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Chargement... A History of Insanity and the Asylum: Not of Sound Mindpar Juliana Cummings
Aucun Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre.  pomo58 | Dec 9, 2022 |  aucune critique | ajouter une critique
The iconic image of the lunatic asylum is one that often leaves us wondering what went on inside these imposing buildings.In this new book, Juliana Cummings first questions what behaviors and characteristics define insanity and leads us through a comprehensive history of insanity and the asylum from the early treatment and care of mental illness in the Middle Ages and early modern period through to the closure of mental institutions in the twentieth century.Throughout the years, we learn of how the treatments and institutional structures for caring for the mentally ill developed and changed. The Age of Enlightenment and the rise of humanitarian reform was followed by the emergence of the insane asylum in the 1800s, which saw the beginning of the widespread constructions of asylums.We explore the different reasons for admittance, as well as the vast array of treatments. It shows that your treatment as an inmate of an asylum could vary depending on your gender and your social class.Although once thought of as criminals, the mentally ill were gradually treated with care. Juliana discusses the different treatments used over time as attitudes towards the mentally ill changed, such as drug use, psychosurgery and insulin therapy. We learn of the regulations and reforms that led to the closure of asylums, how their closure affected society and consider how the mentally ill are treated today.This insightful new history helps us to better understand the haunting past of the asylum and leads us down a fascinating road to where we come to an understanding of a time in history that is often mistaken. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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I won't go into a long drawn-out exposition that serves more to show how much I think I know, someone has already done that and showed the opposite. Probably the biggest sticking point for me was Cummings' willingness to claim that all of these procedures were created and performed from some deep desire on the part of the practitioners to help people. There are simply too many accounts of these people having not very altruistic intentions. Everything from sadism to simply wanting to make a name for themselves. While many did want to help people, many really didn't care. So to say they all cared makes me wonder if a distant, or not so distant, family member was among the practitioners and this is polishing the family name.
While there were a few questionable historical generalizations, these were more just an annoyance than things that affected the main point of the book. The details about the procedures themselves were a bit disturbing but, for me, they helped to make the barbarity of the actions more apparent. That could be a negative for some readers but I thought it helped.
I would recommend this to readers with no previous knowledge and who just want a general overview of what has passed for psychiatric care in the past. Those who have done some research and/or study in the area might want to steer clear.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. (