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

Book Review by Jane
This book is an interesting compilation of personal accounts of women who were imprisoned in asylums for various reasons, usually at the request of a relative. It seems throughout most of this time period, all it took to get a person imprisoned in an asylum was a statement from the doctor that the person was insane. Consequently, if a woman angered a man in her family, he could have her imprisoned by pointing out that she was not performing her duties as a woman around the house and for the community, such as at church. So often, individual thinking landed a woman in the insane asylum. One of the women questioned the doctrine of her church; thus, was imprisoned for religious problems. This same woman wrote a very articulate account of her treatment and the treatment of other women in the hospital, which made me wonder exactly what it was that they saw wrong with her views on the church. The only conclusion I could draw was that it had to be her individuality that brought her into the asylum. The most striking thing about this book is to look now onto what these women went through, and consider these were absolutely normal occurrences at the time. As a side note, it makes me wonder about our times now and what we take as normal and necessary that future generations will look back at in awe that we actually allowed these things to happen.

While these stories explain the reasons women landed in the asylums, they also told of the treatment of them and the other inmates. These stories are clear, but the authors/editors also explain what types of treatments were used at different times and how these all tied in with how the patients actually responded. While you can see their legal rights starting to improve towards the end of the time studied here, there is a definite slip in the treatment and attitude towards the inmates as these hospitals grew in size. One of the most poignant stories is from the 1940s, when the mental patients were experiencing great abuses, and elderly people were put in asylums for their care.

While some of the women outlined here really did need the care, it was amazing to see some of these women fight back. Regardless of a person’s mental condition, they should get humane treatment. Some of these medical prescriptions were just silly. Some were tragically abusive and hurtful. For these women outlined here to write an accounting of what happened to them showed courage. They are all quite amazing and will stick with me for long time.

Jane.