Ann Benson

Coping with Madness: Mental Illness and Its Institutions in Victoria, Australia 1835 to 1980 Ann Benson

An era has come and gone in the history of he care and treatment of the mentally ill, the Aslyum era. Close to two centuries ago the first institutions were erected. They proliferated throughout the Western world holding ever-increasing numbers of those deemed to be insane. They reached their limit of expansion in the 1950s and since that time have gradually diminished until they all but disappeared at the end of the 20th century. The early chapters of this book discuss the defining boundaries of psychiatric histories and the need for an historical understanding to be included in the education of mental health professionals. They are followed by a brief overview of the mental illnesses and the various theories that attempt to explain the growth of asylums. The ¨traditional path¨ of psychiatric histories is visited as I look at the evidence of madness in the Ancient World through until the period defined as ¨Modern Psychiatry¨ from the Enlightenment and the advent of moral treatment until recent times. Later chapters trace the development of the large institutions for the insane drawing on records of the then Lunacy Department and later Department of Mental Hygiene.