Founding of the Hospital
1881
At the request of Protestant clergy members and Montrealers, the hospital is incorporated under the name The Protestant Hospital for the Insane.
From the moment it was founded, it strived to be the most progressive mental health facility in Québec.
1887
On April 14, 1887, then Hospital is built on the Hadley Farm in Verdun.
1890
The hospital welcomes its first patients and becomes Québec’s sixth asylum, as they were then known..
The hospital relies on community support from the outset. As the hospital is not run by a religious order, unlike many francophone hospitals at the time, it depends on public generosity and volunteers. This culture of openness and community partnership plays a key role in the success of many social reintegration initiatives.
University Affiliation and Breakthroughs in Pharmacotherapy
1924
The hospital is renamed the Verdun Protestant Hospital.
During the 1930s
New therapies are developed. At the time, healthcare personnel tested new procedures on themselves to better understand the side effects of these medications.
1946
The hospital becomes affiliated with McGill University.
Its world-renowned teaching programs attract a growing number of students in disciplines related to mental health, including psychiatry, nursing, psychology, social work, and occupational therapy.
During the 1950s
Dr. Heinz Lehmann, a psychiatrist at the hospital who introduced antipsychotic medications to North America, is at the forefront of breakthroughs in mental health treatment and research.
In 1953, he pioneers the use of chlorpromazine to treat schizophrenia and in 1957 he uses imipramine to treat depression.
Antipsychotic medications enable many patients who were previously considered incurable to resume their lives as active members of society. The arrival of such treatments also marks the beginning of the deinstitutionalization that occurs during the mid-1960s.
Deinstitutionalization and Research
1965
The hospital is renamed the Douglas Hospital in honour of Dr. James Douglas, a leading figure in psychiatry, and his family, who donated generously to the hospital during its financially difficult beginnings.
1966
The hospital launches a pre- and post-hospitalization home-visit program along with community-based consultation services.
This program marks the beginning of psychiatric care delivered outside the hospital.
1967
The Douglas Hospital becomes the first psychiatric facility in Canada to be accredited by the Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation.
At this time, the hospital begins to explore the brain’s biological mechanisms to understand the causes of mental illness.
From 1971
The hospital sees more outpatients than inpatients, reflecting psychiatry’s shift toward deinstitutionalization.
1979
The Douglas Institute Research Centre is founded and enjoys a burgeoning international reputation.
Since its creation, many cutting-edge treatments and practices have been developed for psychosis, mood disorders, eating disorders, and Alzheimer’s disease.
1982
The research centre signs an agreement to host the World Health Organization Collaboration Centre.
A 21st Century Institute
2006
The Douglas holds the designation and mission of a University Institute in Mental Health.
Its teams of specialists and researchers are advancing scientific knowledge, integrating it into patient care, and sharing it with the community to raise awareness and reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness.
2015
Following the health care reform brought about by the Act to Modify the Organization and Governance of the Health and Social Services Network, the Douglas Institute becomes part of the Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal.
The CIUSSS Board of Directors serves as the Institute’s Board of Directors.
2024
The government agency Santé Quebec is established under the Act respecting the Governance of the Health and Social Services System.
