This way madness lies

By Mike Jay

Subjects: Psychiatrie, Care, Mental illness, case studies, Mental health services, Exhibitions, Klinik und Hochschulambulanz für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Europa, General, Psychose, HISTORY, Mental illness, Bethlem Royal Hospital (London, England), Mentally ill, Wahnsinn, Asylums, New York Times reviewed, Treatment, Umschulungswerkstätten für Siedler und Auswanderer, Mentally Ill Persons, Psychiatric Hospitals, Psychiatric hospitals, History

Description: Is mental illness-- or madness-- at root an illness of the body, a disease of the mind, or a sickness of the soul? Should those who suffer from it be secluded from society or integrated more fully into it? This book explores the meaning of mental illness through the successive incarnations of the institution that defined it: the madhouse, designed to segregate its inmates from society; the lunatic asylum, which intended to restore the reason of sufferers by humane treatment; and the mental hospital, which reduced their conditions to diseases of the brain. Rarely seen photographs and illustrations drawn from the archives of mental institutions in Europe and the U.S. illuminate and reinforce the compelling narrative, while extensive 'gallery' sections present revealing and thought-provoking artworks by asylum patients and other artists from each era of the institution and beyond.--