The Mental Hospital has been used as a text in the past to explore the administration and day to day running of a big mental hospital. Written by Alfred Stanton, who ran the McLean Hospital for many years , it is an insiders look at what it took to keep such an institution going. It also provides a glimpse of treatments and therapies long out of favor. While it is a somewhat dry read, the authors seem determined to impart every shred of knowledge they may have,it gives a glimpse of how the staff of a large hospital were viewed, and the somewhat elevated position those who ran such a facility were prone to adopting. Many of the treatments and ideas expressed have long gone out of favor, and some of the ideas presented would never be given consideration today. The basic premise , the care and treatment of the mentally ill,and how to present that on a large scale, is still a timely topic and it is by studying such a text that we are able to see the evolution of the mental health care we use today.