***
Lunatics, Imbeciles and
Idiots A History of Insanity in the 19th Century Britan
and Ireland
By:
Kathryn M. Burtinshaw and John R.F. Burt
This
book gives very detailed information concerning the formation of
various types of facilities in which insane persons could be housed,
from workhouses, gaols [jails], “mad” houses, asylums, and the
best of them being called “retreats'.
The
book can also be a valuable resource for genealogists searching for
an ancestor who “disappeared” from the family tree and is no
longer listed on mainstream sources. The book lists several official
registers for Lunatic/Insane Asylums that can be used to search for
that “lost” ancestor.
*Patient
names are not listed for public view until 100 years have passed, for
patient privacy.
Although
today, the terms lunatic, imbecile and idiot seem harsh, they were
the terms used regularly by professionals and lay people alike to
label people with mental health disorders. These WERE the
professional medical terms and were not intended to be derogatory,
hateful or hurtful.
Prior
to the early 19th century people with mental health
disorders were most often hidden at home, chained up in
attics/basements, in prisons or workhouses and were treated as wild
animals – not as humans. It was only in the 19th
century that authorities began the difficult task of ensuring these
people were institutionalized, provided shelter, cared for humanely
as people and treatment options sought.
The
first facilities were often horrendous and it took many decades, even
centuries, for improvement to occur.
The
book describes the horror and inhumane treatment these people were
subject to and the dire need for the repeated enactment of new laws
to prevent such cruelty. During unannounced inspections, patients
had been found naked, filthy, strapped to beds laying in days (or
weeks) of excrement, chained to walls, no water in the facility,
starved. There was an incident during such inspection that a corpse
was found in one room of over 20 men, and next door in a women's
room, a woman was found holding her child who had died many days
previous – to the point the child's body was putrid from
decomposition.
The
book is written very factual, it reads like one of my college
Psychology text books. The case studies of actual patients brought
home the reality that these WERE real people, not just a story in a
book. I enjoyed this book, but it did take me over a week to
complete.
I
would recommend the book to those interested in Psychology and or
Genealogy.
Thank
you netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Review
posted on amazon, goodreads, netgalley and moonshineartspot.blogspot
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