Decline in use

Douche and cabinet room for physiotherapy, Payne Whitney Clinic, New York Hospital. Oskar Diethelm Library Photograph Collection.

Hydriatic room in men's physical therapy building, Westchester Division, New York Hospital. Equipment includes electric light bath cabinet, sitz bath, control table for shower and Scotch douche, perineal douche, steam room, whirlpool bath, and immersion tub.

The development of chlorpromazine and other neuroleptics in the 1950s ended the widespread use of hydrotherapy in American psychiatric hospitals. Hydrotherapy treatments were staff-intensive, and so as staffing costs rose, dispensing medication became more cost-effective. By the 1970s, the unused hydrotherapy psychiatric in mental hospitals had become relics of a bygone era.