Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, [2004]. Graduate Programme in History. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 258-270). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ99211

No description available.

The objective of this thesis is to examine the pauper lunatic asylums of later Victorian England and assess the value of the psychological medicine which was carried on there. Broadly, it asks psychiatric, rather than strictly historical, questions in that it considers the benefits accruing to individual patients as being of central importance, whilst also evaluating the advantages gained by the medical profession and by outside society. After an introductory chapter there follows an analysis of medical theory on insanity. This considers the function of theory and assesses its usefulness in handling the problems posed by those labelled "insane". The third chapter analyses theories of treatment. It looks first at somatic therapies - electricity, showers and drugs - then considers what "moral treatment" had by then become, concluding with an overall interpretation of therapy in this period. In the section examining psychological medicine in practice, the first chapter is a reconstruction of asylum function using asylum admission registers. It shows mortality, lengths-of-stay, proportions of cures and so on according to various factors. Some analysis of patients' problems is also attempted. The following chapter pursues this theme with a study of asylum life as it affected the patient and, by implication, his or her course of treatment. The last section sets psychological medicine in its social contexts, first of professionalisation, with the advantages accruing to doctors and attendants and the conditions under which this branch of medicine operated, then of social provision. Asylums were supported by county rates and their patients by the Poor Law authorities and their influence on the enterprise is considered. It concludes that psychological medicine was self-defeating in its own terms because of the dominative nature of the relationship between the asylum and the patients. The perception of the patient as individual sufferer was occluded by a perception of him or her as social deviant. Thus the essential ingredient of the restoration of " normal" self-control - that the "self" be known and its needs recognised - was absent. The alternative to restoration, continued incarceration, was nevertheless socially acceptable and so persisted.

No description available.

Previous historical studies of the care of the insane in nineteenth century England have been based in the history of medicine. In this thesis, such care is placed in the context of the English poor law. The theory of the 1834 poor law was essentially silent on the treatment of the insane. That did not mean that developments in poor law had no effect only that the effects must be established by examination of administrative practices. To that end, this thesis focuses on the networks of administration of the poor law of lunacy, from 1834 to 1870. County asylums, a creation of the old (pre-1834) poor law, grew in numbers and scale only under the new poor law. While remaining under the authority of local Justices of the Peace, mid-century legislation provided an increasing role for local poor law staff in the admissions process. At the same time, workhouse care of the insane increased. Medical specialists in lunacy were generally excluded from local admissions decisions. The role of central commissioners was limited to inspecting and reporting; actual decision-making remained at the local level. The webs of influence between these administrators are traced, and the criteria they used to make decisions identified. The Leicestershire and Rutland Lunatic asylum provides a local study of these relations. Particular attention is given to admission documents and casebooks for those admitted to the asylum between 1861 and 1865. The examination of the asylum documents, the analysis of the broader relationships of the administrators, and a reading of the legislation itself, all point up tensions between ideologies of the old and new poor law in the administration of pauper lunacy.

The goal of hospital treatment is the return of its patients to their community in a healthy, happy condition. This can be a particularly difficult objective to achieve in the case of mental illness because of traditional hospital isolation, and fear and misconceptions about on the part of the public. More and more it is being realized that if there is to be effective rehabilitation of the mentally ill, there must be greater understanding and acceptance of mental illness by their communities. This study examines the recently-developed volunteer programme at the Provincial Mental Hospital, (Essondale, B.C.,) sponsored by the Canadian Mental Health Association. It describes the programme's organization, and its activities aimed at bringing the community to the patient, as well as interpreting hospital and patient needs to the community. The method used in the study began with a review of professional and other literature in order to learn what volunteer services were being offered in mental hospital settings elsewhere. A questionnaire was then completed and interviews with key people in the volunteer movement conducted, in order to compile details of its development, organization and acceptance by hospital management and staff as a "treatment extra". In order to illustrate volunteer activities and potentials in detail, the focus was then narrowed to the study of one particular ward (Chapter 3.) Types of patients were described experimentally as belonging to behavior groups observed on the ward, such as "attention seekers" and "rescue seekers." (The possibility of a ward classification according to the various categories of mental illness such as chronic brain syndromes, psychotic disorders, etc., was considered but discarded because the required information was not available.) Ways in which volunteers can help the patients in the various behavior groups when visiting and assisting in occupational therapy are discussed, using two case examples for illustration. The study confirmed the general thinking that the volunteer programme is contributing a very useful service to the hospital treatment programme. In the concluding chapter some suggestions are offered towards increasing the effectiveness of this growing volunteer service. These are related to a problem common to all volunteer work, namely, sustaining the interest of volunteers. In addition, suggestions are made as to some ways in which the volunteers could work with the Social Service Department in this hospital setting. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2008. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iii, 165 p. : ill. (some col.), col. map. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 160-165).

Inaug.-diss.--Rostock. / Lebenslauf. "Schriftum:" p. 9-11.

Victorian society witnessed a transformation in the understanding and treatment of psychological disorders. The expansion of nosologies or classifications of lunacy was one measure hailed by psychological physicians as indicative of their mastery over madness. Yet between the 1840s and the 1870s the introduction of moral insanity and monomania to established classificatory systems undercut the medical authority of physicians and challenged their desired cultural stature as benevolent and authoritative agents of cure. Far from consolidating medical authority, these `partial' forms of lunacy (which were detected in the emotions rather than the intellect) paradoxically heightened anxiety about the ease with which eccentric or sane individuals could be wrongfully incarcerated in lunatic asylums. This dissertation examines the themes, motifs and defining issues of wrongful incarceration as they were discussed in Parliament, national and regional newspapers, medical and literary journals, and novels and short stories. Discussing in detail several infamous `cases' of wrongful confinement, it traces the ways in which anxieties were formulated, expressed and negotiated. The public outcry over cultural representations of wrongful confinement generated heated reactions from physicians and lunacy law reformers. The most contentious discussions centred on the manner in which notions of humanity and benevolence, and tyranny and liberty, were marshalled to influence public opinion. These debates represented not solely a legal conflict centring the claim to treatment and authority over the alleged lunatic, but more dramatically a battle for the public's good opinion. As important as medico-legal trials and their consequent rulings was the contested appropriateness of sentiment; this was manifested in words and images utilised to exacerbate or contain anxiety. The wrongful confinement controversy constitutes an important (though largely overlooked) episode in the history of English nineteenth-century psychiatry; formatively altering perceptions of the profession of mental science in the Victorian period.