Dangerous lunacy: The misuse of mental health law in nineteenth-century Ireland

Abstract

The concept of dangerousness is currently used to justify an increasing proportion of involuntary admissions to psychiatric beds in many modern societies, including the UK. However, this is not a new phenomenon. There was a similar increase in use of ‘dangerousness’ as a criterion for admission to Irish public asylums in the second half of the nineteenth century. The Irish experience is explored, using the annual reports of the Lunacy Inspectorate for Ireland and case records of the District Asylums at Belfast (opened 1825) and Omagh (opened 1853). The excessive use of ‘dangerous lunacy’ legal procedures in asylum admissions is discussed in the context of the uneasy political climate in Ireland at the time, the acceptance by the public of an obviously flawed law, and the gendered impact it had on the asylum population. Many of the issues raised are relevant to current mental health policy debates.