Mental Asylums in Victorian England

Mental Asylums In Victorian England

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Mental Asylums in Victorian England have a notable reputation. People's first ideas when asked about asylums may be mad German doctors and people tied up in straight jackets, but that was not always the case. During the Victorian time period, asylums tried to uphold a sense of morality and treat the patients as human beings, but overcrowding and upkeep seemed to be the biggest challenge. 

An article from sciencemuseum.org had much to explain when discussing the morality of patient treatment. The article noted the efforts of Samuel Tuke, who wrote a book on the moral treatment of inmates called A Description of the Retreat. Many mental health facilities were undergoing reform during the 1800s, with the aim to treat patients with respect and as human beings. 2

A book by Mark Stevens highlights the incorporation of a morality code into life in a Victorian asylum. Written from the perspective of an asylum warden, the book acts as an authentic code-book for what an asylum would expect. Stevens explains that the asylum looked to removal the patient from the cause of their illness. The outside world may be the cause of what is afflicting the patient and the asylum looks to remove the patient from those surroundings and provide a calm and therapeutic setting. 4

Things often did not go in the idealized way it was imagined though, a book by Andrew Scull detailing the doctors and their treatments in these asylums show a horrifying picture. One example is the Rush's Tranquilizer. This device was a chair that restrained the patient in every way possible to prevent them from moving or acting out and to perform treatment on them. 3

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Victorian Asylums are directly referenced in Dracula. Dr. Seward acts as a perfect example of a Victorian doctor. He does try to treat Renfield with respect and dignity, but also views his subjects in a very empirical way.

1.Alec. “37 Haunting Portraits Of Victorian Lunatic Asylum Patients.” All That's Interesting, All That's Interesting, 24 Jan. 2020, allthatsinteresting.com/victorian-mental-asylum-portraits#10.

2. CarysWoods. “Crazy Ladies: Victorian Asylums and Mental Illness.” Crazy Ladies: Victorian Asylums and Mental Illness, 1 Jan. 1970, reframingthevictorians.blogspot.com/2015/11/crazy-ladies-victorian-asylums-and.html.

3. Scull, and Scull, Andrew. Madhouses, Mad-doctors, and Madmen : The Social History of Psychiatry in the Victorian Era. E-book Philadelphia, Pa.: U of Pennsylvania, 1981.

4. Stevens, Mark. Life in the Victorian Asylum : The World of Nineteenth Century Mental Health Care.E -book 2014.

5. “A Victorian Mental Asylum.” Science Museum, 13 June 2018, www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/victorian-mental-asylum#therapeutic-employment-at-hanwell-asylum.