Madness in its Place: Narratives of Severalls Hospital 1913-1997 (Memory & Narrative) - Hardcover

Gittins, Diana

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415167868 ISBN 13: 9780415167864

Publisher: Routledge, 1998

Synopsis

This fascinating study presents a unique history of psychiatry in the twentieth century. It brings together the memories and narratives of over sixty patients and workers who lived, or were employed, in Severalls Psychiatric Hospital, Essex, UK. Personal accounts are contextualised both in relation to wider developments and issues in twentieth-century mental health, and in relation to policies and changes in the hospital itself.
Organised around the theme of space and place, and drawing upon both quantitative and qualitative material, chapters deal with key areas such as gender divisions, power relations, patterns of admission and discharge, treatments, and the daily lives and routines of patients and nurses of both sexes.

About this title

About the Author:

Diana Gittins is a writer and poet and has worked as a consultant in Women's Studies at the Open University.

Review:

'At times a shocking story of incarceration and downright unethical medical practice ... it is also a faithful chronicle of the dilemmas and contradictions ... Gittins is even-handed.' - - Mental Health Care

'..engagingly written...tells an insightful and moving story of what life was like for those who lived, worked and died at Severalls.' - - Peter Nolan, University of Birmingham

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0415167868
• ISBN 13: 9780415167864
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256