The Cost of Insanity in Nineteenth-Century Ireland

Public, Voluntary and Private Asylum Care
Softcover Nachdruck of the original 1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-3-319-87983-3
Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 281 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 148 mm x 210 mm, Gewicht: 391 g

Reihe: Mental Health in Historical Perspective

This open access book is the first comparative study of public, voluntary and private asylums in nineteenth-century Ireland. Examining nine institutions, it explores whether concepts of social class and status and the emergence of a strong middle class informed interactions between gender, religion, identity and insanity. It questions whether medical and lay explanations of mental illness and its causes, and patient experiences, were influenced by these concepts. The strong emphasis on land and its interconnectedness with notions of class identity and respectability in Ireland lends a particularly interesting dimension. The book interrogates the popular notion that relatives were routinely locked away to be deprived of land or inheritance, querying how often “land grabbing” Irish families really abused the asylum system for their personal economic gain. The book will be of interest to scholars of nineteenth-century Ireland and the history of psychiatry and medicine in Britain and Ireland.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mauger, Alice

Fachgebiete

• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizin, Gesundheitswesen Geschichte der Medizin
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder England, UK, Irland: Regional & Stadtgeschichte
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizinische Fachgebiete Psychiatrie, Sozialpsychiatrie, Suchttherapie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1 . Introduction.- 2. The Non-Pauper Insane: Private, Voluntary and State Concerns.- 3. An Institutional Marketplace.- 4. ‘A Considerable Degree removed from Pauperism?’: The Social Profile of Fee-Paying Patients.- 5. ‘The Evil Effects of Mental Strain and Overwork’: Employment, Gender and Insanity.- 6. ‘A Great Source of Amusement’: Work Therapy and Recreation.- 7. Respect and Respectability: The Treatment and Expectations of Fee-Paying Patients.- 8. Conclusion.

Über Autor(innen)

Alice Mauger is a Wellcome Trust Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for the History of Medicine in Ireland, University College Dublin. She has published on the history of psychiatry and medicine in Ireland, including in the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences.