L’Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec – Occupational Therapy

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Occupational therapy was being developed at the same time and was equally beneficial for patients. In 1900, crafts began to take an increasingly greater place in therapeutic activities. Patients worked on a number of activities that required working with their hands – painting, ceramics, basketwork, knitting, embroidery, and woodworking. Exhibits of the products they created were organized so that the public could see what the confined patients were doing. In 1922, the Château Frontenac organized an exhibition and the following day the newspaper Le Soleil said in an article that 430 patients from the Hôpital Saint-Michel-Archange were working with their hands and that what they were producing could easily be sold commercially.1 In 1930, the hospital had more than ten different craft shops used regularly by patients.Over time, occupational methods increased and improved. In 1968, physical education was added to the list of pastimes, and doctors spoke enthusiastically about its many benefits. (B-13a) Physical activity helped to channel unconscious needs such as aggression, identification, affectivity and creativity. It was particularly recommended for patients who were aggressive or agitated, or who had poor muscle tone.2 Occupational therapy was thus very popular at Hôpital Saint-Michel-Archange; not only did the patients enjoy it, but it was very beneficial for them. (B14)

1. Jules Lambert. Fiches documentaires lors de la réalisation du livre : Mille fenêtres. Galerie Lucienne-Maheux, l’Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec. Fiche no

2. Wilfrid Pilon et Pierre Audet. Activités thérapeutiques de groupe. Men’s Unit B. Hôpital Saint-Michel-Archange, Galerie Lucienne-Maheux, Centre hospitalier l’Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, 1968, p. 2.