometimes a bandage was applied to a patient's head to block out visual distractions. The cold sheet pack required the patient to be wrapped in sheets that were submerged in cold water (48-56 degrees Fahrenheight) to chill the skin and as the chilliness wore of the warmth would result in muscle relaxation that would cause the patient's mental state to calm. Patients may have been left in this pack for hours to as much as a couple of days. It is important to remember that cotton sheets restrict as they dry out and that patients were not unbound to release wastes. Return to 1930's
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