Nineteenth Century Insane Asylums Essay example -- Exploratory Researc

ordinal one C Insane AsylumsNo matter where they were, mad houses, or insane asylums, devote the same basic features and functions. The look ons of asylum life changed drastically over the mannequin of the ordinal century. The growth of the number of mad houses during the nineteenth century is sort of remarkable. Before 1810, only a few states had insane asylums. By 1850, close of the Northeastern and Midwestern states legislatures supported having asylums. As early as 1860, 23 of the 33 existing states had some sort of public basis for the insane. (Perrucci, p.11) The view of what caused insanity was widely disputed during this time period. Some physicians viewed insanity as being caused by a disease of the brain resulting in lesions. The debate view, held by many Europeans, was that insanity was caused by civilization or fellowship as a whole. (Perrucci, p.12) Classification played a significant authority in the asylums and how they were run. First there is the classifi cation between sane and insane. This naval division has continually been the center of study and discussion. Perhaps those that are considered insane arent really. Nineteenth century records make it clear that those alone, whether single, divorced, or widowed, were particularly vulnerable to institutionalization. (Dwyer, p.106) The neighboring 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, superintendent John Gray opposed the idea of a separate institution for the chronically insane. (Dwyer, p.46) This idea was discredited throughout the States and Europe. (... ...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 close part, they were run by a pow erful, authoritative hierarchy. Towards the end of the century, people accomplished the major problems of asylums, and reform swept both Europe and the States. BibliographyBeaver, Harold, Ed. The Science legend of Edgar Allan Poe. Penguin Books. London 1976. Dwyer, Ellen. Homes for the Mad Life Inside Two Nineteenth vitamin C Asylums. Rutgers University Press. New Brunswick 1987. Perrucci, Robert. Circle of Madness On Being Insane and institutionalise in America. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, NJ 1974. Porter, Roy. A Social History of Madness The realness Through the Eyes of the Insane. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. New York 1987.