Notes

Week 2 The contested field of mental distress D241

Chapter 1 ‘The birth of psychiatry: questions of power, control and care’
David W. Jones

intro
two contrasting views on psychiatry
Anti-psychiatry and the progressive view

term: Psychosis, mindswt where someone is "out of touch" with reality

1 ‘Madness’ before psychiatry
psychitry emerged in 19th ccentruy (1800's)

Robert Burton’s (1638) The anatomy of
melancholy, 1621. 17th centruty knowledge

2 The birth of psychiatry as the
medical specialism of the mind

term: Pauper lunatic

emergence of moral treatment startingn the 2pschological treatment"

2.1 The asylum movement and moral treatment

Section 20 of the Vagrancy
Act 1744, charged magistartes with responisiblty of paupers n pauper luncatics in their district (Bynum, 1974)

pauper lunatic required local authority support.

lots of people were being put away and daniel defoe suggetsted a daily examination.

he suspected men were sending their wives to the madhouses whenever they wanted.

this was picked up later in the 20th centrury (1900s) by feminist critics in thr psychoatricdy system.

chesler 1972 and showalter (1985) argued thatt the various treatments were patriarchal and were used to control women.

categories of insanities were aimed at women and in fact these asylums were populated with women.

Madhouses Act 1774 - unregukated provate asylums had to go under supervisory control, inspection.

treatments for insantiy were cruel, they used restraints used to beat them.


"Benjamin Rush, who ran the
Pennsylvania Asylum, designed the ‘tranquilliser chair’ which held the
body still while allowing cold water to be applied to the head and
warm water to the feet – acting ‘as a sedative to the tongue and
temper as well as the blood vessels’ (Rush, cited in Scull, 1981, p. 34).
"


moral treatment - form of treatment using surroundings that were calm and restful to be used as a potential cure by encourshing good behabiour. treating with respect.


Lunacy Act 1845 and County Asylums Act
1845 - requirment that all local authoritirs to provide an asylum.

asylums were made to look like grand houses and were put on large grounds to create a calming atmosphere which was thought to be important for cure.


2.2 Moral insanity and criminological expertise

Moral insanity - 19th century term used to talk about a psycological disorder linked to antisocial and criminal behaviour.

monomanias, partial insanity and moral insanity. this came from the idea that the mind can be an object of exploration. and that it;'s possibile to find aspects of the mind that were disordered that could lead to violence.

these ideas considered too radical.

medical model – "The idea that physical
and mental difficulties
experienced by an
individual can be
understood in terms of
an identifiable disorder
existing within that
individual."

3 The fall of asylums and the move to
community care

asylum poplation decreased in the middle of the 20th centurtu (1900s). peaked in 1964 in england and fell rapidly after.

the reason for this may have been because of the developme nt of drug therapies and the development of the welfare state in post-war.

by the 1980s decline of asylum population was drain of respurces.

goverment accelatryed closure of asylums with policy of community care.

policy made a shift on respurces so poeple can take care of others in both their homes and communities.

pst war oeriod saw an expasion of diagnostic cstegoies of the mentsl disorder. "which meant that mental
illness was viewed as something prevalent across wider social groups.
"

Mental
Health Act 1959 incorporate osychiatric servies in the nations health service and associared arms of an ecnhanced welfare state