Asylums, Families and the State

Finnane, Mark

doi:10.1093/hwj/20.1.134

Cited by 38 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…At the time of the study, family violence was considered a private matter and authorities rarely intervened, although it could be considered with other symptoms when deciding whether to admit a patient. Finnane () claimed that asylums could be used to offer protection against family violence by short‐term incarceration of offenders, and there was limited evidence of this in Beechworth. However, such relief might be short‐lived in the absence of other symptoms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These views were often recorded in case notes (Coleborne , ). Some writers suggest this gave scope for collusion between families and doctors to get a troublesome member committed, or for the exercise of power within families (Coleborne ; Finnane ; Wright ). However, in Victoria the risk of this was reduced by the requirement in the 1890 Lunacy Act that before committing a patient, two justices must obtain evidence from two unrelated medical practitioners with no pecuniary interest in the committal.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finnane () believes that asylums served as ‘an arbiter of social and familial conflict’, (p. 135) and their roles and functions were determined by habit and custom as much as legal imperatives. He describes the asylum as both incarcerator and protector; for example, asylums reduced assaults within families by periodically detaining violent inebriated persons, and he claims that it is essential to know the history of family relationships when assessing the decision to commit.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lessons from the past: Family involvement in patient admission and discharge, Beechworth Lunatic Asylum, 1900–1912

Clark¹

2017

Int J Mental Health Nurs

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In this study, document analysis is used to examine case books from the Beechworth Lunatic Asylum with the aim of determining the extent of family involvement in patients' admission and discharge. There were 420 male and 278 female patients admitted in the study period, with over half transferred from other Victorian asylums. Next of kin were identified for 64% of male and 84% of female patients. Families were involved in the admission of 52 (12%) male and 50 (18%) female patients, usually by bringing patients to the asylum or providing evidence of behavioural changes. Approximately 25% of patients were discharged (101 men and 62 women) and of these, families were involved in discharge for 26% of male and 71% of female patients, mainly by taking responsibility for them during trial discharge. Occasionally families refused to do this, or sought to have patients detained because of fears of violence. The relevance of the study to contemporary practice is explored, particularly the need for dialogue between clinicians and families who identify behavioural changes in family members, appropriate support for family carers, and timely provision of community care following discharge from inpatient facilities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lessons from the past: Family involvement in patient admission and discharge, Beechworth Lunatic Asylum, 1900–1912

Clark¹

2017

Int J Mental Health Nurs

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“…Physical labour was considered an especially appropriate tenet of moral treatment in Ireland due to the large numbers of agricultural labourers in the asylum population, 10 and several paying patients who were previously farmers worked on the asylum farm. Other patients deemed physically fit, such as soldiers, were sent to work on the farm in Richmond.…”

Section: Productive Employmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘A Great Source of Amusement’: Work Therapy and Recreation

Mauger

2017

Mental Health in Historical Perspective

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As this chapter observes, the emphasis on work went beyond the medical identification of causes and symptoms of non-pauper insanity to encompass therapy. A significant tenet of moral therapy, which remained the dominant form of treatment in nineteenth-century Irish asylums, was work therapy. However, patients’ social origins impacted upon this component of their treatment as, not unlike the British context, those caring for patients from more privileged backgrounds struggled to provide for them what was considered class-appropriate employment. Unsurprisingly, for women in this study, work therapy was exclusively confined to domestic occupations, further underscoring a gender bias in Irish non-pauper asylum care. In voluntary and private asylums, doctors counteracted the difficulties they faced in occupying patients by prescribing more varied and stimulating programmes of recreation consistent with patients’ accustomed pastimes outside the asylum.

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“…82 The issue of atomization is central to investigations into the role of the family in asylum admissions and discharges, a key area in studies of madness. 83 A recent study analyzing household structures in England drew on census manuscripts to reveal that most admissions to Exminster asylum were from deeply rooted, physically less mobile families. 84 No such record linkage analysis is possible in New Zealand where original census manuscripts were destroyed.…”

Section: Transnationalism and Networkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Future Directions for the Study of Migration and Ethnicity in New Zealand: Comparative, Transnational and Multidisciplinary Approaches to Records of Insanity

McCarthy¹

2010

JNZS

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In his 1990 publication on Irish migration to New Zealand, historian Don Akenson recommended various approaches available for the study of ethnic history, such as demographic analysis, institutional history, community studies and biographical sketches. He also identified particular themes for investigating the Irish in New Zealand, including women, religion, sectarianism, community studies and intermarriage with Maori. Such topics could equally be applied to other ethnic groups. Intriguingly, Akenson failed to propose comparative investigation of diverse migrant groups as a research agenda. Indeed, with a few exceptions, the extant historiography of migration and ethnicity in New Zealand is notable for its focus on one national or ethnic group, with little comparative engagement, either nationally or internationally. As such, there exist individual works relating to the Scots, the Irish, the Chinese, and Indians, among others. Individual articles in edited collections containing contributions about various ethnicities are also predominantly confined to one group rather than the pursuit of comparison.

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Asylums, Families and the State

Cited by 38 publications

References 0 publications

Lessons from the past: Family involvement in patient admission and discharge, Beechworth Lunatic Asylum, 1900–1912

Lessons from the past: Family involvement in patient admission and discharge, Beechworth Lunatic Asylum, 1900–1912

‘A Great Source of Amusement’: Work Therapy and Recreation

Future Directions for the Study of Migration and Ethnicity in New Zealand: Comparative, Transnational and Multidisciplinary Approaches to Records of Insanity

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