Thursday, May 13, 2010

The Lady in the Madhouse

Thursday, May 13, 2010
Loretta reports:







Mme.Tresbeau said...

What a tragic entry! The history of the treatment of mental illness, and the abuses associated with it, is shameful. I shudder every time I see that Hogarth engraving with the ladies waving their fans as they come to view the Bedlam insane for their amusement.

Rowenna said...

If I can find anything comical in this, it's that Defoe recommended that the institutions be placed in "convenient" parts of town.

But, joking aside, the tragedy of sane women shut up by their husbands is unimaginable. How horrific...and terrifying the depravity of a system that would allow it.

GentlewomanThief said...

What a fascinating and sad account - such cruelty some men displayed to their wives. It really is awful.

From a literary point of view, we looked at 'The Madwoman in the Attic' during my BA, particularly with reference to Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea. I find it a very interesting area of literary critique, which I think would also be relevant to anyone writing historical fiction (or historical fantasy, like myself).

Jane O said...

Terrifying, but I am not at all sure the lady's abuse would be impossible today. It would require corruption, but it always did.

That's a really depressing thought. I think I'll go eat a cookie.

LorettaChase said...

It seems to me that the kinds of people who'd go to lunatic asylums for entertainment are the same ones who'd go to hangings. I love history, but I hate the part about finding so much evidence of mistreatment of women. Still, I hope I presented the situation in my story in a balanced way. There were "enlightened" treatments at the time, upsetting by our standards. But then we've only to look back a few years to "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Wonder what people will think 50 years from now about our current treatments for mental disorders...

Judy said...

60 years ago or so a relative of mine was confined in a state hospital in Massachusetts. Overcrowding was a key problem, as 1300 patients were confined in an asylum designed for 500 souls. ECT was a common weapon, and at that time rudimentary, with people's entire bodies shaking and occasionally bones were broken. Those who died in the asylum were buried in a cemetery with only a number on a small marker to commemorate them. Technology had made the treatment experience much more damaging with the advent of ECT.

Now, looking back to 1950, we seem to have come a long way, with parity in insurance coverage a big step. As medications become more refined, and their long term effects are studied, many more hopefully will find an end to that particular suffering.

Thank you for posting this heartbreaking story - 300 years later we have come a long way, but in many ways we have a long way to go in the treatment of mental illness. Sorry I jumped on the soapbox but this is an important topic to me

Jenny Girl said...

I worked at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. It is the nation's first hospital and as such, had one of the earliest psych wards. The old part of the hospital is surrounded by a dry moat, with windows so you can see the basement. Well, back in the day, they would open the windows and people could pay 5 cents to stand on the other side of the moat and watch the insane on Sundays. The distance was not great either, so it wasup close and personal.

Stephen Girard had his wife committed there, but she really was insane. Her ghost supposedly haunts the old section for time to time but I never saw her.

I have researched the history of mental health treatment and it is always a sad and unbelievable story. That people would do that to others. Thank goodness we have evolved somewhat over the years.
Great post as usual gals!

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