The insane in 19th-century Britain: a statistical analysis of a Scottish insane asylum

Abstract

Der vorliegende Beitrag diskutiert anhand einer statistischen Analyse der Unterlagen eines psychiatrischen Krankenhauses in Schottland (Glasgow) in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts folgende Aspekte: (1) Inwieweit kann eine 'moralische Behandlung' der Insassen aus den Unterlagen erschlossen werden? (2) Die Beschreibung des ökonomischen und sozialen Hintergrunds der Insassen hinsichtlich Diagnose und Behandlung; (3) Gibt es statistisch signifikante geschlechtsspezifische Unterschiede in den protokollierten Krankengeschichten? Die letzte Frage wird verneint; entscheidend sind der soziale und ökonomische Hintergrund für die Einlieferung und Diagnosestellung. (pmb)

'This paper deals with an insane asylum population in the second half of the 19th century in Glasgow, Scotland. First, it attempts to place the asylum within the mental health context of the time by determining the extent of the use of moral management, a popular method for treating the insane in the 19th century. The results indicate that, in keeping with widely-held views, moral management was used alongside other, more traditional, methods, but that its use seemed to be in decline toward the end of the century. Second, it uses statistical data gathered from the admissions register of social and economic background, medical history, and experience inside the asylum. Third, it also uses these data to try to determine gender differences in the asylum experience of women and men. The findings do not indicate statistically significant differences between women and men in the asylum, suggesting that the asylum experience had less to do with gender than with social and economic status and background.' (author's abstract)