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  2. The invisible plague: the rise of mental illness from 1750 to the present

The invisible plague: the rise of mental illness from 1750 to the present

E. Fuller Torrey, M.D. and Judy Miller 2003 © Rutgers University Press
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ISBN(s)
  • 9780813533056 (ebook)
  • 9780813542072 (paper)
  • 9780813530031 (hardcover)
Subject
  • American: General & Multiperiod
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  • Table of Contents

  • Resources

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  • Cover
  • [Frontispiece]
  • Title Page
  • Copyright and Permissions
  • List of Illustrations
  • [Dedication]
  • Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • [Epigraph]
  • Chapter 1 Introduction Why Is the Epidemic Important?
  • Chapter 2 The Birth of Bedlam Insanity Prior to 1700
    • [Intro]
    • "God's Minstrels"
    • "There the Men Are as Mad as He"
    • "A Rare Diversion"
    • Richard Napier of Buckinghamshire
  • Chapter 3 The "English Malady" Appears England 1700-1800
    • [Intro]
    • "No Cure—No Money"
    • "Moody Madness Laughing Wild"
    • "The Uncertain Continuance of Reason"
    • "The Hideous Malady Which So Amazingly Prevails"
    • The King Is Mad, Long Live the King
  • Chapter 4 "The Clap of Tortured Hands" England 1800-1850
    • [Intro]
    • Insanity and the Romantic Writers
    • Insanity "Is Not an Increasing Malady"
    • A Madman's Manuscript
    • The Madness of Mrs. Rochester
  • Chapter 5 "A Mania for Madness" England, 1850-1890
    • [Intro]
    • The Psychiatric Establishment
    • "A Mania for Madness"
    • The Mad Hatter as Snark
    • "Bluebeard's Cupboard"
    • The Causes of Insanity
  • Chapter 6 "A Great and Progressive Evil" England, 1890-1990
    • [Intro]
    • The 1897 Special Report on the Alleged Increase of Insanity
    • A Temporary Solution
    • The Effects of War and Influenza
    • After World War II
  • Chapter 7 The Road to Grangegorman Ireland, 1700-1990
    • [Intro]
    • "Melancholy Spectacles of Humanity"
    • The Famine and Its Aftermath
    • Increasing Numbers, Dead or Alive
    • "This Vast Brooding Evil"
    • Accumulation and Emigration
    • Insanity in Politics and Literature
    • Twentieth-Century Ireland
    • The Rediscovery of the Insanity Problem
  • Chapter 8 "A Constantly Increasing Multitude" Atlantic Canada, 1700-1990
    • [Intro]
    • New Brunswick
    • Rising Numbers
    • Prince Edward Island
    • Newfoundland
    • "Apparently on the Increase"
    • Nova Scotia
    • "This Fearful Affliction"
    • "This Dread Malady Is Rapid Growing"
  • Chapter 9 "The Disease Whose Frequency Has Become Alarming" The United States, 1700-1840
    • [Intro]
    • Hospitals for the Insane
    • "The Father of the American Novel"
    • Increasing Concern
    • The Contrast between North and South
    • "The Madman Roams Far and Wide"
  • Chapter 10 An Apostle for Asylums The United States, 1840-1860
    • [Intro]
    • "Raise Up the Fallen"
    • Dr. Cure-Awl
    • Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville
    • "The Price Which We Pay for Civilization"
    • Immigrants and Poverty
  • Chapter 11 "A Very Startling Increase" The United States, 1860-1890
    • [Intro]
    • "The Craziest People in the World"
    • "Could It Be Madness?"
    • An Angry Woman and a Psychiatric Judas
    • Barbarians at the Psychiatric Gates
    • The 1880 and 1890 Censuses
  • Chapter 12 "The Apocalyptic Beast" The United States, 1890-1990
    • [Intro]
    • The Appeal of Eugenics
    • Preventing Insanity
    • "The Versatility of Madness"
    • The Era of Deinstitutionalization
  • Chapter 13 Why Is the Epidemic Forgotten? The Politicalization of Insanity
    • [Intro]
    • The Myth of Mental Illness
    • Social Control and Marxist Economics
    • Captains of Confinement
  • Chapter 14 Possible Causes of Epidemic Insanity
    • [Intro]
    • The Lumber Room Thesis
    • Accumulation and Aged Patients
    • Is It Genetic?
    • The Industrial Revolution and Urbanization
    • The Stockings Model of Insanity
  • Appendix A What Is Insanity?
  • Appendix B The Baseline Rate of Insanity
  • Appendix C Tables of Insanity Rates
  • Notes
    • Preface
    • 1. Introduction
    • 2. The Birth of Bedlam
    • 3. The "English Malady" Appears
    • 4. "The Clap of Tortured Hands"
    • 5. "A Mania for Madness"
    • 6. "A Great and Progressive Evil"
    • 7. The Road to Grangegorman
    • 8. "A Constantly Increasing Multitude"
    • 9. "The Disease Whose Frequency Has Become Alarming"
    • 10. An Apostle for Asylums
    • 11. "A Very Startling Increase"
    • 12. "The Apocalyptic Beast"
    • 13. Why Is the Epidemic Forgotten?
    • 14. Possible Causes of Epidemic Insanity
    • Appendix A
    • Appendix B
    • Appendix C
  • Selected References
    • Books, Papers, and Theses
    • Additional Websites of General Interest
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
  • Index
    • A-G
    • H-M
    • N-Y
  • About the Authors

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Insane Persons per 1,000 Population in England and Wales, Ireland, Canada (Atlantic Provinces), and the United States, 1807-1961.

Insane Persons per 1,000 Population in England and Wales, Ireland, Canada (Atlantic Provinces), and the United States, 1807-1961.

Insane Persons per 1,000 Population in England and Wales, Ireland, Canada (Atlantic Provinces), and the United States, 1807-1961.

Data on which the graph is based are taken from the annual reports of the Commissioners in Lunacy and from Inpatient Statistics from the Mental Health Enquiry for England reports, Department of Heath and Social Security.

England Wales: Insane Persons in Psychiatric Hospitals, Workhouses, and under Care per 1,000 Population, 1807-1961.

FIG. 5.1. England Wales: Insane Persons in Psychiatric Hospitals, Workhouses, and under Care per 1,000 Population, 1807-1961.

England: Insane Persons in Asylums, Workhouses, and under Care in the Community by County. Averages for Censuses of 1871, 1901, and 1911.

England: Insane Persons in Asylums, Workhouses, and under Care in the Community by County. Averages for Censuses of 1871, 1901, and 1911.

FIG. 5.2. England: Insane Persons in Asylums, Workhouses, and under Care in the Community by County. Averages for Censuses of 1871, 1901, and 1911.

Data on which the graph is based are taken from Report of the Select Committee, 1917; the annual reports of the Inspectors of Lunatics in Ireland; and Finnane, Insanity and the Insane in Post-Famine Ireland.

Ireland: Insane Persons in Psychiatric Hospitals, Workhouses, and Jails per 1,000 Population, 1817-1961.

FIG. 7.1. Ireland: Insane Persons in Psychiatric Hospitals, Workhouses, and Jails per 1,000 Population, 1817-1961.

Sources: 1851, rate based on insane persons in asylums and in the community (1851 Census, 51); 1911, rate based on insane persons in asylums and workhouses (Dawson, 1911); 1963, rate based on individuals with schizophrenia and manic-depressive illness in hospitals (Walsh, 1970).

Ireland: Counties with Highest Rates of Insane Persons.

FIG. 7.2. Ireland: Counties with Highest Rates of Insane Persons.

Nineteenth-century data on which the graph is based are taken, for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, from the annual reports in each province's Journals of the House of Assembly, and for Newfoundland, from O'Brien, Out of Mind, Out of Sight. Data for the twentieth century were provided by Statistics Canada.

Canada (Atlantic Provinces): Insane Persons in Psychiatric Hospitals per 1,000 Population, 1847-1960.

FIG. 8.1. Canada (Atlantic Provinces): Insane Persons in Psychiatric Hospitals per 1,000 Population, 1847-1960.

Data on which the graph is based are taken from Atlee L. Stroup and Ronald W. Manderscheid, "The Development of the State Mental Hospital System in the United States: 1840-1980," Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 78(1988): 59-68.

United States: Insane Persons in Psychiatric Hospitals per 1,000 Population, 1840-1955.

FIG. 11.1. United States: Insane Persons in Psychiatric Hospitals per 1,000 Population, 1840-1955.

United States: Insane Persons per 1,000 Population in Asylums and in the Community, 1880.

United States: Insane Persons per 1,000 Population in Asylums and in the Community, 1880.

FIG. 11.2. United States: Insane Persons per 1,000 Population in Asylums and in the Community, 1880.

Reviews
Journal AbbreviationLabelURL
JHMAS 59.3 (2004): 479-481 http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_the_history_of_medicine_and_allied_sciences/v059/59.3kushner.html
BHM 78.3 (2004): 732-734 http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/bulletin_of_the_history_of_medicine/v078/78.3wright.html
Related Titles
HEB IdTitleAuthorsPublication Information
heb02206.0001.001 Insanity and the Insane in Post-Famine Ireland. Finnane, Mark. London: Croom Helm, 1981.
heb02208.0001.001 Schizophrenia and Civilization. Torrey, E. Fuller. New York: Jason Aronson, Inc., 1980.
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