The Still-Hildreth Sanatorium: A history and chart review

The Still-Hildreth Sanatorium (SHS) in Macon, Missouri, was open from 1914 to 1968. Its mission was to provide "osteopathic treatment of mental and nervous diseases," but it also acted as a hospital. This article is a review of the sanacoriums history and patient records. The first section is a history of SHS based on published materials and interviews with former staff members. The second section discusses the theory and history of using osteopathic manipulative treatment to treat patients with psychiatric illnesses. The third section examines 1 891 extant patient records from SHS, published case reports, and treatment results, and it discusses limitations of the data. Patient records were compared with a published report of recovery rates during the same period to evaluate the high rates of recovery in the published reports. The comparisons are limited and no firm conclusions can he made due to the disparities in patient totals and results, but many patients appear to have recovered or improved. The article concludes with a discussion of further research possibilities.