Nineteenth Century Insane Asylums Essay example -- Exploratory Researc

Nineteenth Century Insane AsylumsNo matter where they were, mad houses, or maniacal asylums, have the same basic features and functions. The views of asylum life changed drastically over the course of the 19th century. The growth of the number of mad houses during the nineteenth century is quite remarkable. Before 1810, only a few put ins had insane asylums. By 1850, most of the Northeastern and Midwestern states legislatures supported having asylums. As wee as 1860, 23 of the 33 existing states had some sort of ordinary institution for the insane. (Perrucci, p.11) The view of what caused insanity was widely disputed during this time period. round physicians viewed insanity as being caused by a disease of the mastermind resulting in lesions. The opposing view, held by many europiumans, was that insanity was caused by finish or society as a whole. (Perrucci, p.12) Classification played a significant role in the asylums and how they were run. First there is the classification surrounded by sane and insane. This division has continually been the center of study and discussion. Perhaps those that ar considered insane arent really. Nineteenth century records make it clear that those alone, whether single, divorced, or widowed, were specially vulnerable to institutionalization. (Dwyer, p.106) The next classification distinction is whether a person is temporarily insane or chronically insane. In many places, the need for a separate institution for the chronically insane was discussed. When a New York state asylum was considering a separate location, superint windupent John Gray contend the idea of a separate institution for the chronically insane. (Dwyer, p.46) This idea was ignore throughout America and europium. (... ...bility for Poes story does exist. Mad houses were hardly present at the beginning of the nineteenth century. They quickly sprouted up throughout Europe and the United States. For the most part, they were run by a powerful, authoritati ve hierarchy. Towards the end of the century, people realized the major problems of asylums, and reform swept both Europe and the States. BibliographyBeaver, Harold, Ed. The Science Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe. Penguin Books. London 1976. Dwyer, Ellen. Homes for the Mad Life Inside dickens Nineteenth Century Asylums. Rutgers University Press. New Brunswick 1987. Perrucci, Robert. Circle of Madness On creation Insane and Institutionalized in America. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, NJ 1974. Porter, Roy. A Social memoir of Madness The World Through the Eyes of the Insane. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. New York 1987.