Women of the Asylum : Voices from Behind the Walls, 1840-1945

Rating:
Summary: Disquieting, fascinating and thought-provoking!
Review: An unsettling, chronological account of women, the psychiatric community and the institutions that held them captive. Riveting first person descriptions allow you to peer into the dark corners of our past. History, told by real people living real lives, unfolds in front of your eyes. A fabulously rewarding read for those interested in history, women's studies or psychology.

Rating:
Summary: Non-fiction at its best!
Review: An unsettling, chronological account of women, the psychiatric community and the institutions that held them captive. Riveting first person descriptions that allow you to peer into the dark corners of our past. History, told by real people, living real lives, unfolds in front of your eyes. A fabulously rewarding read for those interested in history, women's studies or psychology. Disquieting, fascinating, and thought-provoking

Rating:
Summary: Times have changed, or have they?
Review: Since the Reagan era cuts in funding for public psychiatric facilities and programs, many of us (particularly city dwellers) have noticed the increase of people who need psychiatric treatment, or at least medication, and have no where to go. People wandering the streets talking to invisible partners has become an almost everyday sight. Yet, in the past century, such people would be quickly thrown into an institution, or rather, asylum. In fact, as Women of the Asylum demonstrates, it would take much less cause than talking to oneself to wind up in an asylum. Many husbands, brothers, fathers, community members, and even friends, committed or helped to commit totally sane, albeit strong-willed, women to asylums simply because they expressed an unusual opinion, were too forthright, or even because a husband was tired of his wife and wanted to get rid of her (in a legal fashion, of course). The 26 women whose accounts of asylum life are recorded in this book, have used their strength of mind and spirit to bear witness to the heinous, witch-craft style crimes perpetrated both by the act of commission and within the asylum walls themselves for over a century (from 1840-1945). Though we like to think we have progressed, certainly our tolerance and concern for the mentally insane has not really gotten so sympathetic. Perhaps today instead of locking someone up, we simply let them wander the streets homeless, send them to a therapist, or put them on prozac. In fact, many of us self-diagnose and self-administer our own treatment. In our times, we still see women abused in on the street, in domestic situations, and because of workplace inequalities. And today, if a husband wants to get rid of his wife, rather than divorce her, he may simply hire someone to shoot her. Times have certainly changed, or have they