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History and philosophy

Inside the asylum

We gather links from the archives of The Psychologist and Research Digest, and elsewhere.

06 November 2019

Over the years, a number of our articles have considered life inside the former lunatic asylums, alternatives and what happened next…

Shining a light on ‘what asylums were’ – Jonathon Rutherford on the atrocity of care in the early 19th century 

The house of cure: Diane Lockley on life in Leicestershire’s first lunatic asylum

Such tender years: admission photos of children

More on photographs from asylums – taken for either external or internal use…

Big picture: Art in the asylum

Bedlam: the asylum and beyond

Daniel Paul Schreber’s memoirs

Madness from the outside in: Gail Hornstein on artistic depictions of insanity 

Jennifer Wallis on ‘general paralysis of the insane’ in Victorian asylums 

A lifesize wax head

Self-mutilation in 19th century asylums

A history of stigma, and ideas around confinement and civilisation, from Kelleye McBride

The will of war: How German soldiers could be confined to asylums

The Geel question… an alternative to asylums

From elsewhere:

James Tilly Matthews and the air loom

Asylum tourism

18 abandoned psychiatric hospitals

How to look for records of asylums

The demise of the asylum and the rise of care in the community

 

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