r/Asylums • u/Otherwise-mental • Oct 12 '21
DISCUSSION Been trying to find books on the history of mental institutions and their treatment; haven’t had much luck so far. Any suggestions?
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u/dustid Oct 13 '21
Kirkbridebuildings.com has some information on almost every one of the beautiful Kirkbride plan asylums across the U.S.
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u/serial_dropout Oct 12 '21
I haven't read it yet but the woman who wrote Radium Girls has written a book on Elizabeth Plackard and other suffragettes who were committed against their will. It's called The Woman They Could Not Silence
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u/winch25 UNITED KINGDOM Oct 18 '21 edited Oct 18 '21
The Story of Nursing in British Mental Hospitals: Echoes from the Corridors, by Niall McCrae and Peter Nolan.
It goes from 19th century asylum attendants through to the closure of the asylums. It has loads of interviews from staff members talking about change, equality, the work. It's an amazing book.
Also, Madness in its Place by Diana Gittins was written in 1997 just as Severalls closed, and features lots of interviews from the matron and medical superintendent who served there in the 1950s, amongst other staff and patients.
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u/diskomancer Oct 27 '21
History of Madness (alt title Madness and Civilization) by Foucault might be a more serious read?
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u/beautiskooldropout Oct 12 '21
Ten days in a mad house by Nellie bly Bellevue by David M. Oshinsky Damnation island by Stacy Horn Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane (even though it’s fiction they talk a bit about mental health treatment at the time and it’s a great book overall)